Faulty education structure lowers Nigerian youths’ global competitiveness

The poor global workplace competitiveness of Nigerian youth is becoming more glaring on account of a sustained neglect of the structure and content of the country’s educational system, industry experts say.

The experts add that this failure is manifest by the production of hoards of graduates with a narrow range of ‘blue collar’ inclined skills, lacking in creativity and hands-on capabilities, who often prove incapable of employing themselves or others, in a world sustained by small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs).

The experts further observe that the fallout of this challenge is the huge influx of artisans and other personnel with medium and highier level science skills from neighbouring  countries and farther off, who come to  fill the gap while locals complain of unemployment and experts point to unemployability.

Experts say the redemption of the rot hinges on an overhaul of the education system. “We need to re-invent and reposition education. A national conference on education, involving all stakeholders (parents, students, educationists, policy makers and education experts) is needed. Brazil and India have done so. Our education system is to be redesigned to produce skilled social change agents.

“The truth is that not everyone needs to go the university but every Nigerian has the right to basic education and skills acquisition that is relevant to their environment,” affirmed Rebecca Doherty, Fellow of the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area (UNA NCA) who is founder of Alvaina Foundation, Lagos Nigeria.

Doherty says, “The process of apprenticeship in the informal sector like carpentry, car repairs, and computer repairs, could be formalised by creating an enabling environment, putting infrastructure in place, establishing certification and regulatory bodies for quality assurance. This requires new and radically different policy direction on education.”

She observes that this is already happening in Germany.  Germany’s vocational education programme is a dual system, whereby students learn in the classroom and also learn by doing. Trainees attend vocational school one or two days per week, studying the theory and practice of their occupation as well as economics and social studies, foreign languages, and other general subjects. They also do a working apprenticeship in their chosen field, where they receive about one-third of the salary of a trained skilled worker.

   The formal education sector needs upgrading as well. Bridget Sokan, a professor of education and the education secretary, Living Faith Worldwide, contends that a huge “investment in and adaptation of technology to the teaching-learning experience is necessary. Schools, students and teachers should take advantage of Information Communication Technologies (ICT), such as Instagram, Facebook and Skype in creating learning hubs. In addition, each school needs internal quality assurance tools.”    

Value directed education is the future of education, says Sokan, who affirms that ICT should be put to good use. “When students are taught to think critically and independently about these new technologies, they will use them to develop themselves beyond the classroom and add value to the society. Otherwise, students might use these technologies in wasteful and harmful ways.”    

Oludotun Sotunde, head quality assurance at Chrisland Schools, Ikeja, Lagos posits that “people who failed in their primary profession, and decided to switch to education as teachers often populate the formal school setting. You find that in most private schools, the teachers are “half-baked” graduates, who lack critical thinking and communication skills.

“What would such graduates teach their students? Education is in a serious quagmire. You find people without an understanding of what education is, making decisions about policy direction on education. This leads to grave errors in policy formulation.”    

The way forward is first to clear the current problems, “the future of education in Nigeria cannot be redirected with the structures and processes in place now,”said Chris Jacobs, former head of educational psychology University of Pretoria, South Africa.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that when African countries, particularly sub-Saharan countries like Nigeria make the right investment in human capital development, the combined demographic dividends could be at least $500 billion per year (equal to one third of the region’s current GDP) for up to 30 years. To achieve this feat, each sub-Saharan African country will need to make new policy choices to drive human capital development, largely a young generation.

  Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation. There were are about 180 million people in Nigeria as at 2012 and this is expected to rise to about 300 million in 25 years according to United Nations estimates. About 40.9 per cent of Nigeria’s almost 180 million population is estimated to be 14 years and below and 70 per cent below 30 years.

There are currently approximately 20 million and 10 million children in primary and secondary schools respectively in Nigeria. Roughly 1.8 million sit for the West African Examination Council exams yearly for only 250, 000 university places. The education of this youth bulge may define Nigeria’s economic future, for good, for bad.

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU