NORTHERN ENROLMENT IN SCHOOLS

There is need to revamp the education sector in the North

The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, recently dropped a bombshell when he disclosed that only 28 candidates from Zamfara State registered for the 2018 National Common Entrance Examination. Thisdisclosure speaks volume of the backward state of education in Northern Nigeria, especially since the examination was meant to provide the platform for admission of pupils into the 104 federal government colleges across the country.

Going by the statistics from the Federal Ministry of Education, there are only 50 applicants for the examination in Kebbi State while Taraba State also has 95 candidates. The minister further explained, according to a statement by his spokesperson, Priscilla Ihuoma, that whereas a total of over 80,000 applicants registered for the same examination in 2017 nationwide, the figure had dropped to 71, 000 in 2018 with Lagos having the highest number of registered applicants put at 24,465. Apparently worried by what the future portends, the minister pleaded with various state governments in the north, heads of schools and interest groups to encourage school-age children in many of the states to register for the examination. While we endorse his call, our main concern from this apparent high level of indifference to education is the negative effect it poses not only to the future of children in the region but the entire country.

What is particularly disturbing is that states in the region have failed to take advantage of the several federal policies that had been designed over the years to address this challenge. Some of such measures include tagging these states as educationally disadvantaged and consequently lowering their cut-off marks for the admission of their pupils/students into federal academic institutions. For instance, while the cut-off points for admissions into the federal government colleges (‘Unity Schools’) for states in the south usually range between 60 and 65, cut-off points are as low as below 10 for some of the northern states. Yet the quota for most of these states is hardly ever filled.

It is indeed a sad commentary on our country that almost every year, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) report always puts Nigeria atop the table of countries with the highest out-of-school population. Besides, not only did we miss the 2015 global deadline on the second item of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for every child of school age to have unimpeded access to education, Nigeria is lagging behind in all sectors in the implementation of the Education for All (EFA) programme adopted in 2000. Specifically, it was proposed that by 2015, children of education age should have free, affordable and accessible education.

It is noteworthy that the ‘Almajiri’ schools on which the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan invested billions of naira to aid education growth in the region has now been abandoned by the current government. Meanwhile, despite the huge amount of money annually allocated to primary education by many of the northern states and the so-called agencies in charge of free and compulsory primary education, millions of children daily roam the streets of major towns and villages, begging for means of livelihood.

Given the foregoing, what is not in doubt is that there is need to revamp the education sector, especially in the North. The policy thrusts for such action can be found in the outcomes of several summits and their reports lying around in many offices across the region and in Abuja. But if the situation is to be redressed, it would require the cooperation and collaboration of all the stakeholders, including the governors, local government chairmen, religious and traditional leaders as well as the parents.

WHAT IS PARTICULARLY DISTURBING IS THAT STATES IN THE REGION HAVE FAILED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SEVERAL FEDERAL POLICIES THAT HAD BEEN DESIGNED OVER THE YEARS TO ADDRESS THIS CHALLENGE