The presentation seeks to highlight areas some of the observed blind spots in Nigeria’s basic education which have created a gap between what the policy stipulates and what obtains in practice. This would be done by analysing the concepts of compulsory education, free education, universal education, quality education as they apply to Nigeria’s basic education.

1. Re – thinking the Implementation of Basic Education in Nigeria
presented at the 39th Annual Conference of Philosophers of
Education Association of Nigeria on the 23rd October, 2019
Saheed Olanrewaju Jabaar, PhD
Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education
Faculty of Education, Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Kano Nigeria

2. Introduction
Education structure of any society can be
likened to a building.
Basic education represents the foundation of
the entire superstructure of the educational
sector.
All serious countries in the world give a pride
of place to basic education because of its
fundamental significance in enhancing all
aspects of social life

3. Basic education in
Nigeria: character and
goals
Basic education is the education given to
children between the aged 0 – 15 years. The
NPE(2013) recommends that basic education
which comprises of one year pre – primary, six
years of primary and three years of junior
secondary education is to be provided by the
government and should be compulsory, free,
universal and qualitative.
Provide the child with diverse basic skills for
entrepreneurship, wealth creation and
educational advancement.
Develop patriotic young people
Inculcate value and raise morally upright
individual
Inspire national consciousness and harmonious
co- existence
Provide opportunities for the child to develop
manipulative skills

4. Quality basic
education as an
imperative
Quality basic education for the populace has
been attributed to improved health by way
of lower spread of HIV/ AIDS, better
nutrition, lower maternal, infant, and child
mortality.
It promotes longer life expectancy and
accelerated demographic transition through
better birth control.
It promotes democracy, human rights, and
political stability through inculcating in the
citizenry understanding of rational and non –
violent ways of resolving problems

5. Philosophical basis of
basic education
Every living and non - living thing originates
from a small unit.
‘the beginning is the most important part of
any work, especially in the case of the young
and tender thing’- Plato
Locke strongly holds that in a state of nature,
all men are born free and equal and
therefore provision of equal educational
opportunities becomes essential.
J.J. Rousseau recognizes the potency of
education as a means of social control which
governments use to give direction and
purpose to their citizens.

6. The idea of
compulsory education
Plato emphasized the imperative
and the benefits of educating the
citizens of a country to know the
‘good’
in the 16th century, Martin Luther
pushed for everyone to be able to
read the Bible and form their own
opinion about it rather than relying
on the judgement and
interpretation of church leaders.
He advocated for education for all
so that everyone will be able to
read the Bible

7. How compulsory is Basic
Education in Nigeria?
Chief Obafemi Awolowo laid the foundation
for the idea of compulsory education both
theoretically and practically.
Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe followed suit in the old
Eastern Region
Universal Basic Education Act, 2004, section
2 (2) stipulates that:
Every government in Nigeria shall provide
free, compulsory and universal basic
education for every child of primary and
junior secondary school age;
The act criminalizes keeping children out of
school for whatever reason

8. Compulsory basic
education
A parent who contravenes section
2(2) of the act commits an offence
and is liable to on the first
conviction, to be reprimanded; on
second conviction, to a fine of
N2000 or imprisonment for a term
of 1 month or to both. Subsequent
conviction attracts a fine of N5000
or imprisonment for a term of 2
months or both.(UBE Act, 2004)
How many parents in Nigeria have
been prosecuted for keeping
children of school age out of
school?

9. How ‘free’ is basic
education in Nigeria?
Education is a capital intensive venture.
Basic education is free in many countries
As democracy gained acceptance in most
part of the world, the principle that all
citizens of a country should have equal
opportunity began to gain prominence and
people began to advocate for public
education such that all should have basic
knowledge to participate in the activities
required of a good citizen.
Basic education in Nigeria is officially free but
practically parents still need to take
responsibility for provision of some
amenities

10. Free education in
Nigeria
Government’s poor attitude to funding of
education has led to dilapidation and
collapse of physical structures and facilities
PTA plays a very vital role in the provision,
sustenance and development of facilities in
public schools
Basic education has the highest level of
enrolment as the population of entrants into
it has been on a steady rise over time. But is
receives the less attention in terms of
budgetary provisions
This can only result in poor quality basic
education and subsequent poor quality of
entrants into secondary and higher
education.

11. The idea of universal
education
It is premised on the idea that all humans
require be socialized into the culture of the
society for them to be able to contribute
meaningfully to the progress and
development of the society.
Any member or any group of individuals left
behind uneducated is bound to turn out as a
torn in the flesh of the rest of the society.
governments are obliged to provide
adequate number of schools, teachers, and
facilities to ensure that all children benefit
from basic education that will equip them
with competencies required of participation
in the life of immediate and global
community.

12. How ‘universal’ is basic
education in Nigeria?
The idea of universal education is that,
education should be provided for all and
sundry irrespective of social class, gender,
religion or place of origin or residence.
A report by UNICEF on Nigeria shows that
10.5 million of Nigerian children aged 5 -14
years are not in school.
Poverty, ignorance, and negative social-
cultural norms are major barriers to
universal education.
Economic inequality, cultural barriers, gender
discrimination are impediments to that need
to be removed before basic education can be
said to be universal in the real sense of the
world.

13. What is quality basic
education about?
Quality is the extent to which
a product is able to meet the
pre – determined standards.
One needs to look at the
goals set for basic education
in Nigeria on the basis of
which the process and the
products of the system can be
judged to be of high or low
quality.

14. How qualitative is basic
education in Nigeria?
Basic education is supposed to provide the
child with basic skills for entrepreneurship,
wealth creation and educational
advancement. Such skills can be broken
down into literacy skills and communicative
skills.(NPE, 2013)
Millions of children in Nigeria and other low
and middle-income countries face the
prospect of lost opportunity and lower
wages in later life because their primary and
secondary schools are failing to educate
them to succeed in life. (World Bank, 2017)
Among young adults in Nigeria, only about
20% of those who completed primary
education can read (World Bank, 2017)

15. Conclusions
• Basic education in Nigeria is compulsory only on paper because against the
letter and the spirit of the UBE act (2004), millions of children are still
roaming the streets when they are supposed to be in school.
• Officially, basic education is meant to be free but in reality, parents are
required to pay for basic amenities which are still not adequate in order to
have a semblance of conducive learning environment.
• Basic education is yet to be universal in Nigeria as poverty, insecurity as
well as social cultural norms still engender discrimination that keeps many
children out of school.
• The quality of basic education in Nigeria leaves much to be desired as many
of the products lack basic literacy, communicative as well as manipulative
skills required of them for educational advancement and taking up
positions in the world of work.

16. Suggestions
• The government should adopt a carrot and stick approach in ensuring
that parents get their wards enrolled in basic schools.
• As basic education is the foundation for other levels of education, it
demands the most attention in terms of monitoring and funding.
• There should be proper monitoring and supervision of both public
and private schools at that level of education to ensure that they
conform to the minimum standards.
• The government should wake up to the responsibility of providing
quality basic education for the citizenry by revitalizing public schools.

17. Thank you for listening