“Politics is too important to be left to the politicians,” John F. Kennedy, Jr.
It is another electioneering season and the rate of defections, mostly from the All Progressive Congress (APC) to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) will anyone paying attention to ask salient questions about how far Nigeria has come as a democracy and how much of education is needed to improve the quality of its democracy.
Citizens can only demand transparency and accountability from public office holders, when they can process information critical and independently. This requires a functional public education system.
What is a democracy?
It is a political system that is run and controlled by citizens of the country. Democracies are made up of elected representatives and require that governmental measures be voted on by these elected representatives or the people.
Democracies are not universal and are implemented and enforced in different manners. The first democracy traces its roots back to Ancient Greece and since that time democracies have continued to be created across the world.
Educated populace and democracy
If democracy is a political system run and controlled by the citizens of a country, through elected representatives, it means these citizens need to be able to make informed decisions and education plays an important role in the character formation of any individual and by extension a nation. But Nigeria is failing to prepare a large percentage of its population to take part in governance.
Some basic education numbers in Nigeria
Nigeria’s population has risen by over 43 million in the last ten years; figures from the National Bureau of Statistics show. The figures captured in a report, “Demographic Statistics Report 2015” available on the website of the NBS, shows that the country’s population which stood at 140 million in 2006, had swelled to 183 million by 2015.
But educationists have noted that the country is not adequately preparing its children for the challenges ahead. An illiterate population may fail to appreciate the burden of choices that come with democracy. The founding documents of Nigeria’s democracy are written in English Language.
Figures from the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) show that 40 per cent of Nigerian children aged 6-11 do not attend any primary school, with the Northern region recording the lowest school attendance rate, particularly for girls.
Despite a significant increase in net enrollment rates in recent years, it is estimated that about 4.7 million children of primary school age are still not in school according to UNICEF. This means these children who are out of school are not being given a chance to compete in the future.
“Even when children enrol in schools, many do not complete the primary cycle. According to current data, 30 percent of pupils drop out of primary school and only 54 percent transit to Junior Secondary Schools. Reasons for this low completion rate include child labour, economic hardship and early marriage for girls” UNICEF says.
Nigeria passed the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act in 2004 to improve education for children but the result has not been impressive.
To assess the efficiency and performance of the UBE school system, the Monitoring Learning Achievement (MLA) project, an international consultative forum, in collaboration with the Federal Government, measured pupils’ performance in three domains of knowledge: literacy (English language), numeracy (mathematics) and life skills (social studies, health education, basic science, home economics,) across some states of the federation.
The mean percent scores on the literacy was 25.1 percent, numeracy stood at 32.2 percent, while life skills tests was 32.6 percent. This shows to what extent Nigeria’s basic education system is failing to equip its citizens to raise critical questions.
A strong democracy needs a functional public education system
Nigeria faces the need for radical change and needs more highly skilled people so it can compete in a global economy. This is the time to understand the social consequences for individuals and society when children are poorly schooled. Across the political spectrum there is a view that Nigeria needs an education system that has universal high standards and is inclusive, and the public have far higher expectations than used to be the case.
However, politics has always been better at gate keeping than gate opening. It is well practised at building education systems that allow a few to reach the top, but it is much less sure of the levers it needs to use to deliver high standards for all.
