The quality of graduates produced yearly can measure the standard of education. When the standard has fallen, half-baked graduates are produced who can’t contribute to society in terms of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.
Education is defined as the aggregate of all processes which bring about the development of the individual to the fullest extent and also the maximum development of society in such a way that both enjoy maximum happiness and prosperity. From the definition, the output of education is for the society and individual to enjoy maximum happiness and prosperity. If this is not true, the purpose of education will be jeopardized.
Causes of Fallen Standard of Education in Nigeria
Poor funding: Nigeria’s education sector received much lower than the 26 percent of the national budget in 2021, as recommended by the United Nations. 5.6 percent of the N13.08 trillion budgeted for 2021 was allocated for education, contrary to the recommendation by UNESCO.
This has resulted in poor infrastructural facilities for learning, poor research funding, low-quality teachers, learning environments that are not conducive, etc.
I have observed that teaching or lecturing no longer attracts the best brains or qualified people. Moreover, people take up teaching or lecturing because of unemployment and later resign if they find a better job. So, committed educators and professionals in education are few, and this has had a devastating effect on education. When qualified teachers are inadequate, students’ quality will be low.
Most of the public schools have poor infrastructural facilities: laboratories and workshops are poorly equipped, which has impaired students’ learning process.
Examination malpractice: Somebody said, “The decay in education began spreading very fast when private secondary schools started to multiply at an alarming rate. Because money became the focus rather than excellence”
Some private schools’ founders know nothing about education, and their motivation is “there is money in education.” They are money-driven instead of how to train a child to a life useful to him/her and to the society to which he belongs. And that is why most of them encourage malpractice just to burst the image of their schools. Since their students are of low quality and their income is at stake if they fail, they resulted in examination malpractice as a means for their students to pass.
Unstable education policies: Our education policies have been as unstable as water; a different government with different policies. And this is affecting the standard of education. Some years back Post-UTME was introduced to check the irregularities in JAMB, later it was scrapped and reintroduced. This shows that our policymakers have no clear picture of how the admission process should be.
Poor attitude of the government towards education: An industrial strike by lecturers and teachers has become a yearly thing in Nigeria, and the government isn’t looking for a way to provide a lasting solution. Imagine a state where one of its tertiary institutions was shut down for months, and the government was reluctant to save the situation early. This can only happen in a society where education has been relegated to the back door.
Politicizing education: Selfish political interests rather than long-term goals and achievements have destroyed Nigeria’s education standard. It is a situation where politicians promise free education but fail to fund it and are only interested in the political points they will score.
Entertainment has taken over education: Companies and even individuals prefer to invest in entertainment than to spend their money promoting education, which has contributed to the falling standard of education. The only well-known academic competition in Nigeria now is cowbellpedia. Due to the heavy investment in entertainment, the way our children see education has been impaired negatively. The publicity and sponsorship given to entertainment is on a high level, making children lose interest in education. Although some IOCs in Nigeria have tried to give scholarships and invest in education, this can’t be compared with what is obtainable in the entertainment industry.
