How Nigeria can achieve education for all – Colbert

How are you able to provide quality education to poor students?We first agreed that anything we have to do must be viable and politically feasible, because we work with unions and teachers, and it also has to be financially feasible, cost effective. There is a global monitoring report released by UNESCO that Nigeria and Sub-Saharan […]

How are you able to provide quality education to poor students?
We first agreed that anything we have to do must be viable and politically feasible, because we work with unions and teachers, and it also has to be financially feasible, cost effective.
There is a global monitoring report released by UNESCO that Nigeria and Sub-Saharan countries did not attain the education-for-all goals. What can be done about this?
In the underdevelop countries, I think we have to look at how to improve the quality of education in our schools. This is why I feel that what is happening here at AUN can be extended to other public schools. We have to build on previous knowledge and experiences that had empirical evidence. And I think it is very important to have political will.
Part of the reasons why Nigeria and other countries have failed to attain the goals is that money was not judiciously spend on education. How can education be wisely funded?
The money being invested in the education sector has to go to the students because many times the money goes to the administration. Of course, administration is an important component in the sector, but education has many dimensions-students, teachers, administrators, communities and families. Therefore, we have to innovate the way education is delivered in classrooms and it’s very important if we take the school as a unit of change. Otherwise, we can spend a lot of money in meetings but nothing happens in the schools. So this is why I think you have to take the schools as unit of change.
What is the place of learning systems in the whole of this, because the ones adopted in underdeveloped countries appear obsolete, compared with what obtain in the West?
No, I think we have to make complex things simple. We have known about theories of education for many years but we just have to do pedagogical renovation in the way children learn in classrooms. We know that children can only learn in an active way when their self esteem is improved. So changing the learning condition of low income schools is something that can be done to achieve that. Without quality basic education, you cannot have a sound economy, democracy and peace in any country.
What exactly worked in Columbia that can equally work in Nigeria?
Well, we put into practice all the things we have known for many years, in a simple way, and we adopted the bottom-up approach.
How do you think your education policy introduced in Nigeria by the American University of Nigeria (AUN) will be of benefit to Nigerians?
We have made things very simple in the education system we operate. Under the system, a teacher without having a PhD could transform the learning environment and have results, not only in academic achievement but in peaceful democratic behaviour in the society and I think that is extremely important. I wish what is happening at AUN can happen in the lowest public schools.
Is that not a wishful thinking because a lot of money in sunk running the university and providing the needed services?
This is precisely what we do, trying to make things cost effective and simple. So, for example, here, you have a wonderful school government with committees, these are things that connect systems in all the schools. These are things you can project in all the national tertiary schools, how to organise the national schools to work effectively. So this is just one example that I can give you to make Nigerian public schools work.
(Cuts in) Political will is another problem.
The most important thing is the political will. When you have results you have to have empirical evidence and resource to convince political actors to implement successful programmes.