Educational Destruction in Nigeria
According to the United Nations Declaration of Human rights (UNDH) education is a universal right to every human around the world, any person regardless their race, religion, cultural background, young or old is entitled to be educated, Education is unanimously believed to be a task that's required for the authority to provide, most governments around the world has done a great job in the provision of qualitative education to it citizens, Consequently many are left behind, with their Primary educational institutions in deterioration up to higher and Tertiary Institutes.
The latter is the same story of my country Nigeria, education is unsatisfactory at all, we know in most countries around the world there's private and government schools, at the moment I'm writing this article government basic schools are indeed bad to see especially primary/elementary schools, certainly I'm a witness that most of those kids within the age bracket of 5-11 attending basic schools are living in classes equip to afford 25-40 students but end up with 150-200 students, there are even some news saying other classes in some schools have about 300-400 pupils mostly seating on the ground with dirty floors and decayed uniform on their body, school toilets are damaged, in some places' pupil defecate in public or behind their classes, no extracurricular activities, no sporting utilities, information technological facilities, there are almost nothing except the building structure, you can't even call the school a playground or rather a Hazard ground.
However this is a no-brainer for someone who has an experience with Nigeria's education system, I wonder how could it be possible for a single not so qualified teacher to attend 300 students.
Talking about the teachers there have been a lot of allegation that there benefit wasn't paid accordingly, In nigeria salary is paid monthly meaning after every thirty days, however it takes the teachers about 35-40 days before receiving their little and insufficient salary of the month, no benefits, insurance or medical coverage.
Even after you spend your whole life teaching with that little salary, meaning you retired after 35 years of government service, pension is not guaranteed to not mention gratuity, I have seen many pensioners demonstrating for the government to even care about their needs and keep their pension earnings unyielding.
How do you expect a current teacher to behave while his superiors who have retired are struggling to receive their own right (pension), thus is among the reason why exam malpractice is rampant and corruption in educational sector is remorseless.
Nevertheless, that's primary or elementary education, the case is even worse in tertiary/higher institutions,
Higher institutions I mean Universities, Colleges, Polytechnics, Besides, the dissatisfaction start since from the beginning of admission into those institutions, anyone willing to study at the University must write a mock exam in Nigeria called Jamb (Joint admission and matriculation board) you pay a fee before been allowed to write the exam, and the maximum score is 400 while the minimum is 160, however every about 1.5 to 2 million people sit for these exams while less than 20 percent of those with the capable ever get admitted, in 2020 coronavirus strike the world which stopped almost everything, according to Jamb 1.5 million people sat for the exam and universities were closed those students weren't admitted that year, the following year which is 2021 association of universities teachers ASUU academic staff union engaged in a painful strike that takes about 6-7 months, still those who had written Jamb that year were postponed together with those in 2020 meaning two years no one is admitted, However just recently 2022 that is still on strike since January no one is admitted still, meaning three years in a row student are paying their money for Jamb to get admitted, but the universities are closed, people are left stranded.
Nonetheless this just for the admission follow me to discover inside those Universities, how are they operating and many more.
Thank you
Photo credit : UNICEF, Google, and Read.cash