Education is a grace to the young, wealth to the poor, stimulating to the industrious, consolation to the old, ornament to the rich. It is without doubt that the standard of Education has fallen in Nigeria. Even the blind could see the steady decline in every facet of our educational system.
The problem afflicting the education in sector in the country are legion. From dilapidated school buildings to unhygienic and unsuitable learning environment, overcrowded classrooms, lack of basic learning equipment, incompetent and unqualified teaching staff, pupil-student- teacher ratio, obsolete and outdated curricular, while the rate of drop-outs and out of school children continue on the rise.
To save the education system from imminent collapse, there should be a revisit of the 6-3-3-4 system of education. The system was meant to get a child through six years of primary education followed by first three years of post primary education that is in conformity with his abilities and interest before proceeding to the senior secondary. It is at the first three years of post primary that makes the system unique from other failed systems.
According to Plato “man has three abilities” – the philosophers who are meant to rule the city because of their intellectual endowments, the artisans who manipulate the means of production and the guidance, who guard the city. Therefore, the 6-3-3-4 system is the ideal for positioning the child to tap their greatest ability, and in doing so, the society will function effectively.
In Anambra State specifically, it is advisable that as the new government forms and drives towards education sector reform and sustaining other wins of previous administrations, there should be a review, reconsideration and re-adoption of the 6-3-3-4 system of education as against the 9-3-4. The government should also upgrade the primary and secondary schools curriculum to meet international standards by placing priority on Mathematics, Science and Technology, Computer, Entrepreneurship, History, and “Recycling”.
It should also consider introducing two teachers per class at the primary school level where one will be for Science and the other for Arts. This is a sine qua non for competency and effectiveness of teaching and learning as against the present model where one teacher teaches the whole subjects.
Functional guidance and counseling offices should be established without delay in both primary and post primary schools, manned by qualified counselors. This is to help the pupils or students with their academic, vocational and socio-personal problems.
Various assessment methods should be adopted to prepare them adequately for the challenges of life such as classroom discussion, group work, writing assessments, peer assessments, quizzes, reflections, projects and excursions. Pupils and students who perform excellently well should be rewarded, to enable others work harder. Effective boarding system should be revived at the post primary level, with the principal and other relevant staff made to reside in the school premises for effective supervision. Saturdays should be set aside for serious sporting activities while the Ministry of Sports should provide logistics such as coaches, so as to catch young talents.
Government should eradicate all forms of levies on students whether collected directly or indirectly apart from the official fees by government in all government owned primary and secondary schools; while vocational workshops should be built and well equipped, with part time professionals as instructors.
To effectively galvanize these activities and put them into action, a State Education Trust Fund should be set up to increase public-private financing to facilitate implementation of some of these reforms. This is in addition to already defined sources of funding like the Universal Basic Education Commission, state and local governments.
Comments are closed for this post.