Education Care

Education is the means by which society reproduces itself in terms of passing to the new and fresh generation the shared societal culture, mode and quality of management of different sectors of the economy, technological and scientific skills and knowledge, production of new sets of people with various skills teachers, nurses, doctors, engineers, accountants, lawyers, architects, quantity surveyors, musicians, dramatists, journalists, economists, sociologists, bankers, etc. The future of any society therefore depends on the quality of current educational system.

To avoid accusation of exaggerating the current state of education in Nigeria, we may rely on the official Report of Vision 2010 Committee set up by the late General Sani Abacha:

Although the vitality of education in the quest for national transformation is obvious, Nigeria's education system is currently experiencing a deep crisis. Only about one-half of school age children are in school at all levels. At the primary level, schools still lack teachers and basic infrastructure such as buildings, teaching aids, equipment, textbooks and furniture. Thus, the primary school system suffers from over-crowding, poor sanitation, poor conditions of service for teachers, poor quality of teaching and poor quality of products. The secondary school system also suffers from similar problems. The curricula at this level have failed to promote the development of vocational and technical education as envisaged.

At the tertiary level, education has experienced phenomenal expansion without a proportionate increase in funding and facilities. The system suffers from problems such as outdated, dilapidated or non-existent infrastructure; poorly stocked libraries, inadequate laboratories and equipment, poor conditions of service prompting brain drain, low staff student ratio and poor quality of teaching, as well as low quality of graduates, especially in science and technology. Corruption, cultism and banditry are also rampant.

The foregoing reveals that Nigeria's educational system is in a poor shape. The nation's current literacy rate of about 57 per cent lags behind the average for developing countries; is far below the average in developed countries and is certainly below the minimum of 75 per cent required for economic take-off.

(Source: Report of the Vision 2010 Committee, Sept 1997: 37-38.)

To deal decisively with the crisis of education in Nigeria, the NCP will adopt the following education-care policies:

1. Adopt and implement the universal policy that regards education as a right not a privilege.

2. Build more classrooms, offices, lecture halls, laboratories, libraries at all levels of the educational system.

3. Properly equip the schools, colleges and universities with the tools, equipment, infrastructure, machines, books, journals, etc. that they may need.

4. Employ more teachers and lecturers as may be appropriate in order to attain the required lecturer-student ratio applicable at different levels, disciplines and faculties.

5. Pay attractive and competitive wages and salaries as and when due in order to prevent brain drain to industrially developed nations.

6. Make education free and compulsory up till secondary level.

7. Provide free education up to higher levels for those who desire and are capable of undergoing higher education.

8. Guarantee the right of education irrespective of ethnic, gender, religious or age differences.

9. Invest in higher educational institutions as excellent centers of research. They shall enjoy access to advanced telecommunication services and facilities.

10. Guarantee the right of independent student and trade unionism in schools and campuses.

11. Ensure genuine academic autonomy for educational institutions by making budgetary allocations to them statutory rather than leaving them at the mercy of ministries and politicians.

12. Ensure democratic management of educational institutions by involving, as a matter of policy, all segments of each institution students, teachers/lecturers and the non-academic staff in decision-making bodies.