Globally, education is seen as the only important legacy which responsible parents can give to their children. This must not be just education for the dogs. To ensure qualitative education and patronage of public schools in Nigeria, various successive governments have introduced different educational programs and policies all aimed at ensuring that public schools are patronized.
Large numbers of parents are increasingly looking elsewhere for their children education. In spite of regular payment of teachers’ salary in some states, new books into the libraries, building of modern classrooms in some selected schools, the political propaganda of free educational policy of various state governments, enrolment into private schools, no only in the cities but also villages and slums areas, grows geometrically while that of public schools grows arithmetically.
The questions to ask are why this is so? Are there specific reasons why parents in drove are opting out of public schools and voting for private fee paying schools? Interestingly, poor parents who sell by the roadside, street cleaners etc are sending their wards into fee paying school.
Many parents prefer sending their children to private schools, when they pay close to nothing in public schools. According to parents, and as a former public school teacher, they want their children to get “qualitative education and this can only be received in private schools". They reasoned that students are better catered for, and at the end of their studies majority come off with flying colors.
In national competitions, the performances of private school students are a far cry from that of public schools. Take for instance, Ondo State was represented at the 2004 National Cow Bell Mathematics Competitions by a Junior Secondary School 2 student from a private owned school in the state.
If a qualitative education is what motivates parents to send their children to fee paying private schools,are the teachers in public schools not well qualified? Do they not follow the curriculums accordingly? The simple truth is not that teachers in private schools are more qualified than the teachers in public schools, what is noted is that there is dedication to duty and discipline in private schools.
Teachers in the public schools believe they are not well catered for. Salaries are delayed for months in some states. Allowances are not paid. Staff promotions are not done on time. A lot of public schools' teachers spend more than six years before they are promoted. All these reduce the morale of the teachers and their willingness to give the students the best.
They take their jobs and responsibilities with levity. The society looks down on them and believes that their gains are in heaven. Many engage in other businesses to make ends meet. They are frustrated and not willing to give the students the best they deserve. This in return leads to the poor performance of the students in public schools.
The prevalent strike is another monster that bedevils public schools. This also encourage many more parents to vote with their feet. Years to be spent in public schools are unduly delayed and extended. A conducive learning environment is an important aspect in education. Educationally rich environment stimulates pupils' interest.
According to Jane O.Omojuwa of the Department of Curricullum And Teaching, Faculty of Education, University of Calabar, the school remained the only place for most of the pupils in public schools to interact with books. What is noted is many public schools buildings built decades ago are dilapidated. Classes are overcrowded because of the collapsed buildings, and many students sit on the bare floor.
These situations are not helpful. In fact they contribute in many respects to the end products in public schools- students who can barely read or write and confidently expressed themselves. This situation is responsible for the instant withdrawal of two pupils from a popular primary school in Ibadan, Oyo State recently. When the head teacher persuaded their mother to allow them to continue their education in the same school, the angry mother who could not hold her frustration asked the head teacher: "why should I keep my children in the school similar to a market place? What sorts of education will they receive?
Unlike what is the situation in public school where morale is low and students are made to do teachers’ chore either in their homes or farms, various programs are organized and sponsored in various broadcasting stations including radio and television. This encourages exposure and confidence of their students. Many can adequately purchase different copies of newspapers and magazines into their libraries.
Newspaper is an invaluable ingredient in education. It encourages students to think critically, interpret correctly, reason logically, retain information and transfer it to the world of reality. Research studies have indicated that students who read newspapers in school have greater knowledge of the current events, are more politically aware, know more about the world at large. But when asked the authorities of different public schools why newspapers are not provided in their libraries, the response is, “grant has not been released by the government.”
Another glaring difference between private schools over public schools is the level of accountability. In private schools, the teachers are accountable to the educational entrepreneurs who can both hire and fire them (teachers).Such accountability is not present in the public schools. The same head teacher cannot hire and fire at will.
Because of these mounting problems associated with public schools, the reality today is if the cost of sending a child to a private school were to increase significantly, and state schools were to reduce drastically more parents would rather send their children to fee paying private schools.
The time has come when we need to realize that individual entrepreneurs have critical role to play in the provision of qualitative education. Education provision, historically, is under the ambit of individuals, communities, groups etc before hijacked by government. Since then education has never remained the same.
Politicians need not beguile the public about their so-called free education. They should be bold to tell parents that qualitative education cannot be offered by the government without parents themselves taking leading role in the education of their children. What is paradoxical is how many of these politicians and public figures have their children in public schools? This is time to emphasis quality not quantity.
Olajide (info@ippanigeria.org) is with Institute of Public Policy Analysis based in Lagos, Nigeria.