Basico 1973: Our education, their lack of education

This weekend, some of us who first met forty-three years ago as the fresh intake into Ahmadu Bello University School of Basic Studies in Zaria, met again in Kaduna to consider the Nigerian condition. I guess we could afford the luxury as most of us had retired and have more time. The minister, governor, and […]

This weekend, some of us who first met forty-three years ago as the fresh intake into Ahmadu Bello University School of Basic Studies in Zaria, met again in Kaduna to consider the Nigerian condition. I guess we could afford the luxury as most of us had retired and have more time. The minister, governor, and deputy governor from our set who still have work to do of course did not turn up. The immediate impact of retirement is a huge expansion of WhatsApp messages, hundreds a day, gossiping, discussing and arguing about the Nigerian condition.  Then the idea arose to actually meet and discuss physically. Walking into the room, I was a bit startled about this group of old people, many of whom I had not seen for decades. Then I realised I have aged as well. One pleasing thing however was that the small set of dazzling and beautiful 17-18 year old girls I first met in January 1973 had not picked up a single wrinkle. Who says being a grandmother changes the human condition.
I suspect all generations of students believe that they are the best. I know that our generation was actually the best. We came into Ahmadu Bello University fresh from secondary schools, just weeks after our school certificate exams and Nigeria was for us a land of promise and our social mobility was already guaranteed because of the solid training we had in our primary and secondary schools, both public and private. We had no worry in the world because our States of origin had offered most of us free education with scholarships and the assurance of post-graduation jobs should we decide to work for them. The conditions under which we studied at that time provided us quality education comparable to the best in the world, comfort and the assurance of a good future. Of course that has also been the case for most of our children, who have through our personal commitments as parents had the opportunity to get good education that is helping them progress in life. For most of us in the elite, we have heavily invested a considerable part of our income to properly educate our children. The question before the Nation today is the other children, products of the masses, will they allow our children enjoy their education in peace and harmony?
Most children of the poor in contemporary Nigeria have had no access to quality education in our public schools, and a massive 11 million, the largest number in the world, have had no access to education at all. They have provided a constant supply of militants for the Boko Haram insurgency, rural banditry, Niger Delta militancy and kidnapping. Those who managed to go to school did not get jobs and have been providing intellectual support for the meltdown that is contemporary Nigeria. The situation is simple. We enjoyed our youth, we got educated while young and as young men and women, and we got good jobs. We then abandoned the majority of our youth, ensured that they are uneducated or poorly educated and made it clear to them that they have no hope for social mobility. And we dared to think that the others would allow our children enjoy.
We used the reunion to reflect on this frightening state of affairs and it was clear to us that rebuilding a high-quality educational system that could build knowledge, skills, patriotism and confidence in a future that could provide jobs, opportunities and progress for the majority are the precondition for having a future. In 1973, The Federal and State Governments had committed themselves to a future in which the possibility of another civil war is excluded by ensuring that every Nigerian child born from the end of the civil war, 1970, is guaranteed qualitative and free primary education. Subsequently, we extended the promise from primary to basic education – nine years of free and qualitative education for all Nigerian children.
This commitment to educate all Nigerians took off in 1976 with the Universal Primary Education programme but over the years we did not sustain the commitment, nor provide the resources to achieve the objectives we have set for ourselves. Three things happened. First, we expanded primary school intake without the commensurate resources to produce more quality teachers and facilities for the public schools. Realising we had betrayed the masses, we removed our children from public schools and put them in private schools. Thirdly, we realised the rot we started had reached our private schools so we sent our children abroad to study hoping that when they return, they will still find a country. The result is the present state of affairs characterised by generalised insecurity, misery, anger, violence, extortion and destruction.
The Nigerian public school system has basically collapsed with over half of primary school graduates leaving school as functional illiterate. The quality of teachers is very low with many primary school teachers unable to pass primary school exams themselves and school infrastructure collapsed with students studying in overcrowded classrooms, without furniture, toilets and other basic facilities. The level of youth unemployment is compounded by the low quality of education received has helped create doubts in the minds of parents and children as to the value of education. Private schools have been largely commercialised and are focused on extracting resources from parents rather than providing quality education.
At our reunion, many people suggested that public officers should be banned from sending their children abroad for education. The problem is that many of the people making the suggestion had themselves sent their own children abroad. What we members of the Nigerian elite have lacked is a sense on enlightened self-interest. We failed to realise that if we do not build and develop our society, we will have no society to live in. If we think it does not matter to us, we should know that it would certainly matter to our children. In our deliberations, we noted that we must as a nation resolve to allocate significant resources to rebuilding education and creating hope within the angry youth bulge we have created. We need to develop a national consensus on the value and significance of education and we above all need to redirect educational budgets away from ministers and permanent secretaries to students, teachers and school facilities. Above all, we need to start producing a new breed of teachers who are well trained, well paid and respected. Why send our children to seek them abroad while we can produce them here if we make and implement the decision. Finally, those of us who benefitted from a good educational system and currently have time in our retirement should volunteer our time and skills in the revival of the educational sector.