THE SET GOALS OF THE UBE SCHEME AND HOW IT COULD BE ATTAINED IN AKWA IBOM STATE
ABSTRACT
The tremendous expansion in education in Nigeria was influenced by the social demand for education by individuals, families and ethnic groups and the intense aspiration of every community, the investigation of parents in the education of their children in the belief that education is passport for sharing in the national cake. Imhabekhai and Tonwe, (2001) clearly summed up the situation when they maintained that while at governmental level, education is the instrument for national development, at the individual level; it is the instrument for social and economic mobility. Nigeria’s commitment to the ideals of education for all (EFA) of 1990 to which she is a signatory, was further reinforced by the launching of Universal Basic Education (UBE) by the Federal Government in 1999 and passed into law in 2004 as one of the strategies aimed at implementing the education components of the MDGs. The UBE programme is a reform measure by the Federal Government aimed at rectifying the existing distortions in the basic education subsector of Nigeria’s educational system. From the theoretical point of view, the study will add and contribute to existing body of knowledge and literature on the implementation of UBE programme in Akwa Ibom state. It has been observed that the inadequacy of teachers and their lack of training and development explain the level of unpreparedness and poor planning, that has also impinged negatively on the level of literacy in the state. It was observed that the PPMC analysis contradicted with the data gathered from the Akwa Ibom State Universal Basic Education Board.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The success of the Universal Basic Education (UBE in Nigeria) and indeed every educational programme is measured by the teaching and learning process (Akpa, 1999). In expressing hope in the efficacy of education for creating a modern and progressive society, it is no surprise that the government effort in implementing the National Policy on Education (2004:12) noted that: “Education in Nigeria is no more a private enterprise but a huge government venture that has witnessed a progressive and dynamic intervention and active participation”. The belief of the elites and particularly politicians, in the significance of education from the 1950s and the publication of Ashby Report 1969, influenced governments attitude towards liberalization and expansion of primary and secondary levels of education. The tremendous expansion in education in Nigeria was influenced by the social demand for education by individuals, families and ethnic groups and the intense aspiration of every community, the investigation of parents in the education of their children in the belief that education is passport for sharing in the national cake. Imhabekhai and Tonwe, (2001) clearly summed up the situation when they maintained that while at governmental level, education is the instrument for national development, at the individual level; it is the instrument for social and economic mobility.
The introduction of Universal Basic Education UBE on nine years compulsory education is one of the several reform initiatives by the Federal Government of Nigeria aimed at promoting societal development in particular and the social well being of Nigerians in general. The global debate on the place of education and training in social, economic, political and technological development cannot be overemphasized. It has been empirically proved and universally acknowledged that unless the citizens of a nation are well educated and appropriately trained the achievements of rapid economic and social development of such a nation cannot be guaranteed.
Education has long been seen as the bedrock of national development and the primary, level of education is the foundation required for this development. Therefore basic education in Nigeria represents the most facilitating and perhaps the most controversial to the education system. It is the most fascinating because there lies the greatest activities in the educational system. It is also the most controversial because the decision to make education free and compulsory at this level has led many people to conclude that quantity is being bought at the expense of high standards and quality.
Nigeria’s commitment to the ideals of education for all (EFA) of 1990 to which she is a signatory, was further reinforced by the launching of Universal Basic Education (UBE) by the Federal Government in 1999 and passed into law in 2004 as one of the strategies aimed at implementing the education components of the MDGs. The UBE programme is a reform measure by the Federal Government aimed at rectifying the existing distortions in the basic education subsector of Nigeria’s educational system. It is a second attempt by the Federal Government of Nigeria at providing access to basic education at the national level, the first being the Free Universal Education (UPE), which was effected in September, 1976, but could not be sustained due to inadequate planning and faulty estimation. Its major goal is to bring about positive changes by making programme implementation responsive to the needs of the people and ensuring that individual and communities become actively involved in the provision of basic education(FGN,2004).
Prior to the commencement of the UBE scheme, the Nigerian 6:3:3:4 educational system which means six years of primary, three years of junior secondary, three years of senior secondary and four years of tertiary education, the primary education was free but not compulsory and expanded the curricular to contain literacy and numeracy, study of science, study of social norms and values of the local community through civics and social studies, study of health and physical education, moral and religious education, encouragement of aesthetic creative and musical activities, the teaching of craft, domestic science and Agriculture. To achieve the above mentioned effectively, junior libraries are provided for primary school children, science equipments were sent to primary schools, special teachers were trained to teach creative arts, crafts and music at all primary schools.
Also at the primary school level, the new system de-emphasized memorization and regularization of facts but rather encourage practical exploratory and experimental methods. Although, it could be said that one of the characteristic feature of this system at the primary school level is its emphasis on the teacher pupil ratio of 1: 30, some factors like financial and scarcity of qualified teachers have made this very programme unrealistic. Although Universal Primary Education (UPE) was launched nationwide in 1976 by the military regime but failed without achieving many success as attendance was not made compulsory for pupils of school going age. But with the passage of the UBE Act, by the NationalAssembly in 2010 all tiers of government (Federal, State and Local Governments) in the country are mandated to provide free and compulsory nine years Universal Basic Education of primary and junior secondary school. Parents are required to ensure that they register their children/wards for and complete the basic education.
The UBE vision statement is as follows:
At the end of the nine years of continuous educationevery child that passes through the system shouldacquire appropriate levels of literacy, numeracy,communication, manipulative and life skills and beemployable, useful to himself or herself and thesociety at large by possession of relevant ethical, moral and civic values.
The UBE mission statement is also spelt out as follows:
To serve as prime energies of a national movementfor the actualization of the nation’s UBE vision,working in concert with all stakeholders thusmobilizing the nation’s creative energies to ensurethat education for all becomes the responsibility ofall.
To facilitate the achievement of the vision and mission statement of the UBE in 2002, the Federal Government took some steps which include the contract award of 300 classroom blocks to be constructed in different parts of the country, supply of furniture for both pupils and teachers in all the completed UBE classroom blocks throughout the country, and the appointment of new consultant to replace the university consultants to ensure adequate supervision of projects in the state. In addition about 200,000 exercise books, rulers, pencils, ball point pens, erasers, school bags and first aid kits were also procured and distributed to schools. To further ensure effective implementation of UBE, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) set some short and medium-term objectives withappropriate performance indicators.
Some of these objectives include;
a Widening of access to primary and junior secondary education.
bPeriodic review and effective implementation of the curriculum.
c Improving gender equality.
dReducing the spread of HIV and mitigating the impact of AIDS
eMobilizing and developing partnerships with international agencies, private and local communities.
A cursory look at some of these objectives shows that they are targeted at achieving the basic components of the MDGs such as universal primary education, gender equality, combating HIV/AIDS and developing global partnerships for development. The formation of UBE therefore, was one of the approaches adopted by the Nigerian government to meet some of the MDGs and also fulfill its commitment to Education for All (EFA). The Nigeria’s plan document entitled “National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies’’ (NEEDS), recognize-education as a vital transformational tool and a formidable instrument for socio-economic empowerment. The document which was prepared by the government in its efforts to meet both the development challenges of Nigeria and the MDGs acknowledge that the delivery of education in the country has suffered from years of neglect especially during the military era.
In spite of its laudable objectives and foregoing modest efforts the UBE programme contended with a lot of problems since 2002 till date.
The most worrisome were:
i) Quite a number of activities designed could not be implemented due to difficult terrain, lack of cooperation from some of the contractors and under politicisation of the projects and partial implementation of the budget by the executive. As a result of this, most of the activities that were funded and fairly executed were those supported by the World Bank and UNDP before the Office of the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Millennium Development Goals (MDG) took it up
ii) Funds were not available to meet such personnel costs as promotion, annual increment and employment of new staff to address manpower shortages in such vital areas as research, planning and statistics, monitoring and evaluation.
The management of the UBE in Akwa Ibom State are involves in planning, formulation of educational policies or programmes and administration with a view to achieving the UBE set goals. Effective management is the management system that optionally utilizes the elements of management listed by Peretornode (1999) not only to achieve the salient goals of the organization but also for achieving the supplementary goals, especially those that pertain to improving human efficiency, motivation and acquiring material resource. The management functions to be vigorously pursued for successful implementation of the UBE programme in Akwa Ibom State as enshrined in the Universal Basic Education (2000) include; public enlightenment; teacher quality and motivation; update of infrastructural facilities; enriching the curricula; enhancement of instructional materials, monitoring and evaluation; improved funding and implementation of the entire process. These objectives if vigorously pursued, would checkmate those factors that bedeviled the past UPE which as mentioned by Obasanjo (2006) were funding, lack of facilities, dearth of qualified teachers, poor supervision, poor teacher motivation unconducive school environment and power politics.
THE SET GOALS OF THE UBE SCHEME AND HOW IT COULD BE ATTAINED IN AKWA IBOM STATE
