According to the Universal Basic Education Act (2004), every Nigerian child is entitled to a free, compulsory universal basic education up to the junior secondary school level. This Act seeks to conform with global standards set by the United Nations through its organs -UNESCO and UNICEF – in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Act provides that parents must take responsibility for enrolling their children into public (and private) primary and junior secondary schools. The Act further puts the responsibility of basic education on state and local governments. A major objective of the Act is to ensure that all children of age 3-15, regardless of ethnicity, religion, class or gender, have access to quality basic education.
Established in 1999 as a reform objective of the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) is saddled with the responsibility of achieving this national aspiration, therefore, making the approaches, strategies and other underlying issues around the commission deserving of continuous scrutiny.
UBEC’s strategies towards enhancing the rights of Nigerian children to basic education, according to its Executive Secretary, Dr. Hamid Boboyi, is “innovative and up-to-date, ensuring quality delivery that meets the tests of time.” These strategies have ensured the enrollment of 47, 010, 008 students in 171,027 schools with 1,686,523 teachers to educate this teeming number. A further statistics indicates a drop in number of enrollments from Early Child Education through the Primary and Junior Secondary levels.
At a time the world is growing adept to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other innovations in technology and knowledge, it’s a far cry for Nigeria to lead from the rear with over 20 million out-of-school children. This heartbreaking reality demands urgent commitment if the nation is to prioritise and take advantage of her knowledge economy. Foundational education remains a viable bedrock upon which any development projection is situated.
Upon keen observation, a dire challenge before the commission is to improve upon the number of teachers to meet such robust enrollment. Inadequacy of teaching staff is a major bottleneck to achieving basic education in Nigeria and stem the tides of our-of-school children roaming streets with a challenged future.
While funding and resources mobilisation is at the crux of any development aspiration of UBEC, the recent revelations by the executive secretary that 34 states in the federation were yet to meet their counterpart obligation calls for national attention.
Speaking during a recent oversight visit of the Senate Committee on Education, the UBEC helmsman disclosed that a whooping N236 billion meant to impact quality basic education on trustees of Nigeria’s posterity have remained unspent.
“In terms of regional performance, the North-west zone has performed the best, achieving 100 per cent access to the UBE matching grant, while the South-south zone has accessed 97.92 per cent of its allocated funds,” Boboyi revealed.
The unfortunate irresponsibility of state governors to pay their states’ counterparts funding ,and in turn access the UBEC funds to advance basic education in their domains speaks volumes to the challenges of basic education in Nigeria. In other climes, this revelation would spike serious national attention.
As a panacea, one would suggest that UBEC should publish the performances of state governments and geopolitical zones every month. It will put more pressure on governors to claim their state funds and pay requisite attention to the menace of out-of-school children and its attendant consequences.
On another hand, a dire responsibility also beckons on UBEC to ensure that funds disbursed are diligently applied to purported projects. Many contributors have seen the commission as a cash cow, inflating costs of contracts and fleecing Nigeria’s common patrimony.
UBE intervention funds, when prudently applied, will impact on the quality of basic education and the insistence of UBEC to meet this challenge by training educational secretaries from the 774 local government areas in Nigeria in this regard is a noble step in the right direction. Mechanisms such as involvement of communities, parent-teacher associations and the involvement of civil societies in monitoring UBE projects will also be of utmost benefit in the long run.
Another factor that could enhance the goals of UBE in Nigeria is the quality of basic instruction viz-a-viz the curriculum of learning.
At a time the methodology of instruction and learning is adapting to meet development challenges, the need to realign basic instruction in Nigeria to meet global standards becomes the more imperative. While it could be agreed that basic education is the foundation for further advancements, any pragmatic approach towards enhancing its quality delivery deserves emphasis.
It’s in this light that the current bid by UBEC to establish Smart Schools at the basic education level across Nigeria. Smart schools, also known as technology-enhanced or digital schools, are educational institutions that leverage advanced technology to improve the learning experience for students and streamline administrative processes.
The advent and subsequent introduction of smart schools would ensure that Nigerian children would measure up to their mates anywhere in the world if UBEC meticulously follows up in this direction.
In this regards, the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and UBEC to boost the efficiency of smart learning is applaudable.
This MoU, as widely reported, will enable the provision of educational infrastructure, particularly in areas with high rates of out-of-school children and underserved rural communities as well as integration of technology in learning. It will equally facilitate capacity building of teachers and educational administrators in addition to improving overall learning outcomes.
To whom much is given, much is expected, so says an old adage. It thus behoves on UBEC to put in place time-tested measures to administer its fund mobilization obligation, disburse such funds transparently and bring innovation to basic education in Nigeria. The Boboyi-led commission appears resolute to meet this beckoning responsibility.
Abonu, a journalist and media consultant, writes from Asokoro, Abuja.
