CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The importance of education in the development of nations has never been in doubt.
Education has remained a social process in capacity building and maintenance of society
for decades. It is a weapon for acquiring skills, relevant knowledge and habits in the
changing world. Societies through ages have one form of education or the other, whether
indigenous or western education. This is because education is as essential as life itself on
the planet earth (Adepoju and Fabiyi, 2007). It is in realization of this that the governments
of different countries, including Nigeria have for long been making efforts to develop this
all-important sector that touches all aspects of human life.
Since 1948 when the United Nations made a declaration on the right of every child to
education, the developed countries, and to a lesser extent, the developing ones have in one
way or the other, demonstrated their commitment to universalization of education. In
Britain, for instance, education is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 5-
15 years. In the United States of America, primary education is free and compulsory in
public schools. In Japan, primary education and the first three years of secondary education
are also free and compulsory.
Since the fifties and sixties, a number of African countries have also initiated programmes
toward the universalization of education. African ministers of education resolved in
Harare, (1982) that for the period 1988-2000, African states should eliminate illiteracy
through the universalization of primary education for children and by promoting literacy
among young people and adults (Wokocha and Onuebunwa, 2001).
In Nigeria, considerable thought has been given to the intrinsic and instrumental
roles of education within the past four decades. Education has been viewed as „the
instrument per excellence for national development” (NPE 1998) because it is expected to
prepare both the individual and the society for a meaningful social change towards national
development.
The Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme was launched on 30th September, 1999
in Sokoto by the civilian administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who incidentally was
the same person that introduced the UPE Programme in 1976 as a military Head of State.
The main thrust of the policy declaration is that education is free and compulsory for all
children up to fifteen years. This programme is in compliance with the Declaration of
World Conference on Education for All held in Jomtien, Thailand to provide Education for
All by the year 2010. In its declaration and framework for action, the conference stressed
that basic education should be made available to all, and should emphasize the following:
(a) Access -making education physically, socially and economically available to all.
(b) Equity- ensuring that sex, social status, economic conditions, and geographical location
should in no way be excuse for discriminatory provisions of education opportunities.
(c) Quality – ensuring that the input, processes and output factors of education are the type that
should promote real learning.
(d) Efficiency – emphasizing on learning and on success in the pursuit of learning. Within the
Nigerian context, the issue of efficiency can be seen from the perspective of enrolment,
retention and completion of studies by the students, considering the fact that one of the
objectives of the UBE Scheme is to reduce drastically the incidence of school drop-outs.
The Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme is in accordance with the Millennium
Declaration of the United Nations to achieve Universal Primary education and Gender
Equality by the year 2015.
In keeping with the above projection, Universal Basic Education in Nigeria aims at
achieving the following objectives:
- Developing in the entire citizenry a strong consciousness for Education and a strong
commitment to its vigorous promotion. - Provision of free, universal Basic Education for every Nigerian child.
- Reducing drastically the incidence of drop-out from the formal school system (through
improved relevance, quality and efficiency), catering for the learning needs of young
persons, who for one reason or another, have had to interrupt their schooling through
appropriate forms of complementary approaches to the provision of basic education. - Ensuring the acquisition of the appropriate levels of literacy, numeric, manipulative,
communicative and life skills as well as the ethical, moral and civic values needed for
laying a solid foundation life-long learning. (FME, 1999)
Also, in line with the universal conceptualization of basic education to present-day reality,
the scope of UBE in Nigeria has been broadened to include the following: - Programmes initiatives for early childhood care and socialization.
- Education programmes for the acquisition of functional literacy, numeracy, and lifeskills, especially for adults (persons aged 15 and above).
3.Special programmes for nomadic populations, out of school non-formal programmes
for up-dating the knowledge and skills of persons who left school before acquiring the
basics needed for life-long learning; non-formal skills and apprenticeship training for
adolescents and youth who have not had the benefit of formal education. - The formal school system from the beginning of primary education to the junior
secondary school.
It is evident that the UBE programme is wider in scope than UPE programme of 1976
which was limited to Primary School level only.
Kaduna State has been an active participant in the implementation of the UBE project and
subscribes to the Education for All principles and process and, according to Kaduna
Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2009-2020, is working towards achieving the following
goals: - Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education for the
most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. - Ensuring that by 2015, all children, particularly girls in difficult circumstances and
those belonging to ethnic minorities, have complete access to free and compulsory and
qualitative primary education. - Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable
access to appropriate learning and life- skills programmes, achieving 50% improvement in
levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, eliminating gender disparities in
primary and secondary education and achieving gender equality by 2015, and improving all
aspects of education with measurable learning outcomes in literacy and numeracy.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme in Nigeria must work! This
assertion by Igborgbor (1999) is at once an expression of hope and a warning. The hope
inspired by the programme is that it will give us an opportunity to revamp our educational
system and make it to serve the nation as it should. The warning inherent in this statement
is that we do not have many chances left if we do not utilize this chance to revive Nigeria‟s
educational system.
Several efforts have been made by successive governments to provide qualitative
education in Nigeria, notable among them, was the Universal Primary Education (UPE) in - The UPE programme raised so much hope among Nigerians but failed due to
problems which have become perennial problem in the nation‟s education sector today.
These problems as highlighted by the Minister of Education during the launching of the
Universal Basic Education programme are: Economic hardship which led to withdrawal of
pupils from schools, overloading of the curriculum, lack of adequate training for teachers,
low qualification for teachers (TCII), 30% underestimation of pupils for the programme
and inadequate support materials. Other problems facing the Nigerian public educational
system are poor state of infrastructure, poor academic performance by students which also
leads to high level of examination malpractices, lack of motivation to learn as a result of
low moral by teachers and poor moral behavior and indiscipline among the students as well
as high level of school drop- out.
According to Adepoju and Fabiyi (2007), three demographic studies on the situation
of Nigerian primary education sector prior, to the introduction of the UBE programme
revealed that; 12% of pupils sit on the floor, 38% of classrooms lack ceiling, 87% of the
classrooms are overcrowded, 77% of the pupils lack textbooks while almost all the teachers
sampled in these studies are lack motivation coupled with lack of community interest and
participation in schools management. The United Nations in its 2011 Human Development
Index reported that there are over 11 million Nigerian children of school age are out of
school.
The situation is not different in Kaduna State where the News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN, 15 March, 2013), reported that the Commissioner for Education lamented that the
educational sector in Kaduna state is at a low ebb, the situation which he attributed to poor
quality teachers, poor infrastructure and obsolete teaching methods, among other factors
militating against educational development in Kaduna state. Similarly, the Chairman House
Committee on education, Honorable Umar Yunusa Mohammed, whose committee was
mandated to inspect some selected schools in 2011, observed that many teachers no longer
write lesson notes, while others do not just know how to write. It was in response to these
that Governor Ramalan Yero‟s administration organized an Educational Summit for all
stakeholders in the state in February, 2013 tagged,” Education For All is A Responsibility
For All” The State House of Assembly had adopted a resolution to call on the State
Governor to declare a state of emergency on the educational sector in order to save it from
total collapse.
The 2011 School Census Report of Kaduna State Ministry of Education, has it that
in Sabon Gari Local Government Area, 28.6% of the 339 classes in public primary schools
need serious repairs, 60.1% of them lacked sufficient seating, 43.9% were without good
blackboard, while 31% of public primary schools were without health facilities.
In the Junior Secondary Schools, it was reported that out of the 50 classrooms, 24%
were in need of major repairs, 54% were without sufficient seating, and 26% are without a
good blackboard while 7.7% of classes are held outside.
Similarly, in Kaduna South Local Government Area, it was reported that 11.5 % of the 635
classes in public primary schools are in need of major repairs, 43.1% lacked sufficient
seating, and 30% lacked good blackboards. Also, classes were held outside in 5.9% of the
schools while 31% of the schools lacked health facilities.
Similarly, in the Junior Secondary Schools, out of the 226 classes, 18.1% are in
need of major repairs, 46% are without sufficient seating and 34.1% lack good blackboards.
From the issues highlighted above, it is very clear that the problems facing the UBE
programme have to do with enrolment (which include the issue of gender), infrastructures,
teachers and funding.
This research is set to assess the extent to which the UBE programme has addressed
these problems, fifteen years after its introduction.
1.2.1 Research Questions
Against this backdrop, the following research questions are raised: - To what extent has the UBE progamme improved the enrolment, retention and
completion of students in public primary and Junior Secondary Schools in Kaduna South
and Sabon Gari Local Government Areas of Kaduna state? - To what extent has the UBE Programme addressed the issue of poorc quantity and
quality of teachers in public primary and junior secondary schools in Kaduna South and
Sabon Gari Local Government Areas?
16 - To what extent has the UBE programme affected the state of infrastructures in schools in
Kaduna South and Sabon Gari Local Government Areas of Kaduna state? - To what extent has the UBE programme addressed the issue of poor academic
performance and moral indiscipline among students in Primary and Junior Secondary
Schools in Kaduna South and Sabon Gari Local Government Areas of Kaduna State?