The Change We Need In Education II

The tale of the tertiary education sector is not any sweeter. Everyone is now allowed to set up a university if they have money to ‘start’. While in developing countries like Malaysia it is youth who do not have the requisite qualifications to go to public universities that enrol in private universities, reverse is the case in Nigeria.

Even the universities that are established by the Government, especially state governments, are not good enough. Many of our state universities are better described as unemployment factories. The programmes run in those places are mostly programmes that will not enable students to be absorbed by the private sector or stand on their feet upon graduation. Professional faculties like Medicine and Engineering that require a lot of investment to establish are missing in most of our state universities. Yet politicians continue to deceive gullible parents that they have established universities to educate their children.

Polytechnics that were originally established to provide middle level manpower in technical areas now run courses in Marketing and Banking. Even in technical areas, the contents and educators are not far from what obtains in the universities. Many Polytechnics are now headed by University lecturers with no iota of experience in the Polytechnic system but who are appointed as a reward of their contributions to the electoral success of some politicians or being close to them. That is why many unions have sprung up over the years agitating for equal status between products of Polytechnics and those of universities.

It is unfortunate that in an average of every four years our universities are closed down for a few months of ASUU strike. This has demoralized youth and parents, with many parents who can afford it sending their children abroad for degree programmes. The bitter fact, however, is that it is those strikes that have attracted the very little funding enjoyed by universities. For example, the Tertiary Education Trust fund (TETFUND) which has turned out to be the main financier of projects, research and development in our tertiary education sector is a product of ASUU strike. Successive governments have admitted that ASUU is a patriotic union which, unlike other trade unions, is genuinely concerned about the nation’s education sector and not just the condition of service of its members. Yet, the same Governments have always reneged on their agreements with ASUU.

Yes. TETFUND is only supposed to complement the regular funding of tertiary institutions from budget but it is now the mainstay for funding universities, polytechnics and colleges of Education. The budget mainly takes care of personnel cost plus a paltry overhead. As essential as staff development is to universities, neither federal nor state governments have a comprehensive programme for it apart from TETFUND. The scholarship scheme of the Federal ministry of education is used to sponsor children of politicians and senior Government functionaries to study abroad. Same can be said of the more transparent PTDF scholarship scheme.

Our universities now award honorary degrees to rich people of questionable sources of income in order to attract monetary donations from such people. Commercial programmes have become the order of the day in our tertiary institutions with quality sacrificed for revenue in many cases. Colleges of Education that are statutorily established to train teachers are now running commercial diploma programmes. All these are happening because the Government has abdicated from its responsibility of funding education.

In sum, the crisis in the education sector is pervasive and if the change agenda of Buhari administration is to apply to Education, every stratum of our educational system requires a complete overhaul. While the Government should continue to support primary education for all Nigerian children, use of public fund to support post-primary/post-basic education should only be limited to children with minimum aptitude to proceed to such level. This will decongest public secondary schools and enable proper teaching and learning. The current unwieldy nature of public schools, especially states-owned schools, does not warrant learning and it is a great disservice to our nation to continue with it. One way to effectively do this is by reviving vocational training centres where the other children can be trained to acquire skills.

Considering our earlier observations on some of the fundamental problems bedevilling the Polytechnic sector, it is worthwhile to follow the footsteps of countries that have abolished polytechnics. Our polytechnics have outlived their relevance and the best solution is to merge or convert them to universities as the case may be. Details of this must however be carefully worked out considering the fundamental differences in the administrative and academic structures of polytechnics and universities. Colleges of Education remain relevant and valuable if they restrict themselves to their mandate. Monotechnics may continue as long as they remain specialized and are adequately funded.

Early signals point to an impending showdown between ASUU and Buhari administration. The budgetary allocation to Education sector is a meagre eight percent contrary to extant ASUU-FGN agreement to progressively increase it to the UNESCO minimum of 26 percent. There are also other aspects of 2009 agreement that have been neglected by Government.  Are we ready for another ASUU strike?
Published in Blueprint Newspaper of Wednesday 6th April, 2016