CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
The current
Universal Basic Education (UBE) scheme in Nigeria is a product of an earlier
educational scheme, programme and educational decisions. It is an offshoot of previous schemes, which
could be said to have been bedeviled by problems and which the present scheme
is expected to correct.
Social Studies
according to Dubey (1980) is the investigation of human activities; it studies
man at home, at work, workshop, in politics, at play, in the village, in the
nation, everywhere, engaged in his busy programme of living and it is
particularly interested in man’s problems about which decision must be made.
The content of social studies is drawn from sociology, economics, political
science, anthropology, geography, history, psychology, social-psychology,
literature, arts and music, religion, philosophy, achealogy, demography,
linguistics, communication, science… most of which constitute the social
sciences and the humanities (Mezieobi and Domike, 1996).
The other sources
of social studies programme include resource persons and places, oral
historiography, contemporary issues, mass media, etc.
In the light of
the definitions and descriptions of social studies as stated above, one of the
contemporary public issues that affect the Nigerian society today is the
introduction and The impact of universal basic education program (ube) on the
Nigeria child of which social studies is one the core subjects offered.
The 1950s laid the
foundation stone for later educational developments in the 1960s and beyond.
Educational efforts of the 1950s were themselves determined by the history of
educational growth from the fourth decade of the 19th century. By implication therefore, explosion in
education in the Western region had tremendous influence on other regions. It should be recalled that the 1950
Macpherson constitution created regional houses that were responsible to the
central government in Lagos. The constitution also empowered the regional
houses to make laws on education. The
effect of this was that regions grew differently in educational provisions (Aluede,
1992), (Kosemani and Okorosaye-Oruibite, 1995).
In the Western
Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo had the opportunity of putting his own concept of
education into practice. Thus, as the
leader of the Action Group (AG), he placed priority on education by drawing up
a comprehensive educational development plan for the whole of western region
which Edo state was part of, and adhered strictly to this policy because he
believed that to educate the children and enlighten the illiterate adults, is
to lay a solid foundation not only for the future social and economic progress,
but also, for the political stability of the region in particular and the
country in general. He therefore,
introduced free, universal and compulsory primary education (UPE) in 1955 which
is synonymous with his name in Nigeria
today (Taiwo, 1980).
The Eastern
Regional House that introduced the UPE scheme under the leadership of Dr.
Azikiwe in January 1957 followed the Western Region’s example. The Lagos area
that was cut off from the educational programmes of the Western Region in 1954
when it was declared a Federal
Territory, equally
introduced the Universal Primary Education (UPE) scheme in January 1957.
It should,
however, be noted that educational development in the Northern Region lagged
behind in what was being experienced in Lagos and other regions, because, while
the Western and the Eastern Regions were struggling hard to surpass each other
in the south, the Northern Region did not come to terms with the challenges of
the time.
However, the Federal Government of
Nigeria became conscious of the dangers of disparity in educational development
in a nation state and therefore introduced the UPE scheme throughout the
federation in 1976. Thereafter, there
was the regularization of primary education system throughout Nigeria. The differences that had existed in the
different regions were checked by the Federal Government’s decision that all
states of the federation must run similar programme (Itedjere, 1997).
The recent
re-launching of a similar programme – the Universal Basic Education (UBE)
scheme by the Federal Government of Nigeria on the 30th of September
1999 would suggest that after the failure of the earlier programme – UPE
scheme, and a careful analysis of the factors that brought about the failure of
the earlier scheme would have taken
place.
The Universal
Basic Education (UBE) is a programme designed to transmit a common cultural
heritage. The training of children and
adolescents in the norms, values and aspirations of the nation is a veritable
instrument for national integration and development. It is expected that educational reforms or
re-organization would be carried out to enable Nigeria’s education cater for the
future professional needs (Ayeni, 2000).
In addition to
playing the noble role of cultural transmission in the modern society today,
the UBE programme is designed to provide universal literacy, numeracy and
enlightenment. The desire to inculcate
in children the skills of literacy, numeracy and the ability to communicate
made the UBE programme worthwhile (Aboyi, 2004).
Apart from the
above, there is the need to lay a solid foundation for scientific and
reflective thinking, character and moral training and the development of sound
attitude, and above all, develop in the child the ability to adapt to his
changing environment (FGN, 1981).
The UBE programme, if faithfully
implemented by governments, it will not only be a powerful instrument for
achieving poverty alleviation, but also, a secured means of ensuring proper and
adequate internalization of sound democratic culture. As a matter of fact, this type of political
socialization is what we need in order to stabilize our polity, which will in
turn guarantees economic growth and development (Osahon and Osahon, 2006).
Before the launch
of the UBE scheme, the transition rate from primary school to junior secondary
school was 43.7%. By implication, 56.3%
of those in the nation’s primary school today are likely to grow into adulthood
as illiterates and this would further compound the problems of an estimated 43%
adults that have missed their opportunities of a formal education. It is for these categories of people that the
Universal Basic Education (UBE) intends to provide a second chance UBE
(2000). For Nigeria to attain the desired 100%
national literacy rate soon, it is imperative that provisions should be made
and actions taken to universalize basic education enthrone a conducive learning
environment and improve quality and standards.
The Universal Basic Education (UBE) scheme is designed to address these
challenges.
It will be
pertinent here to provide a highly succinct meaning of Universal Basic
Education and what it constitutes. UBE
is an educational reform programme of the Nigerian Government that provides
free, compulsory, and continuous 9-year education at two levels: 6 years of
primary and 3 years of junior secondary education for all school aged
children. There are three components of
the UBE programme and these are:
i.
Early Childhood Care and Development Education
(ECCDE)
ii.
6 years primary Education
iii.
3 years Junior Secondary School Education (JSS)
(UBE, 2005).
The goals of the
UBE scheme are to universalize access to basic education, engender a conducive
learning environment and eradicate illiteracy in Nigeria within the shortest
possible time. The specific objectives
of the scheme are to:
i.
develop in the entire citizenry a strong
consciousness for education and a strong commitment to its vigorous promotion.
ii.
provide free and compulsory universal basic
education for every Nigerian child of school-going age.
iii.
reduce drastically drop-out rate from the formal
school system through improved relevance and efficiency.
iv.
cater for drop-outs and out-of-school
children/adolescent through various forms of complementary approaches to the
provision and promotion of basic education.
v.
ensure the acquisition of the appropriate levels
of literacy, numeracy, manipulative and life skills (as well as the ethical,
moral and civic values) needed for laying the foundation for life long
learning.
Here in Edo state, the enabling law for the implementation of
compulsory, free universal Basic Education was formally signed into law on the
10th of June 2005 by chief Lucky Nosakhare Igbinedion, the former Governor of Edo State.
Edo State Universal Basic Education law (2005).
Under the existing
6-year secondary school arrangement, Junior Secondary School (JSS) is separated
from the Senior Secondary School (SSS) and this is referred to as
disarticulation. UBE(2005).In other words, the two levels should be run by two
separate administrations and eventually have separate locations and
infrastructures. The existing 6-year
secondary education is in contradiction with the existing policy of 6-3-3-4 and
is to be discontinued. To ensure
effective and successful implementation of UBE programme:
i.
The Federal Government has provided matching
grants totaling N35.98b between July 2005 and July 2006 for disbursement to the
states as Federal Government UBE intervention fund.
ii.
Federal Government is further investing N10
billion of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) funds (from the debt relief
granted by Paris Club of creditors in the following areas:
a.
Provision of science kits to primary schools.
b.
Improvement of teacher quality through
in-service training for 145,000 teachers conducted by National Teacher
Institute (N.T.I.) on annual basis.
c.
Recruitment of additional 40,000 holders of
Nigeria Certificate in Education under the Federal Teacher Service Scheme
(FTSC) programme for a two-year Federal Government guaranteed
remuneration.UBE(2005)
d.
Programme implementation is guided by well
articulated quarterly Action Plans that ensures that funds are applied to areas
of priority needs.
e.
UBE has an all-embracing procedure for
monitoring the utilization of disbursed funds and programme implementation.
Statement of the Problem
The Universal
Primary Education (UPE), which resulted in increased access to basic education
between 1960s and 1970s later, suffered huge setback due to lack of proper
planning and implementation and the desired political will on the part of the
leadership. The U.P.E. scheme failed
because the Federal Government of Nigeria underestimated the number of pupils
that would benefit from such a programme and could not also determine the
number of teachers, school facilities and the amount of money that would be
required for training and retraining in order to make the programme functional
(Ayeni, 2000).
Before the
launching of UBE in 1999, primary school enrolment (education statistics) for
1996 showed that only 14.1 million pupils were registered out of 21 million
children of school going age, 14.8 million in 1997 and 15.5 million in 1998
(FME, 2000). What happened therefore to
6.9 million children that were not registered and were not in school? Will they not further compound the illiteracy
situation in the country and in addition Nigeria has been facing the problem
of recording low National
literacy rate of 52%. An adjunct to this
is the problem of teacher-pupil ratio which was put at 1:76. This is far from the World Bank ideal ratio
of 1:25 (World Bank, 1998).
Closely related to
the problems highlighted above is that of low levels of achievement in
literacy, numeracy and life skills among pupils. A Federal Government/UNICEF and UNESCO
sponsored study (FGN/UNICEF/UNESCO, 1997), which assessed the level of
competence of primary four pupils in the three skills revealed very low levels
of achievement. The national mean scores
for numeracy, literacy and life-skills were 32.2%, 25.2% and 36.86%
respectively (UBE, 2005). In the light
of the foregoing, the question therefore, is how effective is the impact of
universal basic education program (ube) on the Nigeria child in order to avoid
the pitfalls of the past and to ensure that the goals and objectives of the
programme are achieved?
Research Questions
The study sought
to provide answers to the following research questions:
1.
Is there any significant difference in pupil’s
enrolment in the pre and post UBE declaration periods in Edo State?
2.
Is there any significant difference in the
availability of facilities in schools in Edo State
in the pre and post UBE declaration periods?
3.
Is there any significant difference in the
distribution of facilities across geographical locations (ie urban and rural)
in Edo State in pre and post UBE periods?
4.
To what extent are teachers available in schools
in Edo State in the pre and post UBE periods?
5.
To what extent are teachers participating in
in-service training programme in Edo
State in the pre and post
UBE declaration periods?
6.
To what extent were the activities of Public
primary schools monitored and evaluated in Edo State
in the pre and post UBE periods?
Hypotheses
The following null hypothesis will be tested in the study:
1.
There is no significant difference in pupil’s
enrollment in the pre and post UBE declaration period in Edo
state.
2.
There is no significant difference in the
availability of facilities in schools
in Edo state in the pre and post, UBE
declaration periods.
3.
There is no significant difference in the
distribution of facilities across
geographical locations (ie urban and rural) in Edo State
in pre and post UBE periods.
4.
There is no significant different in the
availability of teachers in schools in Edo State
in the pre and post UBE periods.
5.
There is no significant difference in teachers’
participation in in-service training programme in Edo State
in pre and post UBE declaration periods.
6.
There is no significant difference in the
monitoring and evaluation of public primary schools in Edo State
in the pre and post UBE periods.
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose
of this study is to evaluate the impact of universal basic education program
(ube) on the Nigeria child in Edo
State with a view to
identifying the possible factors that can hinder the realization of the aims
and objectives of Universal Basic Education programmes and possibly proffer
solutions to these identified problems.
The study will specifically ascertain the extent to which:
1.
Pupils’ enrolment in pre and post UBE
declaration periods differs in Edo
State.
2.
The availability of facilities in pre and post
UBE periods differs in Edo
State.
3.
Teacher’s availability in pre and post UBE
periods differs in Edo
State.
4.
Teachers’ participation in in-service training
programmes in pre and post UBE declaration periods differs in Edo State.
5.
The monitoring and evaluation of the activities
of public primary schools in pre and post UBE periods differ in Edo State.
Scope and Delimitation
of the Study
The study focused
on the implementation of the primary school level of the Universal Basic
Education programme in Edo
State. Variables of interest in the study are pupils
related, teacher-related and school-related.
The results and conclusion drawn from the study shall therefore be
limited to the level of basic education in the State.
Significance of the
Study
This study will
enable policy makers and programme managers to have a feedback on the programme
to enable them strengthen, redesign, refine, continue or improve it as the case
may be. It will also enable programme
consumers know the extent to which the programme objectives are realized and
the need for continued participation.
Furthermore, the study will act as a reference point to donor agencies
on the direction and application of resources and the need to sustain and even
improve on their sponsorship.
The researcher is however aware that the UBE headquarters
has been carrying out periodic monitoring and evaluation of the programme
directly and through other agencies.
Limitations of the Study
One
of the major limitations of this study is the dearth of data relating to school
enrolment in both the State Ministry of Education and the State Universal Basic
Education board. Most of the records are
usually not properly and effectively kept.