Addressing the Factors Responsible for Schooling without Learning in Primary and Secondary Schools in Nigeria
Authors: Suleiman Yusuf , Abubakar Yusuf Abiola , Akanbi Ibrahim Musa 
Published: May 2019

<p><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;">The most often debated topic among stakeholders in education and the generality of Nigerians<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> today is the issue of decline in the quality of education at all levels (primary, secondary and<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> tertiary institutions). To substantiate the foregoing debate, a new World Bank Report (2018)<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> warns of learning crisis in Nigeria and other developing countries which face moral and economic<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> problems because primary and secondary schools fail to equip students with the right education to<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> succeed in life and that without learning, education would fail to deliver on its promise to eliminate<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> extreme poverty and create shared opportunity and prosperity for all. Despite the establishment of<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> Universal Basic Education (UBE) in 1999, which is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring the<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> acquisition of the appropriate levels of literacy, manipulative and life skills as well as the ethical,<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> moral and civic values needed for laying the foundation for lifelong learning for children, have<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> continued to be a mirage. In view of the foregoing, this study examined the factors responsible<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> for schooling without learning in primary and junior secondary schools. Those factors include<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> insuffiient budget allocation to education, lack of adequate infrastructure, lack of qualified<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> teachers and poor remuneration package, and corruption. In addressing the aforementioned<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> factors, this study used World Bank’s (2018) solutions which have four steps. The fist step is to<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> find the truth from facts; the second step is to assess the learning so that it become a measurable<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> goal; the third step is to make schools work for all children and the fourth step is to mobilize<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> everyone who has stake in learning. In addition, recommendations were provided to ensure that<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9pt; color: #231f20; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;"> the rising case of schooling without learning is eradicated.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /></span></p>