Abstract
The federal government has made series of efforts, particularly after independence, to give the education of the citizenry a face-lift. Outstanding among such efforts is the Universal Basic Education programme recently introduced to provide, among others, free, universal basic education to the Nigerians of school age. However, this programme is being juxtaposed with deregulation policy which is profit oriented. Therefore, this research work focused of the “Analysis of deregulation and the attainment of the Universal Basic Education objectives in Enugu State”. The purpose of the study was, therefore, to find out whether deregulation will help UBE attain its set objectives particularly in Enugu State. Four research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated for the study. A 28-item questionnaire was developed and administered to seven hundred and seventy four (774) respondents (comprising 324 education experts and 450 parents) drawn from public schools in the three out of six education zones of Enugu State. The data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation statistics, while the null hypotheses were tested using z-test statistic. The study found, among other things, that deregulation, because of its profit motive, will not develop educational consciousness; will not guarantee free, universal basic education; will heighten the rate of drop-out from school; and will not cater for the educational needs of those whose education was interrupted. The findings also indicated that parents would not be allowed to provide quality education to their children/wards in a deregulated setting, and that educational opportunities would be denied to children of poor parents. Based on these findings, the researcher recommended, inter alia, that the government should put palliative measures in place before full introduction of deregulation in the education sector; increase budgetary allocations to meet the education needs; provide bursary and scholarship awards especially to indigent students,; ensure minimum tuition fee for both public and private schools, and provide job opportunities and improve the working conditions of workers to enable them provide education needs of their children/wards especially in a deregulated education milieu.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Prior to the advent of the Europeans into Nigeria, there existed indigenous education. This type of education, according to Fafunwa (1995), was multifaceted, all aimed at producing an honest, respectable, skilled and co-operative individual. Although the objectives of such education cannot be neatly distinguished, they included developing the child’s latent physical skills and character; inculcation of respect for elders and those in position of authority; acquisition of vocational training and development of intellectual skills, healthy attitude towards honest labour, sense of belonging and to participate actively in family and community affairs among others.
Western education was first introduced in Nigeria by the Christian missionaries. This was as far back as the second half of the 19th century. According to Taiwo (1986), the date was set at 1842. The missions notably, the Wesleyan Missionary Society, the Church Missionary Society (C.M.S), the Presbyterian Mission, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Society of African Missions, established schools at places like Lagos and Abeokuta. They set up, managed and maintained those schools without assistance from the governments of the day. The targets of the schools were children who were even not infrequently, noted Taiwo, enticed with gifts. He also noted that some parents were in the habit of demanding money as precondition for allowing their children go to school. The curriculum comprised mainly of reading, writing and arithmetic. Taiwo also noted that whenever a lady teacher was available, the girls were taught sewing.
Within this period, the government was indifferent towards funding education. This was pointed out by Taiwo (1986) and corroborated by Fafunwa (1995) who said that the expense for sustenance of education came from the donations from friends of the missionaries and from some philanthropic organizations and individuals. The latter also noted that some missionaries had to use part of their salaries for the expense of the boarding schools. Equally, Mgbodile (2004) affirmed that government’s assistance to the missionaries between 1870 and 1876 were neither here nor there.
For more than four decades after the arrival of Thomas Birch Freeman (the Wesleyan Missionary) in 1842, education in Nigeria was still the sole concern of the missions. However, in 1882, the government of the time (for the first time) seemed decided to also turn attention to education. This turning of attention to education was heralded by the issuance of the first education ordinance for the Promotion and Assistance of Education in the Gold Coast colony (comprising Gambia, the Gold Coast and Lagos, Nigeria). In the opinion of Taiwo (1986), this was the first legislation which favoured Lagos and also established government’s control over education. This ordinance generally specified how education was to be run in these colonies. It came out boldly declaring for the first time, at least officially, government’s disposition and readiness to advance some measure of grants to education providers. Thus, the observation of Onwuka (1997) and Mgbodile, (2004) is that the colonial government demonstrated interest for the first time in the running of education in West Africa by giving the grants of £200 (Two hundred pounds) each to the Church Missionary Society (C.M.S.), the Catholic Church and Methodist Missionaries.
This remained the status quo until the emergence of the 1886 education code which was marked by both an increase in the grants and the reposition of the Lagos colony (Onwuka, 1997). The 1886/87 code, noted Taiwo (1986), also ushered in the principle of partnership in education between the government and the missionaries. This partnership, according to Taiwo, resulted in the ‘system of dual education’ in which the government, on the one hand, gave support to the missions, and on the other hand, singly funded secondary education. Taiwo noted that the government thus accepted for the first time some responsibility for secondary education through the provision of grants-in-aid to secondary schools and also by awarding scholarship to deserving students.
Between 1906 and 1912, education in the colony and the protectorate of Southern Nigeria flourished, marked by increased government participation in the actual provisions made for education and the encouragement received by both the voluntary agencies and local communities in funding schools. Award of grants remained government’s control strategy. People asked for schools and these were offered them. Enrolment in government schools increased from 639 in 1905 to 4,571 in 1909 and to 5,682 in 1912. There was also remarkable growth in the number of the various categories of schools. The number of assisted schools rose from 20 in 1905 to 90 in 1912, with a combined figure rising from 1,366 (including non-assisted schools) in 1905 to 15,426 (Taiwo, 1986).
All these marked the scenario of the flowering of education in the Southern part of Nigeria, a feature that was in sharp contrast to what was happening in the Northern part. In his critical evaluation of the situation, Onwuka (1997) noted that education did not as well flourish in the Northern Protectorates as was the experience in the South. This, according to him, was consequent on the long existing Islamic education practice and culture which could not allow the introduction of Western education in the area.
Not long after the amalgamation of the Southern and Northern Protectorates by Lord Lugard in 1914 (specifically, it was in 1916), an education ordinance on grants-in-aid to voluntary agencies came into force. This ordinance had ample provisions on financial assistance to schools. This, as was noted by Onwuka (1997), enhanced the cooperation between government and voluntary agencies in the provision of education. Also, in 1925, the first Education Policy in British Tropical Africa was issued. This ordinance also emphasized co-operation between the government and other educational agencies (Onwuka, 1997).
