Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Friday, January 18, 2008

Policy in Nigeria

When your classes seem too big and the budgets are tight, think of your colleagues in Kano, Nigeria. Then think of the public officials who are charged with dealing with the situation there. What policies will help? How will they be implemented? Is this a good example of a weak state?

This report came from the UN Integrated Regional Information Networks.

Classroom Shortages Threaten Primary Education Targets

"The success of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme which aims to provide free education to every child in Nigeria caused the number of primary school leavers to more than double in 2007, creating a backlog that the secondary education system is struggling to cope with.

"Over 49,000 children in the northern Nigeria city of Kano who completed primary school in 2006 and wish to attend secondary school may not be admitted due to a severe shortage of trained teachers and classrooms, Kano government officials told IRIN...

(The photo to the right is a Nigerian classroom, but probably not one in Kano. Can your students figure out why it's probably not in Kano?)

"'We can accommodate only 60 percent of the pupils who are waiting to be admitted to junior secondary school, due to the shortage of classrooms we are facing in this state,' said Musa Salihu, education commissioner for Kano State. 'We are looking into the problem to see how we can overcome it.'

"Those children who do not gain admission may face missing a year, while those who do are certain to face overcrowded classrooms with up to 150 children per class, according to retired teacher Ibrahim Adamu. This goes against a Ministry of Education 2001 policy limiting class sizes to 40 students...

"However, despite increasing numbers, still only 60 percent of Nigerian children attend primary school, according to UNICEF's 2007 State of the World's Children report, making the country off-track to meet these targets..."

From Motherland Nigeria

"In Nigeria, the school year currently runs from January to December...

"[T]he first level of schooling that is attended is Primary School (Primary 1 through 6)... after that, students take the Common Entrance Examination to be admitted into Secondary School, which is the equivalent of 'high school' in some other countries...

"[A]round 1990 what was once known as 'secondary school' was split into 2 sections, and had a year added. So now, there is Junior Secondary School (JSS), which lasts 3 years, and then students have to take the Junior West African Examination Council (WAEC) exam or the JSSE (Junior Secondary School Exam) to move up to Senior Secondary School (SSS), which also lasts 3 years, after which you take the [Common Entrance Examination] exams to leave and go to college...

"Because college lasts for about 4 years, you'll sometimes hear this education system called the 6-3-3-4 system.

"Before a person can start working in Nigeria (of course, if they start their own company, this does not apply) they need to have one year of National Youth Service Corp. (NYSC), and most Nigerians go through this right after school..."

If your students want to make contact with students in Nigeria, the Nigerian Schools Directory lists addresses for some secondary schools.

Labels: concepts, Nigeria, policy