Universality Of Primary Education In : Trends And Issues

Joshua O. Oni Dept. of Educational Management and Business Education Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye , Nigeria

Abstract

Universality of primary education dates back to the 1950’s. Before independence, the different governments in southern Nigeria proclaimed primary education to be universal. After independence, during the second republic, all the state governments in the southwest geo-political zone announced that primary education, amongst other levels of education, was for all. On two different occasions, the federal government expressed its intention that primary education was (and still is) for all children Much as the different governments have tried; the story of the exercise has not been one of full success. Different unresolved issues are responsible. These are: poor projection resulting in pupil population explosion, and non-availability or inadequacy of educational resources; self-interest or overriding political interest, lateness in putting in place regulatory policies, apathy on the part of some parents, and unstable polity. In order to solve the identified problems, the different tiers of government—federal, state and local—should have genuine interest in education and display the needed political will. More importantly, good governance is necessary to guarantee political stability and, by extension, universality of primary education that will endure for as long as there is human civilization.

Introduction Primary education has always been regarded as a vital stratum in the nation’s education system. For one thing, it is the first stage. While it is debatable to say which of primary, secondary, post-secondary and higher education sub-systems is the most important, nobody will disagree that primary education is the stage patronized by a lot of learners. Whereas not all beneficiaries of primary education get to other levels, all beneficiaries of other levels of education must first pass through primary schools. The fact that it is the foundation of the whole educational edifice underscores its important. Acquisition of literacy and enlightenment are major benefits of primary education system. Indisputably, these are a panacea for many problems including poverty, ignorance, squalor, religious bigotry and political servitude. An enlightened citizenry is a blessing as they make having a peaceful and prosperous society possible. Understandably, government has for long known the importance of primary education. The recognition has, among other things, motivated different governments on various occasions in a little more than half a century to make primary education free and proclaim it universal. International Journal of African & African American Studies 24 Vol. VII, No. 1, Jan 2008

Trends In The Universality Of Primary Education In Nigeria Universality of primary education in Nigeria dates back to the 1950’s. In 1951, the Department of Education engaged in serious reflection on the educational policy of the whole country. Afterwards, it reached a conclusion hereby quoted:

While universal primary education is one of the essential aims of educational policy it is not the only, nor is it necessarily the most urgent aim. … The present policy while recognizing the desirability of universal primary education wisely refrains from attempting any estimate as to when it can be achieved, but equally wisely proceeds on the assumption that the first step towards its consummation is to increase, within the resources available, the provision for secondary education and teacher training so as to increase the flow of teachers. At the same time, a considerable investment in technical education has been made in the hope that it will aim towards an increase in the country’s productivity and hence in its wealth. (Nigeria, 1952, pp. 18, 19)

In the same year, 1951, there emerged Macpherson Constitution. Sir John Macpherson, the Governor, was the personality that initiated it. In 1952, the nation could boast not less than three different political parties. These were National Council of Nigeria and the Camerouns (N.C.N.C.), Action Group (A.G.) and Northern People’s Congress (N.P.C.) These parties were very popular and in control of government in the Eastern Region, Western Region and Northern Region, respectively. Macpherson Constitution, among other things, made education a regional matter. Each of the three regions—Eastern Region, Northern Region and Western Region—was, henceforth, free to raise funds and enact laws on education. By July 1952, the Minister of Education, Western Region, Hon. S. O. Awokoya, presented a sessional paper on the educational policy of the region to the House of Assembly. It was to be “one of expansion and reorientation.” (Sessional Paper, 1952, p. 5) This policy for expansion was a six-year free primary education programme billed to start in 1955. From this target year, primary education in Western Region would be free and compulsory. Later on, universal replaced compulsory as no compulsion was evident. On January 17, 1955, the government of Western Nigeria launched the six-year free primary education scheme. Three hundred and ninety one, eight hundred and fifty nine (391,859) children appeared for registration in primary class I in six thousand, two hundred and seventy-four (6,274) schools. The attendance, in all the classes, altogether, was eight hundred and eleven thousand, four hundred and thirty-two (811,432). Four years after the commencement of the free primary education programme, the number of primary schools had gone up to six thousand, five hundred and eighteen (6,518) with one million, eighty thousand, three hundred and three (1,080,303) pupils attending them. The budget on education by the government was ₤2.2 million in 1954. It shot up to ₤5.4 million in 1955. (Oni, 2006, pp 52, 53) By 1957/58, the recurrent expenditure on education from the funds of the region was ₤7,884,110. The amount covered personal emoluments, other charges, special expenditure and grants-in-aid. (Taiwo, 1980, p. 117) N.C.N.C. criticized the bold attempt at universalizing primary education in the Western Region especially the tax measures planned by the government to supplement the finances for the programme. As soon as it was clear to N.C.N. C. that A.G. would not change its plan to embark on the free universal primary education (UPE) scheme, the rivalry International Journal of African & African American Studies 25 Vol. VII, No. 1, Jan 2008 between the two parties made the Eastern Regional Government to make announcement in 1953 of its intention to embark on free universal four-year junior primary education covering infant I, infant II, standard I and standard II. The Local Authorities would bear 45 per cent of the financial burden. It is not difficult to understand why the Eastern Region was humble in its proposal. For one thing, its financial resources were not as buoyant as those of the Western Region. Besides, N.C.N.C. was cautious of its earlier criticisms of the Western Region’s scheme. The government, afterwards, changed to eight-year free primary education programme.. The scheme was launched in February 1957 using fire brigade approach so to speak. Almost everything, expect the pupils, was absent. The time for good planning was not enough. The needed finances for thorough execution were grossly inadequate. Most of the teachers were of poor quality. The classrooms and necessary educational equipment were inadequate. The management of the scheme was poor outright. Owing to so many problems, the scheme had a bad beginning. The programme failed in just a year after it was started. The government had no option other than to change to free, universal primary education for the first two years. Pupil enrolment in 1956 was nine hundred and four thousand, two hundred and thirty-five (904,235). It went up to one million, two hundred and nine thousand, one hundred and sixty-seven (1,209,167) in 1957. , a federal territory, equally participated in the universality of primary education. It started free UPE in January 1957. As at the time, it had ninety-six (96) primary schools having fifty thousand, one hundred and eighty-two (50,182) pupils. The children were taught by one thousand, six hundred and forty-six (1,646) teachers. (Fafunwa, 1991, p. 174) The Lagos City Council bore full responsibility on education, among other responsibilities. The Northern Region seemed to opt out of the race in the provision of free UPE. Admittedly, about half the number of children in the country was in the region, the leaders never gave serious consideration, if at all, to the issue of UPE. It appeared the region was so comfortable with the Islamic system of education which had been prevalent for centuries. Nigeria got political independence on October 1, 1960. In the year, the country had fifteen thousand, seven hundred and three (15,703) primary schools with two million, nine hundred and twelve, six hundred (2,912,600) pupils in attendance. It is rather disturbing that a few years after independence, the numbers went down. In 1964, there were fourteen thousand, nine hundred and seventy six (14,976) with two million, eight hundred and forty-nine thousand, five hundred (2,849,500) pupils in attendance. (Adesina & Ogunsaju, 1982, P. 2) Sixteen years after independence, precisely on Monday, September 6, 1976, Lieutenant-General (later General) Olusegun Obasanjo, the Head of State and Commander- in-Chief of the Armed Forces, launched the free UPE scheme. The landmark event took place at Oke Suna Municipal Primary School, Lagos. With effect from this date, primary education would not only be free but in addition be universal in all the then nineteen states of the federation. Government planned that it would be compulsory from 1979. Admission into the six-year primary education programme was to be offered to six-year-olds and those who would be six years in the calendar year. The federal government budgeted N300 million for making available school buildings and equipment and N200 million for the training of teachers. Two million, three hundred thousand (2,300,000) children were projected to be enrolled in primary class I. Projection of additional teaching staff and classrooms was put at 59,500 and 36,000, respectively. Three million (3,000,000) kids showed up for registration. Five million, five hundred thousand (5,500,000) others joined the new intakes. Altogether, about eight million, five International Journal of African & African American Studies 26 Vol. VII, No. 1, Jan 2008 hundred thousand (8,500,000) children started receiving formal instruction in primary classes I to VI. In just six years, pupil population rose from 6 million in 1975/76 academic session to 15 million in 1982. (Fafunwa, 1991, p. 218). During the Second Republic (1979 – 1983), the Unity Party of Nigeria made primary education, among other levels of education, free and universal in the south-west geo-political zone. In all the five states—Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Bendel, and Oyo—which the party controlled, no child paid tuition fee. In addition, reading and writing materials were provided for every pupil free of charge. The latest attempt at universality of primary education was at the close of the last century. On Thursday, September 30, 1999, the nation’s civilian president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, launched Universal Basic Education (UBE). The ceremony came up at Sheu Kangiwa Square, Sokoto, . Nine-year basic education, whose important component is six-year primary education, is for all children of school age. By March 2003, the “Universal Basic Education,” according to Prof. Babalola Borishade, a former Minister of Education, “had so far gulped over N13 billion.” (The Guardian, Tuesday, March 18, 2003). For a little more than half a century, various attempts have been made at universality of primary education. The story, uninterestingly, has not been one of full success. Put in other words, there has been no time that all children of school age planned for have been in school and benefited from primary education.

Issues Universality of primary education, in the true sense of it, has not been fully achieved by any government in the past. Not all people in the then Western Region born between 1949 and afterwards benefited from the free UPE scheme launched by the Action Group. The same is true of other later attempts. As at 1997, there were forty-one thousand, three hundred and forty-two (41,342) primary schools with seventeen million, three hundred and ninety-seven thousand, five hundred and fifty-three (17,397,553) pupils in attendance. (Federal Ministry of Education, undated) The truth is that the failure of the UPE of 1976 was one of the reasons for the introduction of the UBE. Uninterestingly, however, eight years after the launching of the UBE, millions of children are still on the streets, outside the classrooms. Poor projection is an important issue that has affected universality of primary education in Nigeria. In the case of the UPE scheme of 1976, for instance, the projection was 30 per cent underestimation. Previous projections were not better either. A highly probable factor for poor projection is faulty census exercises. Population census, restricted to Lagos Island and parts of the mainland, was conducted in 1866, 1871 and 1896. Other population estimates were those of 1901, 1911 and 1921. Before independence, elaborate population census exercise was carried out in 1952/53. After independence, census exercise had been carried out in 1962-1963, 1973, 1991 and 2006. Uninterestingly, however, each of the censuses conducted since 1952/53, save perhaps that of 1991, has been marred with massive irregularities. As an example, in the 2006 census, an assistant controller of the National Population Commission, posted to , “was arrested for allegedly selling five cartoons of National Population Commission Form 01 for one million Naira (N1,000,000)”. (The Guardian, Monday, March 27, 2006, p. 1) Equally, enumerators were found filling and thumb printing “the National Population Commission enumeration forms themselves—meant to be filled by residents—when it dawned on them that they might not be able to cover their enumeration areas before the end of the exercise.” (Nigerian Tribune, Tuesday, 28 March, 2006, p. 6) Usually, a projection exercise relies heavily on figures from censuses. Planning becomes very difficult when the planner does not know the exact number of children at a particular time or during a plan period. International Journal of African & African American Studies 27 Vol. VII, No. 1, Jan 2008

Poor projection leads to pupil population explosion and pupil population explosion in turn leads to inadequacy of educational resources—financial, physical, and human. In Western Region, in the 1950’s, the resources for imparting and acquisition of primary education were not adequate. However, the government was able to weather the storm. The situation was worse in the Eastern Region. The nationwide UPE programme of 1976 could not continue in the 1980’s resulting from inadequate educational resources. (The Guardian, Friday, October 1, 1999, p. 2) Another serious issue that has affected universality of primary education is overriding political interest or self-interest. Almost all governments in the past but especially the N.C.N.C. in the Eastern Region have clearly demonstrated this in the 1950’s. There can be no doubt, whatsoever, that the Eastern Regional Government was ill prepared for its four-year UPE which she announced in 1953. She became interested just because A.G., a rival party, had showed its intention to embark on UPE. The issue of overriding political interest was showed much more clearly when there was squabble within the party as a result of which major changes were made in 1953. In 1954, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the leader of the N.C.N.C., replaced Prof. Eyo Ita as the leader of the government. In like manner. Mr. I. U. Akpabio now occupied the position of Minister of Education, which had been vacated by Mr. R. I. Uzoma. The government now changed from modest expansion to rather ambitious programme. Free UPE scheme of the region would now be for eight good years covering junior and senior primary education. The government expressed its intention to bear all the financial responsibilities all alone. The resultant effect, as we pointed out above, was total failure. The military government too cannot be absolved of being motivated by self-interest. The free universal primary education scheme launched by the military government in 1976 was hurriedly implemented to enable the military take the credit of launching the biggest educational programme in the whole of black Africa. The government was in too much haste that it launched the primary education, the first part of the nation’s new 6-3-3-4 system of education in 1976 and published the National Policy on Education, the policy document to administer the whole educational system, including primary education, a year later, precisely 1977. The military government announced that the programme would become compulsory with effect from 1979 when civil rule would have been in place. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the personality who, as a military Head of State, launched the free universal primary education scheme, agreed that the U.P.E. scheme of 1976 was a failure. The universal basic education programme was launched in order to stop the decrease and the rot of the UPE. (The Guardian, Friday, October 1, 1999, p. 2) In the last paragraph, the issue of lateness in policy with which to administer universal primary education was pointed out. In the case of the UPE, it took just a year before the policy document was published. The situation was worse when we focus on the UBE. The UBE was launched on September 30, 1999. It took more than four and a half years, March 18, 2004, to be precise, before the National Assembly passed the Universal Basic Education Bill. The President signed it into law on May 26, 2004. A situation of embarking on a big educational venture and putting in place a law to guide it afterwards is more or less putting the cart before the horse. It is a serious anomaly. Another unresolved issue is apathy among some members of the public. As a result, there has been no time, for more than half a decade, that all children of school age (i.e. 6 – 12 years) have actually attended schools. Between 1992 and 2000, government has intensified efforts to increase access to schooling. The gross primary school intake in Nigeria for both boys and girls in 1992 was 14,805,937. The number rose steadily to 16,190,947 in International Journal of African & African American Studies 28 Vol. VII, No. 1, Jan 2008

1995 but dropped to 14,078,473 in 1996. By the year 1998, it picked up again to 17,305,991 and continued to rise to 22,143,090 in the year 2000. (Gidado, 2001, pp. 33-34) Clearly, in spite of government attempts, however, having 100 per cent literacy level has remained a mirage. This is because some members of the society had expressed the feeling of not being interested in the universality of primary education scheme. According to report, 24.2 per cent of children of school age are not attending schools in Nigeria. (African Education Consortium, 2003) Unstable polity is perhaps the greatest problem that universality of primary education has faced. Intra-party squabble of the N.C.N.C. affected the success of the UPE scheme in the Eastern Region. The efforts of both the Western and Eastern Region did not endure for a decade. In just a little while after independence, there were political troubles. In May and June 1964, the whole country was bedeviled by series of unrests, riots, and strikes. The situation degenerated into the expiration of the First Republic and the take-over of government by the military in 1966. The ugly scenario was followed by a thirty-month old civil war. The nationwide UPE scheme of 1976 did not last so long. In just three years after its launching, it was only in the South-West geo-political zone, controlled by the UPN, that primary education was actually made free and universal. Uninterestingly, the military struck in January 1, 1984 and brought an end to the Second Republic. Between the time and 1999 when another attempt at universality of primary education was made, four different military regimes ruled the country. The military left the political stage on May 29, 1999. The last eight-year administration, headed by a former military Head of State, is believed by many as a period of transition to civil rule or full-blown democracy. Unstable polity is a serious difficulty which has affected not only universality of primary education but the whole nation’s education system. Unstable polity usually results into a state of uncertainty about what priority should be given to the advancement of education. For emphasis, political instability as well as mismanagement have affected systematic growth, development, continuity, and sustainability for quite a long time. During the period of war, serious crises, or unrests, all attention shifts to and enormous resources committed to the issue of security and stability. Education, among other sectors, is hardly given attention if at all.

Solution and Conclusion All the different attempts at universalizing primary education have at least showed that somehow, the nation is not averse to giving primary education to all and sundry. Before independence, all governments in the southern side of the Niger River ventured. into providing free primary education on different occasions. After independence, the federal government made primary education free for all on more than one time. During the Second Republic, all the state governments in the south-west geo-political region universalized primary education. Good as the lofty ideal of universality of primary education is, certain factors have militated against its recording high success. Put in order words, much as the government has tried, the success can hardly be said to match the efforts. As a result, Nigeria is yet to have all her children able to read and write in this jet age in the new millennium. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria places education in the concurrent legislative list. The meaning is that provision and administration of primary education are the responsibility of both the federal and state governments. The constitution equally states that: “the functions of a Local Government Council shall include participation International Journal of African & African American Studies 29 Vol. VII, No. 1, Jan 2008 of such Council in the government of a State as respects . . . the provision and maintenance of primary education.” (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999) A lot of achievements will be made if all the three tiers of government—federal, state and local—have genuine interest and display the necessary political will as regards universality of primary education. Ability to scale this tallest hurdle perhaps will make it possible to solve all the problems affecting universality of primary education in Nigeria. Seriousness on the part of federal government will make it possible to conduct credible and correct census exercise on which to base projection of likely number of beneficiaries of the primary education system. If the government puts in place a good mailing system, questionnaires, requesting for bio-data of each family, can be forwarded to each household and collected back easily within a short period. Government should educate all people, including enumerators, on the importance of supplying correct information as unreliable figures, resulting from falsification; affect projection and planning exercises adversely. Once the likely number of beneficiaries of the scheme is known, the different tiers of government should display the needed political will by making available adequate educational resources. Clearly, a lot of financial resources are needed to educate all children in a country of about 140 million people. According to Obanya (2002, p. 85) the total and successful implementation of the Universal Basic Education programme, would require, over a period of ten years, about three trillion, five hundred and four billion, seven hundred and forty-nine million, five hundred and thirty-two thousand, four hundred and twenty Naira (N3,504,749,532,420) The truth, however, is that if the political will is there, no amount would be too much to provide adequate quantity and quality of teachers, classrooms, laboratories, workshops, libraries, etc. for the training of future leaders of the nation. Worldwide, education is a worthy investment. The government should evolve a good culture of putting in place educational policies right in time before the implementation of educational programmes. The mistake of the 1970’s, whereby the federal government implemented the free UPE programme in 1976 and launched the National Policy on Education a year later, was repeated more than two decades later. The UBE was launched in 1999 and the law to regulate it put in place in 2004. This repeated serious anomaly should never be allowed to rear its ugly head again. The government should also be fully prepared to solve the problem of apathy on the part of some parents. This can be done through the provision of right enlightenment. In addition and equally important, government should enforce strict compliance of the Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act 8, 2004 to the letter. The law mandates every parent to release his child and/or ward to attend and complete the nine-year basic education by sending him to primary and junior secondary schools. Failure to cooperate would attract punishments ranging from reprimand for first offender, to N2,000 fine and/or one-month imprisonment if found guilty the second time; and N5,000 and/or placement behind prison bars for two months on subsequent conviction (Federal Government of Nigeria, 2004). It is rather surprising that since the UBE law was put in place to date, no parent has been found guilty and tried in a Magistrate Court or any other State Court of competent jurisdiction despite the fact that there are millions of school-age children, who are stay-outs, found in the villages assisting their parents in farm work and in the urban centres as housemaids and on the streets as hawkers. Needless to say, not all people will be ready to obey a law once they are aware that government is not serious at enforcing it. Issue of stability is always of interest to well-meaning people. As at October 1, 2007, the nation has enjoyed civil rule for about eighteen years out of its forty-seven years of existence. The military had occupied the political stage for the rest period. The nation’s International Journal of African & African American Studies 30 Vol. VII, No. 1, Jan 2008 political history will show that things have not been quite normal for decades. Admittedly, there in no human government, which can claim to be ideal, Nigeria can learn from developed countries that have enjoyed stability for a relatively long period. In addition, provision of political and religious education is necessary so as to have enlightened and god- fearing citizenry. Most importantly, good governance may be the magic to solving the nation’s myriads of political crises. Stability in the polity, in turn, will guarantee universality of primary education that will endure for as long as there is human civilization.

REFERENCES

Adesina, S. & Ogunsaju, S. (Eds.). (1982). Primary education in Nigeria. Ibadan: Board Publications Limited.

African Education Consortium. (2003). Literacy Review in African Countries. Accra: Koddan and Kads.

Fafunwa, A. B. (1991). History of education in Nigeria. (New edition.). Ibadan: NPS Educational Publishers Limited.

Federal Government of Nigeria, (2004). Compulsory, free universal basic education act 2004. Abuja: Author.

Federal Ministry of Education. (Undated). A handbook on the Federal Ministry of Education. Lagos: Personnel Management Department of the Federal Ministry of Education.

Federal Republic of Nigeria. (1999). 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Lagos: Federal Government Press.

Gidado, T. (2001) Pupils Enrolment and the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme. Paper presented at the 2001/2002 Enrolment Campaign Drive, June 13, 2001.

Nigeria: Annual Report of the Department of Education, 1/4/51-31/3/52. (1952). Lagos: Government Printer.

Obanya, P. (2002). Revitializing education in Africa. Ibadan: Stirling-Horden Publishers (Nig.) Ltd.

Oni, J. O. (2006). The administration of the Nigerian primary and secondary education systems. Abeokuta: Gbemi Sodipo Press Limited.

Sessional Paper on an Education Policy presented to the Western House of Assembly in July 1952.

Taiwo, C. O. (1980). The Nigerian education system: past, present & future. Lagos: Thomas Nelson (Nigeria) Limited. International Journal of African & African American Studies 31 Vol. VII, No. 1, Jan 2008