NIGERIA-EDUCATION: No Return To The Good Old Days

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Oct 2 1996 (IPS) - The Nigerian government’s plan to salvage mismanaged schools by returning them to voluntary agencies and missionaries has triggered fears of elitism and declining enrolment.

“The issue of returning the schools to missions is a contentious one which has to be handled with utmost caution,” said Colonel Mohammed Marwa, the new administrator of Lagos State.

Stressing that education requires huge resources, Marwa added that, “if there is any way we can relieve ourselves of some of the burdens of running primary schools, secondary schools and tertiary institutions, we will be glad to.”

The federal government recently announced plans to return to their former managers schools taken over in 1977 from voluntary agencies and missionaries under a decree issued by General Olusegun Obasanjo, who was head of state between 1976 and 1979.

The announcement followed strong clamour by the missions and parents and teachers associations for government to hand back the schools to restore discipline and proper management.

“There is a great difference between schools run by missionaries and what we have now,” said 60-year-old Joseph Omotesho, a retired school teacher.

“During my own time, it was discipline and serious moral upbringing in schools, but today teachers are not allowed to discipline their pupils leading to moral decadence among our youths.

“If the missionaries take over the schools and they are given a free hand to run them, standards in our educational system might be back to what they used to be in the good old days,” he told IPS.

Some Nigerians however fear that returning the schools to the missions and other agencies would make education expensive and lead to lower enrolments, especially at the primary level.

In most states in this West African country, public primary schools charge no fees. For states that do charge, the fees range from 100 naira to 200 naira (1.25 U.S. dollars and 2.5 U.S. dollars) per term.

Fees in private primary schools range between 3,000 naira and 10,000 naira (38 and 125 U.S. dollars respectively) per term, depending on the school and location.

At present, about 63 percent of all childern aged between six and 11 years are enrolled in primary school, while at secondary level, 71 percent of boys and 67 percent of girls aged between 12 and 17 years attend school.

Nigerian teachers also have been angered by government’s intentions.

“The decision to return the schools is an attempt to re- introduce elitism, aristocracy, illiteracy, religious fanaticism, bigotry and undue indoctrination into the educational system,” argued the National Union of Teachers (NUT).

“Returning schools to voluntary agencies and missions would make education expensive and beyond the reach of the ordinary man,” NUT added in a statement.

The teachers also believe missionaries and voluntary agencies will prioritise commercialising education rather than job creation.

But the clergy, especially leaders of churches which have the financial capacity to run schools, slated the teachers’ union for its stance.

“Anyone who is against the return of schools to voluntary agencies and missionaries is only being fanatical” said Anglican Bishop Abiodun Adetiloye. “Under the missions, schools will return to normalcy again. Missions have a system of inspection which ensures discipline and diligence on the part of teachers and pupils.

“No missionary ever enslaved teachers,” the Anglican cleric continued, pointing out that in the past, missionaries subsidised education rather than profiting from it.

Supporting Adetiloye, the Prelate of the Methodist Church, Sunday Mbang, said teachers were better paid under the missionaries as their salaries met their needs, making them more dedicated to duty.

“If teachers say private agencies are poor employers, are they being well treated now? If yes, why do they go on strike every now and then?”

Some analysts believe that the teachers are opposed to the return of schools to the missions and voluntary agencies because they want to protect their collective bargaining power under the NUT.

“The teachers know that if schools are returned to various agencies and missions, their collective bargaining under the union will be stopped and this will not be in their interest,” one analyst told IPS.

Strikes by teachers at all levels of education for improved conditions of service and infrastructure have plagued the federal government for three years.

There have been cases where primary school teachers’ salaries remained unpaid for upwards of six months to one year, resulting in long industrial strikes and the closure of schools for nearly three quarters of an academic year.

Nigeria’s university lecturers have been on strike for the past six months for improved conditions of service and facilities in the country’s 38 universities.

The continuing crisis in Nigeria’s educational system has prompted the Nigeria head of state General Sani Abacha to set up a high-powered committee to examine the problems and offer solutions to restore normalcy in the system.

Announcing the committee on Tuesday, General Abacha said that the government realised that the crisis in the education system was due to the cumulative effect of negative forces both within and outside the sector.

The committee will closely examine all past and present policies of education and identify the areas of major constraints.