ABSTRACT
The study “assessment of the implementation of universal Basic Education (UBE) programme in Lagos state” is an attempt to assess the enforcement of the “free and compulsory” UBE Act 2004, impact of the UBE programme in the development of educational consciousness among the citizens, the extent of implementation of UBE Curriculum. The research is necessitated by the need to assess the progressive success and failure in the implementation process, identify bottle necks, and recommend solutions so as to ensure that the programme does not fail. The research which was conducted in Lagos state had six research questions including: To what extent has UBE programme been able to develop strong consciousness and commitment to the vigorous promotion? What is the extent of implementation of UBE curriculum in UBE schools in Lagos state? To what extent has the “free and compulsory” UBE law been enforced in the states in Lagos state? What is the state of teacher motivation, retraining and retention in primary and Junior Secondary Schools in UBE in Lagos state? To what extent are teaching materials and infrastructure provided for effective implementation of UBE programme in Lagos state? What is the quality of UBE teachers in terms of professional training in the various states in Lagos state? The research had six research hypotheses in line with the research objectives and research questions. Appropriate literature of both empirical and conceptual nature was reviewed in line with the research topic, objectives and hypotheses. The research adopted the descriptive design and used the cross sectional survey method, the target population was 113,077 teachers and 2,951,552 students; while the sample was 400 teachers and 800 students summing up to 1,200 respondents, drawn from Lagos state; the research instrument used was structured questionnaires. The research instruments were administered to the sampled population, collected and analyzed using Mann Whitney and Kruscal Walis tests. The main findings of the study were that in Lagos state: there was significant difference among states in the implementation of the UBE Act (2004) the motivation, retraining and retention of teachers was low; the provision of teaching materials and infrastructure in UBE Schools was low, especially in rural areas; the quality of teachers in UBE programme was low. It was recommended that massive educational awareness strategies be employed to create more awareness in the zone. The use of “enter-educate” approach be employed, the Nigeria Police be empowered to enforce the UBE law, there should be adequate remuneration of UBE teachers, and the introduction of special allowances like rural teachers allowance among others.
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.2 Background to the Study
The fact that education has been identified as a veritable instrument for enhancing individual, community and national development can no longer be disputed anywhere. According to National Policy on Education (FRN, 2004) it is “an instrument per excellence for enhancing national development”. This perhaps could be why the Nigerian leaders have desired so much to make basic education available to the citizens. (Even free education), knowing that 7 out of every 10 Nigerians live on less than U.S.$1 a day, i.e. 70% of Nigerians live below poverty line National Planning Commission (NPC, 2008).
Nigerian leaders knowing the above and realizing that education is not only investment in human capital but also a pre-requisite as well as correlate for economic development (Ada, 2006) have over the years made concerted attempts to make basic education available to Nigerian citizens. As a matter of fact, many landmark events took place that paved way for the emergence of Universal Basic Education (U.B.E) in Nigeria.
At the international scene, there was declaration of human rights world wide in 1948, which includes the right to education (at least basic education), which was seen as a right for everybody. Also the 1959 U.N. declaration of child rights includes right to basic education and Nigeria is an active member of U.N.O. In 1968 there was an international conference in Paris with “the world crisis in education” as theme. This conference threw its‟ weight to the previous declarations. Another international conference which gave full support to the quest for basic education in Nigeria was the Jomtien World Conference on Education For All (WCEFA) held in 1990.
There was also The E.9 conference for 9 nations that had highest illiteracy rate in the world which Nigeria was in attendance in Delhi 1991. In this conference, the E-9 countries began to initiate ways of improving on their literacy level. Also, the Organization of African Unity (O.A.U) conference of 1992 tagged “Ouagadougou 92”, the O.A.U decade of education in Africa 1997 as well as Durban 1998 conference of commitment to E.F.A all gave boost to U.B.E in Nigeria.
In response to the above conferences, many nations have been making advancement towards providing basic education to their citizens. At the national scene, the quest for basic education in Nigeria dates back to colonial era when Nigerian elites/freedom fighters began to query the quality of education provided in the country by the colonial government. These struggles led to the introduction of free education in the western region in 1955 and closely followed by its adoption in 1957 by the Eastern Region. These free education programmes were called Universal Primary Education (U.P.E) and were restricted to primary schools in 1976, the federal government lunched U.P.E at the national level and it was enjoyed nation wide.
Besides, the 1999 constitution of Nigeria section 18 subsections 1and3 under education stipulates that; government shall strive to eradicate illiteracy and to this end, government shall as and when practicable provide free and compulsory primary education, free secondary education, free university education and free adult literacy programmes.
This implies that U.B.E came out of a desire to implement the constitutional provision of Nigeria. These antecedents discussed above at both national and international scenes paved way for the launching of the present universal basic education programme in Nigeria on 30th September, 1999.
Universal Basic Education as used in the Nigerian context implies free and compulsory 9 years of basic education for every Nigerian child made up of 6 years of free primary education and 3 years of free junior secondary school.
U.B.E in Nigeria is designed to cater for all children of school age (6-11 years), nomadic population, migrant people in physically isolated settlements, urban slums, adult illiterates, school drop-outs as well as people that may be considered as learners with special needs (Aboyi 2004). It is a programme which Ocheta and Olele (2009) say is a mandatory education policy for Nigerian children irrespective of such bottlenecks and handicaps associated with location, occupation, religion, race and gender. This means that social, cultural, economic, religious and location factors should not be a hindrance to accessibility to basic education to the Nigerian child. This clearly shows that UBE is an attempt at eradicating illiteracy on the Nigerian soil, attempt at achieving education for all (EFA), a step towards realization of millennium development goals (MDGs) and an attempt at putting every Nigerian child at the threshold of reaping the dividends of national and global technological break through. While addressing the education mini-summit in November 1999, the then Education Minister (Prof Tunde Adeniran) said, “the critical issues that require the attention of UBE are access, equity and quality basic education.”
The objectives of Universal Basic Education in Nigeria as highlighted by Universal Basic Education hand book (2007) include:
1. Developing in the entire citizenry a strong consciousness for education and a commitment to its vigorous promotion.
2. The provision of free Universal Basic Education for every Nigerian child of school age.
3. Reducing drastically the incidence of drop-out from the formal school system (through improved relevance, quality and efficiency).
4. Catering for young persons who for one reason or another, have had to interrupt their school as well as other out-of school children/adolescents through appropriate forms of complementary approaches to the provision and promotion of basic education.
5. Ensuring the acquisition of the appropriate levels of literacy, numeracy, manipulative, communicative and life skills as well as the ethnic, moral and civic values needed for laying a strong foundation for life-long learning, (P. 8).
As can be seen, the objectives are comprehensive, embracing, and encompassing. They also point to the fact that Nigeria wants all her citizens not just to get basic education but quality basic education, whether they are in Urban or Rural areas, primary or junior secondary schools.
From the several attempts to achieve education for all in the country and after about 10 years of UBE existence one would have expected that literacy level would be high in the country, however, statistics show that only about 35m Nigerians are literate out of about 150 million (New Nigerian, 3rd September 2009) this startling figure points to the fact that all the previous basic education programmes in the country failed woefully, more so that most of them died naturally indicating that there were lapses either in their planning or implementation or both. Doggoh (2009) however states that, “Nigeria hardly lacks in policy formulation but fails in implementation”, Mkpa (2005) also noted that, the most critical problem of our country (Nigeria) lies, not in the enunciation of policies, indeed not in the prescription of potentially viable strategies in education and other areas of our nations life, but rather at the implementation stage. The nation‟s education history is punctuated with numerous instances of brilliantly conceptualized policies and programmes that failed to achieve the desired goals at the end of the day. In each case the problem arose at the implementation stage. This then calls for assessing the implementation of the U.B.E programme which has existed for over a decade in the country in order to ascertain the journey so far. More so, that we are approaching the target of EFA which is 2015.
It is important to note that if timely assessment of U.B.E implementation is not done and problems identified and tackled, the programme may go the way of its predecessors or “ancestors” like UPE and the nation will continue to roll out increasing list of basic education programmes that do not meet their objectives fully and continue to waste her resources and wallow in underdevelopment. This is one of the reasons why this study is necessary or needful.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme launched in Nigeria in September, 1999 is an offshoot of several previous efforts of federal government of Nigeria to make education available to all her citizens. This programme which makes the first nine years of schooling (from primary 1- 6 and JSS1-3) free and compulsory for all Nigerian children of school age, is one of the nation‟s efforts to wipe out illiteracy in the country by 100% (UBEC, 2005) and to fulfill the nations commitment to education for all (EFA) by the year 2015 and the MDGS. Also looking at global trends and development, one can see clearly that basic education is the minimum requirement for participation in global science and technological advancement and that any one who can not afford it will remain an impoverished residue of a bye-gone age and will continue to suffer the pangs of underdevelopment. Nigerian government being aware of this reality has set in motion this programme in order to prepare her citizens for the voyage into global technological revolution and to put them in a vintage position to part-take in technological advancement and comfortable life. The UBE programme has the potential to achieve the above, make the citizens productive and useful to themselves, the country and the world at large if well implemented.
Unfortunately, after 10 years of existence of UBE programme, young children are still roaming about on the streets begging and hawking during school hours (Ajaegbo, 2009), the population of under-aged mothers (young mothers who should be in secondary schools) still looms high, and school drop-out cases appear to remain intractable (about 9.3% in primary schools) transition from primary to secondary school remains at about 61% and about 16% to post UBE (Road Map to Nigerian Education sector, 2009). The development of consciousness to Education and its vigorous promotion in the country also appears to be a mirage.
The UBE programme is in dire need of about 40,000 qualified teachers, 336,467 class room, 336,144 additional chairs and desks and 950,430 units of toilets (NUT, (2007), and road map to Nigerian education sector, (2009). The free and compulsory promise attached to the programme also seems to be only a paper work.
The teachers of UBE also appear to be dissatisfied with their remuneration and conditions of service in addition to poor or inadequate provision of teaching and learning facilities like libraries, laboratory equipments, books, e.t.c. The morale of teachers also appears to remain low indicating poor motivation, while the curriculum of UBE also appears not to be implemented fully in UBE Schools (Nwagwu, Ehiam, Ogunu and Nwadiani (2001). It is against this background that this research is out to assess the implementation of UBE programme in Lagos state.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
This study is out to assess the implementation of UBE programme in Lagos state in line with the objectives of the programme vis-à-vis the UBE Act, 2004 which serves as implementation guidelines of the programme, particularly, the research shall attempt to:
1. Assess the implementation of UBE Programme in Lagos state.
2. Find out the extent of teachers motivation, retraining and retention in primary and junior secondary schools in the zone.
3. Investigate the provision of infrastructure and teaching materials for the effective implementation of UBE programme in the zone.
4. Find out the quality of UBE teachers in the various states in Lagos state in terms of professional training.
1.4 Research Questions
In order to carry out a precise research, the following research questions were posed to give direction to the research:
1. To what extent has the implementation of UBE programme been successful in the Lagos state?
2. What is the level of teacher motivation, retraining and retention in primary and junior secondary in UBE schools in Lagos state?
3. To what extent are the teaching materials and infrastructure provided for the implementation of UBE programme in UBE schools in Lagos state?
4. What is the quality of UBE teachers in terms of professional training in the various states in Lagos state?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were put forward to guide the research:
1. There is no significant difference in the implementation of UBE Programme among the states in Lagos state.
2. There is no significant difference in teacher motivation, retraining and retention between primary and junior secondary UBE schools in Lagos state.
3. There is no significant difference in the availability of teaching materials and infrastructure in the senatorial districts in Lagos state.
4. There is no significant difference in the quality of UBE teachers among the states in Lagos state of Nigeria in terms of professional training.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The study findings will be highly significant to stakeholders including UBEC, Federal Ministry of Education, MDG Coordinators, SUBEBs e.t.c. in UBE programme in Lagos state of Nigeria and beyond as it will serve as formative evaluation for the programme after its 10 years of existence since the time it was launched in the study area In this way, it will avail the stakeholders of information as regards the journey so far. This will give them basis on which to make amends where need be and to navigate better into the future, e.g it will expose to the government where they are failing, may be in infrastructure provision, teacher recruitment, motivation and retention, full enforcement of UBE Law, e.t.c. so that they will come alive to their responsibilities and thus save the programme from dying like UPE.
SUBEB will also benefit from this study as the study will unveil the true state of infrastructures and learning facilities in UBE schools in the study area. It is hoped that this will be used as a basis for promoting effective provision of infrastructure and learning materials in UBE schools in Lagos state for effective teaching and learning. The study will also be useful to SUBEB as it will provide them with information that will assist them in controlling dropout rate in UBE programme, this they can achieve through provision of adequate training centres, infrastructure in UBE schools and development of learner or need based programmes.
The LGEAs Will find this study useful as it will provide relevant information as regards pupil enrollment, teachers recruitment, retraining and provision as well as provision of infrastructure in UBE schools. The study will also provide the LGEAs with informations that will serve as a basis for taking good management decisions that can guarantee effective implementation of UBE programme in their domains.
This study will as well expose to the teachers their failures and successes which will give them basis for striving for improvement like in the area of curriculum implementation. This will at the long run enhance effective curriculum implementation in UBE in Lagos state zone of Nigeria.
The study will also enlighten the parents/society on the prevailing realities in UBE programme and help them see the existing disparity in rural and urban areas in regard to UBE programme which will pose a challenge to those lagging behind and propel them to improve in other to catch up. This will help in achieving education for all in the zone particularly and the nation at large; thus the nation can reap the gains of a literate society which hitherto eludes us.
It will also help to avail the EFA partners of the Nigerian government of the prevailing realities in the programme in Lagos state and provide basis for inference into what may be happening in other zones. This research will also provide for the UBE sponsors information which will enable them to know the impact of their inputs so far, particularly in Lagos state.
Another significance of this study is that it will assess the implementation process of UBE so far and identify loopholes which when corrected will ensure the availability of education generally and basic education in particular to the nationals of this country (Nigeria). This will help to reduce poverty and eradicate illiteracy on the Nigerian soil as World Bank (1998) cited in Aboyi (2004) says “the provision of education generally and basic education in particular is essential for the eradication of illiteracy and the reduction of poverty” both poverty reduction and illiteracy eradication are critical for determining the actualization of vision 20- 2020 for Nigeria.
Furthermore, this study will avail the stakeholders in UBE generally and Lagos state in particular of the state of affairs in the programme i.e it will give them feedback on their inputs in the programme. This will help them to decide further what next to do to guarantee the programme‟s success.
This study will therefore help ascertain the extent to which the quality free and compulsory basic education has reached the minorities of the Lagos state of Nigeria. Finally the study will uncover impediments to effective implementation of UBE programme and suggest solutions which when adopted and implemented can guarantee more success for the programme in Lagos state of Nigeria particularly and the nation at large. in this wise, administrators in the programme and ministry of education officials will find this study useful as it will help them in removing bottlenecks to actualizing 100% literacy level and attainment of education for all (E.F.A) as well as education related MDG‟s.
1.7 Scope of the Study
This study was intended to assess the UBE programme implementation in Lagos state. This includes all the UBE schools (primary schools and J.S.S 1-3) in Lagos state which are encompassed in the study area. It was also suppose to cover all the arms of UBE, namely formal Education, nomadic Education, women education and mass or adult literacy programmes.
However, the study due to shortage of finances, personnel, time and the desire to carry out a concise and in-depth study was restricted to formal school system of UBE in Lagos state which comprises of primary and junior secondary schools. These are located in Urban and rural areas in the study area. The study also covers Lagos state which includes State. The head teachers and principals, teachers in primary and junior secondary UBE schools as well as primary and junior Secondary UBE, students were as well covered in this study. The study specifically dealt with development of educational consciousness and its vigorous promotion, enforcement of free, „compulsory UBE programme, Teacher motivation, retraining and retention, provision of infrastructure/teaching materials, curriculum implementation in UBE schools and Teacher quality aspects of UBE Act 2004. It also identified Impediments to the successful implementation of UBE programme in the study area.
For more Education Projects Click here
===================================================================Item Type: Project Material | Size: 68 pages | Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word | Delivery: Within 30Mins.
===================================================================
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.