It will be indeed unfair for anyone no matter how loaded with facts he may be to stand at this moment to say that the federal government of Nigeria is only folding arms and doing nothing about the state of the education system in Nigeria. At least there have been two giant leaps in recent time. First was to scrap the 6-3-3-4 system and replace it with the old 6-5-4 system while the second is to add more universities to the already existing 109. But perhaps, it is expedient to examine these plans to weight our chances so that the efforts of the government will not be like fetching water in an empty basket.
First, the 6-3-3-4 system, though government has the right to alter any policy or programme it feels is not working in line with set objectives, I feel that incessant policy summersaults generally, do not augur well for sustainable development. The 6-3-3-4 system which was introduced about two decades ago was designed to churn out graduates who would not only be employable but also self reliant. Specifically, graduates who would make use of their hands, heads and hearts-the 3Hs of education.
However, the nation has not been able to realize the lofty target that the system was meant to achieve, not because the 6-3-3-4 system is inherently doomed to fail. The fact that most experts have admitted is that from the beginning it was bedeviled with a number of obstacles.
First, there has not been sufficient funding for the system by administrators at the three tiers of government.
Proper funding would have ensured that teachers at the primary level are enabled to give the children a solid foundation and that teachers who handle vocational and technical subjects at the secondary level are well trained and teaching equipment provided in all the schools to make that aspect of the programme as result-oriented as it was meant to be. This has not been the case. Most public schools are mere playing grounds, with few unqualified tutors who are frequently on strike because of either lack of salaries or working tools or both. Education is not just about policies but largely about teachers, facilities and political will to implement policies.
Apart from poor funding, the system has been crippled by corruption. For years, even the paltry amounts that are set aside in the budget for the running of schools are hardly applied. The result is that while the bank accounts of some individuals are burgeoning the nation’s public primary, secondary and tertiary institutions have continued to deteriorate.
That the Federal Government is talking about going back to the 6-5-4 system, which was abandoned some decades ago because it was considered not good enough for the educational needs of the country is, indeed, worrisome, because apart from the fact that we should be moving forward, this move would entail massive reorganisation of structures, stationeries etc which would cost tax payers a lot of money.
There are some countries that are currently running the 6-3-3-4 system successfully and whose school systems are well respected globally. One of such countries is Japan, a reference point for technological advancement in the world.
Scrapping the 6-3-3-4 system will certainly upset the entire school system. The best step that government needs to take, in our view, is to undertake a holistic review of the current 6-3-3-4 system with a view to correcting the flaws that have caused the system to malfunction. It is a fact that no matter the system that is introduced by government in place of the 6-3-3-4 system, if the operators fail to implement it efficiently it will still fail.
The problem of 6-3-3-4 is implementation, especially lack of proper funding, inadequate staffing and poor provision of requisite equipment. Like the 6-3-3-4 system, most programmes in Nigeria have failed to achieve their desired goals not because they were
poorly designed but essentially on account of poor implementation
and corruption. Government must, indeed, therefore, take a second look at its new plan and resist the temptation to throw away the baby with the bathwater.
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