Stakeholders have been urged to join hands with Federal Government in ensuring that the quality of teaching and learning at the basic level of education in Nigeria is strengthened for the graduates of the system to be globally competitive.
Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission, Dr Hamid Bobboyi who gave the indication in Abuja said even though the year 2020 was very challenging as a result of COVID-19 pandemic that led to lockdown of the country including closure of schools for the most part, the Commission worked hard in many areas including support for provision of e-learning and other response to the pandemic.
According to a signed statement by David Apeh, Head, Public Relations and Protocol, UBEC, Bobboyi said the Commission in realization of the importance of teacher in the provision of quality education, designated 10 per cent of the entire amount that is received from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for Teacher Professional Development through the States Universal Basic Education Boards.
“We remain the biggest teacher development agency in the country; not even the National Teachers’ Institute or any other agency.
UBEC’s 10 per cent of the entire amount that is received from the Consolidated Revenue Fund is designated for Teacher Professional Development through the States Universal Basic Education Boards. That is something that is very important for us to realise that we pump in a minimum of N10 billion every year for Teacher Professional Development in this country,” he said.
Bobboyi noted that the Commission feels this has to be done because it is essential for the teachers to be trained professionally, added that the quality of teaching given in the class is dependent on the quality of the teachers that are available.
He said, however, that one of the major challenges is getting qualified teachers to teach the children in the country, which he noted the Federal Ministry of Education was trying to address, saying for now every parent wants his or her child to study Medicine, Law, Economics, Engineering and host of others.
“A situation where as a teacher, one has to rely on support from other members of the family in almost everything, be it marriage, child education among others has to be corrected”.
UBEC in 2018 conducted a National Personnel Audit (NPA) report on Public and Private Basic Education Schools in Nigeria, with indications that Nigeria has shortage of 277, 537 teachers.
The audit further revealed that while 73 per cent of those teaching in public schools are qualified teachers, only 53 per cent of teachers in private schools are qualified to teach, that is those that have the minimum requirement of Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) and above.
This Bobboyi said: “Our hope is that with the current reforms that are being put in place where you attract the best candidates into the teaching profession and compensate them adequately, the narrative will change.
The UBEC boss also added that 15 percent of the entire money received from the Consolidated Revenue Fund annual is being voted to purchase instructional materials distributed to Schools Nationwide.
He said the expectation was that state governments would complement this effort, acquiring textbooks for their own schools so that with the help coming from the Federal Government, every child should have a textbook on the key subject matter, regretting that about 95 per cent of the states do not provide textbooks for their school children.
“They wait for the Federal Government to give them what would be given and if you do the arithmetic of the 15 per cent, maybe N15 billion and divide by all the number of children in the public schools in the country, you can’t meet the demand. It is important for us to realise what UBEC has been doing in this regard and understand other constraints and how our other stakeholders should play their own roles to ensure that we have quality in our schools”.
On the issue of equity, the UBEC boss said the Commission has been working on how to see that those children who are left on their own or whose parents have not been able to fund their education and those with special needs are accommodated in the school system.
He disclosed that 2 per cent UBEC funding goes to special needs education, which is about N2.1 billion each year that is disbursed to states. He acknowledged that the money was small when compared to the number of children with special needs while also lamenting that most often the usage of the money by states were not strategic to make a difference.“The key element is that most states are not even adding any funding to support what the Federal Government is providing.
The challenges are there but the structure of UBEC is to stimulate the development in particular areas, looking at how to expand access, improve quality, ensure equity and those elements of quality that we need to take care of in the system as well as provide necessary funding to the states and the states also bring their own. That synergy is required for us to make a difference,”.
On the construction of Model Schools in the six geopolitical zones of the country, the Executive Secretary, explained that the projects have been delayed by the lockdown as a result of COVID-19 pandemic for the most part of 2020. He disclosed that the plan of the Commission was to get some of the schools operational by September 2021 even though a lot of things have changed including the cost of the projects, which have to be reviewed upward.
Bobboyi said for a start, the Federal Executive approved the Seven Zonal Model in Lagos, Benin, Owerri, Kano, Katsina, Bauchi, Nasarawa and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Commission also secured approval for 13 States Zonal Model where for each zone two Model Smart Schools and in North West because of the number of States three, would be established. He added the total number of schools are 20 while the Commission is in the process of creating additional 17, he added.
