THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNIVERSAL BASIC EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Nigeria is a signatory to the key treaties for the protection of children and women, particularly the conventions on the right of the child, and it acknowledges that the right to get an education is one of the most fundamental of all human rights. both the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CRC), and the CRC itself (Ikedioha, 2022). The Child Rights Act was enacted into Nigerian law by the country's government in the year 2003. The purpose of this act is to make it easier to realise and protect the rights of all children. It enacted the Universal basic education laws in the question to achieve the objectives of the millennium development goals, which provides for a 9-year education that is free and compulsory to fast track education interventions at the primary and junior secondary schools. In addition, the education is compulsory (Anan 2022).

In Nigeria, there is a widespread gender gap in terms of the environment of basic education, the rate at which girls are retained in the programme, and the level of competition they face, with rural communities being particularly disadvantaged.

Access to traditional forms of education is still a contentious issue. It is estimated that there are 7.3 million children who are not attending school, with girls making up 60% of this population. More than 17 percent of children drop out of school each year when they are in primary 6, making this the grade when the dropout problem is most apparent. Its many facets, the most important of which are early marriage for girls in the worth and the participation of boys and girls in activities that provide cash to augment home income in the south eastern region Anan (2022).

The poor quality of the education system and the projected poor work future for school and university leaves are two important variables causing dropout and low transition from elementary school to junior secondary school. Another key factor is poverty.

In addition, the high rate of dropout can be attributed to a number of factors, including inadequate instruction, a lack of sufficient educational resources, overcrowded classrooms, and an atmosphere that is not conducive to learning in general.

According to Egenti (2022), denying girls the opportunity to receive an education makes it more likely that they will be left out of the primary stream of development in the future, which leads to an increase in the dependency ratio of the population and ultimately results in the underdevelopment of a nation.

According to Anan (2022), there is no development plan that is superior to one that engages women as important players because it has direct benefits for the health of institutions and reinvestment on the level of the family, community, and eventually the nation. A successful strategy for the growth of schools is to prioritise the education of girls. It is an investment that needs to be made over the long term but will bring in extraordinary and enormous profits.

The ever-increasing population has caused the infrastructure to become overstretched, which is having a negative impact on the quality of the services that are being provided. This, in turn, causes the state to have to spend more money on the provision of infrastructural facilities, which in turn has a negative impact on the standard of living. This ever-increasing population has caused the school enrollment in Abia state to continue to grow on average of 130 students to a teacher throughout the course of the past few years. This trend is most noticeable in regions with a high population density.

According to Adeyemi (2022), the comprehensive Universal Basic Education programme is a response to the Universal declaration of human right (1948), which defined the right of every citizen to basic education. This right was included in the Universal declaration of human right. As a consequence and as a follow-up to this declaration, section 19 of the Nigerian constitution from 1999 mandated that the government must direct its strategy toward enduring that there are equal education opportunities at all levels in accordance with the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Obayo 2022).

The objectives of the Universal Basic Education scheme include, among other things, the provision of universal access to basic education, the provision of a conducive learning environments, the eradication of illiteracy within the shortest possible time as well as the ability to communicate, the objectives also include laying of sound basis for scientific reflective thinking development of social attitudes giving every child the opportunity to develop manipulation skills that will help them succeed in life, and the objectives also include laying of sound basis for scientific reflective thinking development of social attitudes giving every child the opportunity (Babalola 2022).

One of the most important areas to work on in order to promote gender equality and women's empowerment is education. It has an effect on bettering the conditions of women's life by increasing the opportunities for public involvement and work that are available to them (Olubor & Unyimade 2022). Education also has the ability to increase the position of women by giving them with the skills necessary to negotiate for better working conditions, compensation, and household rights. This is one of the ways in which education may strengthen the position of women. The Nigerian government has made the belief that education can play a positive role in improving women's condition and position a central tenet of their administration. Education also plays a role in reproducing intergenerational benefits for children, which is another reason why this belief is so important.

Engenti (2022) proposed that in underdeveloped nations such as Nigeria, parental involvement would need to be established and improved before girls' access to educational programmes and participation in those programmes could be attained. This nexus is the path tracer factor or determinant of girls enrolment rate, which helps in changing parental attitudes, regarding the value of girls, and in educating females about the benefits of educational programming for the boy child. Additionally, this nexus contributes to the education of females about the advantages of educational programming for the boy child (Engenti 2022). Even the girl child can be coerced into helping pay for the education of the boy child by being forced to work as a housemaid or by supporting her parents in activities that bring in money to pay for the boy child's education. Even in situations where the girls have access to education, the activities that take place at home typically limit their academic achievement while they are enrolled in school. This is due to the fact that the labour that is expected of them at home leaves them with either very little time or none at all to complete their assignments or attend additional classes (Ugochukwu, 2022).

When there exist prejudices against basic education, it is typically assumed that the rates of prostitution, early marriage, and adolescent pregnancy will put an end to the education of the girls. According to FGN/UNICEF (2022), this problem is especially prevalent in rural regions and in the northern portion of Nigeria, where 55 percent of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are either already mothers or are pregnant. The potential to produce a breakthrough in the field of universal basic education requires courageous effort, unless those in command of the mental set of the power elite in the region are already in charge.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In Nigeria, there is a gender gap between the number of boys and girls who enrol in schools, with the gender gap favouring boys. Direct costs of education are a constraint on girl participation due to the perception of low economic returns to female labour, and school environments can be deterrents to girls learning and completion of schooling, including the availability of sanitation facilities for adolescent girls schools that are secure from violence (Emeka, 2022). Education of the boy, child is typically considered to be more important than that of the girl child based on internal and external discontinuity factors, such as domestic responsibilities.

The ever-increasing student population in public schools in Abia state has made it more difficult to gain access to a quality education.

According to Onyeama, (2022), in addition to this, there are not many facilities, and the ones that are there are deteriorating. In a nutshell, the student-teacher ratio is an average of 100 students to one instructor, which results in overcrowding, which negatively impacts the quality of education that is being offered. The vast majority of women are employed in the informal economic sector, which includes activities such as minor commerce, road clearing, and others. When compared to the top level men who hold political appointments in Abia state, the percentage of women who are empowered in the political arena is quite low (Onyeama, 2022).

It is possible to claim that if women hold political seats in Abia state, it will be impossible to implement the power equity and women's empowerment goal of the Millennium Development Program in an effective manner. This is something that might be argued (Emeka, 2022).

In this regard, the low level of girl child enrolment in public school, over crowdness high student ratio to low teachers, non availability of facilities, and poor health facilities available to women in the state are some of the problems that this study intended to examine. Additionally, this study aimed to investigate the availability of facilities.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main aim of this study is to examine the development of universal basic education in Nigeria. Specific aims of this study are:

i.          To determine whether there are equal gender opportunities in universal basic education in Nigeria.

ii.        To examine the benefits of the universal basic education in Nigeria.

iii.      To examine the challenges of the universal basic education in Nigeria.

iv.      To proffer possible solutions to the challenges of the universal basic education in Nigeria.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions will be answered in this study:

i.          Are there equal gender opportunities in universal basic education in Nigeria?

ii.        What are the benefits of the universal basic education in Nigeria?

iii.      What are the challenges of the universal basic education in Nigeria?

iv.      What are the possible solutions to the challenges of the universal basic education in Nigeria?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will be greatly significant to the educational sector as the findings of this study will show the importance of the Universal Basic Education, its challenges and proffer solutions to these challenges.

This study will also serve as an empirical point of review for further studies and future reference.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study focuses on the development of universal basic education in Nigeria. Specifically, this study focuses on determining whether there are equal gender opportunities in universal basic education in Nigeria, examining the benefits of the universal basic education in Nigeria, examining the challenges of the universal basic education in Nigeria and proffering possible solutions to the challenges of the universal basic education in Nigeria.

This study will use staff of the Universal Basic Education, Abia State as the respondents for this study.

1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study is delimited to the development of universal basic education in Nigeria. Specifically, this study was limited to determining whether there are equal gender opportunities in universal basic education in Nigeria, examining the benefits of the universal basic education in Nigeria, examining the challenges of the universal basic education in Nigeria and proffering possible solutions to the challenges of the universal basic education in Nigeria.

Finally, this study is delimited to Abia State as only staff of the Universal Basic Education will be the respondents for this study.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

U.B.E: Universal Basic Education

Development: The process of developing or being developed