There is a huge educational crisis in northern Nigeria. The country can no longer paper over this fact. Tens of millions of children are out of school for no fault of theirs. For many years, the Northern establishment chose not to prioritise the education of children of the poor. This, coupled with the rampant insecurity of the last 15 years, has made the situation much worse.
Today, when UNICEF asserts that Nigeria has more out-of-school children than any country in the world, they are actually referring to northern Nigeria. It is the North that has bequeathed that statistic to Nigeria.
Unfortunately, with the insecurity situation in the North despite the trillions guzzled annually by the military high command in the unending war against insurgency, it doesn’t seem as if the education situation will be resolved any time soon. Many schools remain desolate, attendance and school enrolment are paltry, while growing numbers of female children are being married off to wealthy suitors including rich politicians by their poor parents. Illiteracy remains on the viciously steady rise in the North.
This is an emergency for the entire country. It is this growing mass of illiterates who will fill the channel pipeline of terrorists and insurgents in the days to come.
And how is Nigeria responding to this scenario? The Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, believes the way out is to slow down the educational progress of the South in order to enable the North to at least begin to catch up. First, he tried to put a cap on the age at which children can sit for JAMB’s UME examination, claiming that unless you are 18, you must not sit for the exams. Unfortunately, ASUU, whose members are more interested in helping politicians to rig elections, did not see through his deceit and quickly endorsed the plan. That plan, whose objective is to delay the progression of young Southerners into universities will now commence in 2025. In other words, from 2025, unless you are 18 or older, you will not qualify to sit for JAMB/UME.
Emboldened by his “success” with that plan so far, Mr. Mamman has now turned his attention to WAEC and NECO Examinations and come up with another plan: From 2025, you must be 18 or older to sit for WAEC and NECO examinations. He didn’t show the country any scientific evidence to show why children younger than 18 are unqualified to sit for these examinations. Incidentally, 16- and 17-year olds have been best performers in these examinations over the years.
The apparent game-plan is to strategically delay millions of Southerners from progressing to universities, in order to gradually balance out the widening educational disparity between the North and South. This is the unspoken motivation for the minister’s zealousness.
All men and women of goodwill must rise to call the Minister to order and halt his hare-brained antics. Let him desist from using innocent children as cannon fodder for the diabolical plans of his fellow politicians from Northern Nigeria.
The Nigerian Union of Teachers, the All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools, the Nigeria Labour Congress, you must stand up to be counted. Do not allow an incompetent Education Minister drag Nigeria deeper into the hole in which it is, currently. What Nigeria needs to do is to tackle insecurity in the North with honesty and dedication, in order to free up the area and enable children return to school.
Delaying young Southerners from sitting for examinations will only create more problems for the country. It will not solve the growing educational imbalance between North and South.
Dr. Ademola Adeyanju (c)
#Not2young2writeWAEC
*My next broadcast will X-ray the educational sector. Watch out!
