The crisis in Nigeria’s educational sector has now assumed a very worrisome dimension. The governments that will be sworn into office this May must tackle the issue head-on to avoid the catastrophic consequences that may soon engulf the whole nation.
Writing on our lack of reading culture in this column early this year, I lamented that our students go through primary and secondary schools without learning to read books and magazines for pleasure and education. They eventually graduate from universities, having learnt only how to cram notes to pass exams. Without reading widely, poor written and spoken English has now become the order of the day. Many of our graduates have limited vision and horizon. The simple joys of reading and the great benefits derived from this pleasurable activity are lost to this generation of Nigerians.
The recent revelation by the National Examination Council (NECO) that 80 percent of all the secondary school students who sat for its examination failed in English Language confirms my worst fears. This means that only 20 percent of the 256,827 candidates who sat for the examination obtained credit passes in this core subject which qualifies them for admission into our tertiary institutions of learning. The figures for Mathematics reached crisis dimensions long before this. As a consequence, the credit pass requirement in Mathematics for admission to Universities which was the rule a few decades ago appears to have been quietly dropped. Many students with the dreaded F9 in Mathematics can be found on our campuses reading various courses at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. The English Language credit pass requirement may soon follow this path. Students who are illiterate in both Mathematics and English will soon flood our universities and compound the problems bedeviling these institutions. Already, graduates from our Universities are no longer accepted for foreign jobs and postgraduate studies unless they pass through rigorous pre-screening and retraining designed to weed out the chaff we are churning out with worthless degrees and diplomas.
It is obvious that a state of emergency already exists in our primary and secondary institutions nationwide. Our political leaders who are currently canvassing for votes to enable them occupy key executive and legislative offices nationwide must recognize the emergency in this educational sector in order to face the issues with the seriousness and dedication required.
At the tertiary level of education in Nigeria, the situation is equally disturbing. Standards have fallen badly. Many of our graduates are nothing better than licensed illiterates in their chosen disciplines. Their knowledge base is grossly inadequate. Their ability to communicate and apply their years of educational training to their jobs is also highly limited. If you read a sample of what our university students write in their examinations, you will weep for Nigeria.
The National Universities Commission (NUC) which was established in 1962 as an advisory agency in the Cabinet Office is now a full-fledged parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Education. In nearly 50 years of its existence, the NUC successfully transformed from a small office in the cabinet office to an important arm of government in the area of development and management of university education in Nigeria. Why is it now failing to address the serious challenges facing university education in Nigeria?
It is time to look candidly at the NUC in order to critically review its role. The Commission is charged with four main functions. These include (i) granting approval for the establishment of all higher educational institutions offering degree programmes; (ii) granting approval for all academic programmes run in Nigerian universities; (iii) ensuring quality assurance of all academic programmes offered in Nigerian universities; (iv) handling all external support to the Nigerian universities. However, only two out of NUC’s eight departments appear to have been set up to specifically tackle the first three critical functions of the commission. This may mean that the NUC is not committing sufficient of its human and financial resources towards fulfilling its key function. New universities are being licensed which may not have the requisite manpower, infrastructural and financial strength to run degree courses. At the same time, approved academic programmes are not being adequately monitored for proper accreditation.
My candid view is that only strict monitoring and accreditation of courses using internationally accepted standards will force our numerous universities to work towards improving the quality standards of our graduates. All over Nigeria, it is the normal experience that proprietors of Universities and other tertiary institutions release grants for infrastructural development and recruitment in these institutions only when accreditation visits are imminent. Halls are hurriedly refurbished, temporary libraries and laboratories are quickly set up and qualified lecturers are ‘recruited’ or ‘drafted’ on board in a frenzied bid to ensure accreditation. As soon as the exercise is over, things promptly revert to status quo ante and these institutions coast along for another three to four years before the next round of accreditation wakes them up.
I believe that a reformed NUC with more stringent and far-reaching accreditation focus will ensure that these universities remain consistently awake to their responsibilities related to maintaining high academic standards. If necessary, a separate body should be set up to handle accreditation and quality standards in higher education. For greater effectiveness, the modus operandi of this new agency must differ from the current practice whereby selected university professors are the ones that are called upon by NUC to visit and accredit courses in institutions other than where they are employed. Those who are closest to the problem may lack the capacity to truly gauge its enormity. There is also a certain amount of myopia that will work to prevent university professors working in isolation to accredit their own or their colleagues’ courses effectively. Employers of labour in the private and public sectors as well as professional associations must be adequately represented when accreditation panels are set up. In addition, on-the-spot theoretical and practical skills evaluation of both students and lecturers must be incorporated into accreditation exercises to make them meaningful. If students are found wanting, their programmes should be denied accreditation immediately and their departments closed. Lecturers found wanting should be given ultimatum to update their knowledge and skills base within a time frame or quit the job.
The message should be made clear. The kind of reform needed in the educational sector is not the type which concerns itself with whether Nigeria should stick to the 6-3-3-4 system or revert to the previous 7-5-2-3 of old. Rather, we must focus attention on really substantial reforms that will ensure a return to the reading and teaching culture that will ensure that pupils are adequately prepared and armed with the English language and mathematical skills required to face the challenges of a truly demanding tertiary level education curriculum. There is really nothing wrong with the current 6-3-3-4 system. What we need are substantive changes that will make the system work.
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