Indeed it has already been
well-documented that Goodluck Jonathan himself, during his early
education, had “no shoes, no school bags” and was forced to “walk miles
and cross rivers to school every day.” He later went to secondary
school, and then to the university, where he gained a degree in zoology,
and later a PhD. Today, he is recognised as Nigeria’s best-educated
President ever. And there is no doubt that the President’s own boyhood
experience has fuelled his determination to ensure that every child in
Nigeria receive equal access to education.
Earlier this year, he publicly declared:
“Education is the only foundation that can ensure the consistent growth
of a nation. I have always believed that a nation will not become great
by the minerals under her ground. Such will only come by developing the
human resources of the country.”
One way in which he is convinced
democracy in education can be achieved is via the introduction of his
PDP government’s federal university building programme. Jonathan has
established 12 new universities, to ensure that every state in Nigeria
has a federal institution of higher learning. Nine of these universities
were sited in the North, while three were sited in the South, namely
Jigawa, Katsina, Gombe, Nasarawa, Kogi, Taraba, Yobe, Kebbi, Zamfara
Ebonyi, Bayelsa, and Ekiti.
Under the auspices of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and
keen to encourage learning in science and technical subjects, the
President ordered modern laboratory equipment for 51 Nigerian
polytechnics. Other educational institutions to benefit from the
laboratory refurbishment programme included 104 Federal Unity Colleges,
62 ICT centres and 40 Maths classes.
The Fund also stretched to building a
total of 125 Almajiri schools in 13 states in order to allow children
who had previously never received schooling, or were forced to learn
under trees, to receive quality education in a classroom for the first
time ever. This, it is intended, will allow them to compete on an equal
stage with those in the south of Nigeria. And that’s not all. There are
plans to build a further 275 school rooms. A Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) has also been signed between government and federal leaders to
ensure certain conditions and therefore sustainability in the schools.
Another disenfranchised group before the Goodluck Jonathan
administration was girls. But the PDP has seen to it that under the
Girl-Child Education Policy 27 girl-only schools (many of them boarding)
have been – or will be – created in locations such as Adamawa, Yobe,
Zamfara, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Delta and Akwa Ibom.
All of the above has helped to boost the
number of children educated in Nigeria from 20 million to 30 million
over the four years in which Goodwill Jonathan has been in power. It’s
no mean feat considering opposition from fanatical Islamists in the
north of the country who are determined to deny education to thousands
of girls.
At present statutory education for
youngsters in Nigeria comprises six years of primary school and three of
secondary school. However, when the President took over, it was
believed only two-thirds of children went on to secondary. He has made
it his business to ensure that all youngsters go on to secondary school,
thanks to his National Campaign on Access to Basic Education. Equally
as impressive, today 75 per cent of students gain an O’level pass in
English and Maths.
As well as the above major reforms,
other Educational achievements for President Goodluck Jonathan over his
four-year presidency include:
- The Early Childhood Care and Development Education (ECCDE) programme – all primary schools ordered to provide pre-school education. A total of 19.67 million textbooks and teaching manuals focusing on English, Maths, Science/Technology and Social Studies for the education of children in primary one and two.
- Safe Schools Initiative – a campaign launched to ensure young people feel safe attending school.
- Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgRen) – Launched in July 2014, this $10 million fund is aimed at fostering relations between Nigeria’s educational and research institutions with those worldwide. This is to be achieved partly by investing in technology in terms of videoing and teleconference facilities.
- Training for school teachers and college lecturers, including sponsoring 7,000 post-graduate training courses for lecturers in order to improve curriculum delivery
- Presidential Special Scholarships for Innovation and Development (PRESSID) – 101 graduates were given sponsorship to study for a PhD abroad in top universities
- Enterprise Institutions established to offer an alternative to university education, focusing on technical and vocational skills
- Number of National Certificate of Education (NCE) awarding bodies increased by 28 over the last three years
- The number of college students increased 20 per cent from 2011 to 2013, with the total number around 750,000
- The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) increased the number of students enrolled to 250,000 a year.
It is clear from the above that Goodluck
Jonathan’s Four Year Strategic Education Plan had many tiers – to widen
access to education geographically and in terms of social class, to
improve the standards of education by ‘educating the educators’ and to
provide the necessary equipment, technology and environment in order to
allow further education to flourish and foster international
research/technology partnerships.
Overall, from the first day in his
presidency, it was clear to Goodluck Jonathan that the education system
of his country needed to be both managed – and funded – far more
efficiently and generously than it had been. Certainly, today’s
education budget is twice that of the previous administration and staff
are far better able to deliver a national curriculum to a wider
audience. Continuation of this strategy may indeed lead to the
President’s determination to get Africa to “turn its begging bowls into
baskets of prosperity and opportunity.”
- This piece was written
by Aziza Uko (@azizauko), the Executive Editor of The Trent and Jill
Stevenson, a veteran UK journalist and public relations expert
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