Nigeria’s educational mess: 4 ways to fix it

The significance of education in any nation can never be overstated. Education is considered a fundamental human right; it is one of the primary conditions to determine any nation’s development. Hence, a lack of quality education may be a stepping stone to destroying a country.

Sadly, Nigeria’s educational standard has, over the last decades, witnessed a geometric retrogression. This negative development accounted for why Nigerians are among the top migrating students searching for quality education in other countries. One would wonder why Nigerian students do exploits abroad and don’t perform up to standard in Nigeria’s institutions simply because of the educational system’s rotten state.

It is no doubt that Nigeria’s educational system is faced with inadequate funding, unavailability of qualified teachers, failure to accommodate students’ rising population demands, academic fraud, corruption and indiscipline, poor teacher welfare, insufficient infrastructure, and training facilities, among others. Therefore, the following solutions are highlighted:

To restructure and save Nigeria’s educational system, crucial steps need to be taken, most of which lie in the government’s hands. The government needs to provide quality education across the country with the necessary investments to get the desired results. 

1. Sufficient funding of the system with good management is one of the ways to revive it. The government should relatively release adequate funds for the renovations of learning institutions, procurement of quality learning facilities, research grants, proper welfare and salaries for teachers etc., to meet rising demands and be managed appropriately.
2. Corrupt practices in schools, education commissions and regulatory bodies should be strictly looked into and tackled. Government and citizens should actively follow up with educational budgets and projects to keep all concerned bodies on their toes. The teaching curriculum should be reviewed and amended where necessary; examination malpractice should be combated with government and examination regulatory bodies’ joint effort.
3. The government should review teachers’ remuneration to motivate them and achieve a high-quality delivery of the task. Regular payment of salaries should not be left behind as this would go a long way in attracting qualified and dedicated teachers to government-owned schools. A standard teacher remuneration will also change the attitude of young people towards the teaching profession.
4. Regular training of teachers with advanced educational materials and technologies will also improve Nigeria’s standard of education. Proper vetting measures should be taken during recruitment to ensure only qualified teachers are employed. Coupled with this, admission to the higher institution should be strictly based on merit.

To conclude, the only way to have quality education in Nigeria is through the importance both the leaders and the citizens give to it, for our future is in our hands.