Education
Education is a tool for national development, and children are the leaders of tomorrow. There won’t be a brighter Nigeria if the children lack quality education. Nursery and Primary schools are the foundation of every other institution of learning. If the foundation is faulty, that means the building will be a total disaster.
Nigerian children are facing problems in their educational career due to so many factors, among which is their parents’ inability to take care of them because of poverty, and sometimes separation as husband and wife, and the ineffectiveness of the Nigerian government. The major obstructing factor to child’s education in Nigeria is uncontrollable corruption that is rampant among Nigerian leaders. This has strongly affected the standard of education across the nation.
- The legality of Child’s Education in Nigeria
The following provisions provide the legal rights for a child to have access to education under Nigerian law. Section 15 of the Nigerian Child Act 2003 provides that a child has the right to free, compulsory, and universal basic education and the parents should ensure that their children attend primary and junior secondary school as stated in the Act. It further states that any parents who fail to send their children to school would be reprimanded for the first conviction while the amount of N2000 or one month’s imprisonment would be imposed for a second conviction. The amount of N5000 or two months imprisonment or both is prescribed as punishment for subsequent convictions (Federal 2003). The strategy to be educated is to pursue knowledge anywhere and anytime. So, parents should be well prepared to educate their children as educating them is a way of preparing them for their future responsibilities and also giving them the power to get their rights in a legal way.
2.1 Government’s Roles to Formalize Child’s Education in Nigeria
It has been analyzed in the previous lines that education plays an important role in human life. Therefore, it is the Nigerian government’s duty and responsibility to formalize the education system in Nigeria starting from primary school up to the university level. The Nigerian government documented unprecedented growth at all levels of education between 1976 and 1980 at the primary, secondary, and university levels (Onyeonoru 2007; fyfe and Jankanish 1997; Egbokhare 2007). The present situation of education in Nigeria is far detached and cannot be compared with the situation in 1976 to 1980.
So, the education system should be made free to all children from primary to junior secondary school regardless of their status and financial capacity. If the Ministry of Education removes all their defects by providing free education as a universal compulsory basic education for all children, quality educational provision for rural and urban areas, adequately trained teachers, facilities, and free food for the needy, and free stationery for poor students, sound and standard of education will be impacted to the citizens as the best interests of the children and the nation at large. If the government could fully implement those methods of child education, it would attract and retain children in schools (Nelien 2000).
Pre-school education should be strengthened by the Federal and State Ministry of education in Nigeria, in particular, to incorporate drop-out children and working children into schools. The project will give more enthusiasm for an interest in school among working children, their parents, and teachers. It is the government’s duty to provide early free childhood education and children should be taught about their rights and duties to themselves and the nation throughout their curriculum and syllabus (Fafunwa 2002).
Legal Solution
Due to the percentage of corruption in Nigeria and its grave impact towards the education, deterrent punishment from all Nigerian legal system should be implemented on the corrupt leader, official, staff, and other in order to curb and control corruption that is rocking the educational system in Nigeria, for the interest of children and the nation at large.
Finally,
The following can be implemented for the reshaping, upgrading, and recapturing of the standard of Nigerian education in the interest of Nigerian children and the nation at large. It is discovered that school maintenance is beyond individual capacity. So, it is only the government that can provide free and standard education with all the educational facilities and good salaries that will attract and create a good standard of education in the nation.
The simple fact is that standard private schools are too costly for many Nigerian parents to afford. As a result of that, many children lack the opportunity to have sound education due to the financial constraints of their parents and the poor standard of public schools across the nation. Similarly, NGOs and some external aid agencies can also play commendable and useful roles in reshaping education in Nigeria and raising it to world standard.
The question is the extent of the capacity and capability of the NGOs to reach the state of equilibrium that will restructure the educational situation in the country (Bray 1999). As a matter of fact, with the huge population of Nigerian Children, the NGOs do not have the capacity to provide for all children’s educational needs unless the government is committed and dedicated to fulfilling its fundamental responsibilities by making funds available. NGOs should also avoid tribalism and religious sentiment in their activities.
They should not favour one tribe or religion against another faith in their activities otherwise they will truncate their main objective and purpose which is paving the way for sound child education. In addition, mosques and churches can also contribute indirectly, if they cannot do so directly by way of raising funds to purchase stationery for school children (Bray 1999).
Obviously, it is not only households and communities who should be the contributors for school building construction and purchasing stationery but in the current situation that Nigeria children are experiencing, the household, communities, philanthropists, and ecclesiastical places should all get involved to save children from darkness and ignorance.
Their participation in uplifting the education system can also be likened to their involvement in security and family protection activities as vigilantes. If they could do that for their property and life, they can also get involved in making sound education accessible and possible for children.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that there is an urgent and quick need for government, NGO, local, International Organizations, and individuals to support in the fight against all the hindrances that are confronting the Nigerian educational system in order to perfect Nigerian children’s education. The rate of corruption, strike, lack of seriousness, illegalities, and irregularities that dominate the Nigerian Ministry of Education must be legally looked into and the guilty officials and staff must be punished as a lesson and deterrent to others.
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