THE United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has released a damning report about Nigeria’s education sector.
UNESCO Country Director in Nigeria, Professor Hassana Alidou, while speaking at the launch of the 2012 Education For All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report (GMR), said Nigeria has some of the worst education indicators globally.
According to him, the report indicated that Nigeria has the largest population of out-of-school children. The report showed that Nigeria has about 10.5 million out-of-school children.
Alidou further noted that the EFA global monitoring report revealed a high level of gender inequality and inequity which is very pronounced in certain parts of the country.
The report also indicated that education costs are generally prohibitive in Nigeria among others.
These indicators showed that Nigeria might not achieve the goal of Education For All, barely three years to 2015 global time line in spite of the commitment and efforts of the Federal Government toward attainment of same.
Professor Alidou further said that since its first edition in 2001, the EFA global monitoring report had presented a thematic global view of the progress, challenges and prospects of achieving the six goals of Education for All, adopted in Dakar in 2000.
She said that the pathway proposed in the report should be seen as a template or framework for government to address the basic, transferable and technical skills of the youth, as well as the challenges of access, equity, quality, gender and poverty trap.
Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i, in her remark, called on the private sector, civil organisations, international development partners and other stakeholders to support government’s efforts at ensuring quality education delivery for all, noting that government could not do it alone.
Meanwhile the minister has frowned on what she described as poor public perception of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
She noted that this has negatively impacted on the efforts being made by government to revitalise the sector.
Rufa’i said that there was the need to create constant public awareness among learners, families and all other stakeholders, on the possibilities for progression, employment and self-fulfilment that TVET could offer.
She said that Nigeria recognises the crucial role TVET plays in poverty eradication, job creation, sustainable development and actualization of the Transformation Agenda, hence government’s efforts at widening access to Technical and Vocational Education and Training through the establishment of Vocational Enterprise Institutes (VEIs) and Innovation Enterprise Institutions (IEIs).
In her words: “In spite of the success recorded, I must mention here that one crucial challenge affecting TVET in Nigeria is low societal estimation of TVET. In view of the negative public perception of technical/vocational education, and the gross gender imbalance, there is constant need for creating public awareness, especially to attract women and girls”.
She also said that the current drive to reduce the number of out-of-school children was being strengthened by the gradual spread of the implementation of the Child Rights Act among the States, the establishment of model Almajiri schools in selected Northern States, increasing number of States accessing and utilizing the Universal Basic Education Intervention funds, among others.
