Private sector participation in delivery of education in Nigeria
By Peter Okebukola
Published: Thursday, 28 May 2009
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The story of education in Nigeria is the story of private sector stimulated delivery. In 1843, the first primary school opened its doors to children in Badagry. It was owned by Methodist missionaries. It was also Christian missionaries who flagged off secondary education with the establishment of C.M.S Grammar School in Lagos in 1859. Predating these events was the establishment of private Koranic schools in the north. By 1999, private participation in higher education took an upward swing.
The provision by the colonial government of public primary and secondary schools trailed the missionary efforts. By 1914, when the northern and southern protectorates were amalgamated, there were 59 government and 91 mission primary schools in the south; all 11 secondary schools, except for King‘s College in Lagos, were run by the missions. By the 1920s, the pressure for school places led to increased number of independent schools financed by local efforts. Since independence, there has been a flurry of desire to provide increased access to education through the establishment of schools. This paper proposes a framework for enhancing the efficiency of private participation in education in Nigeria in line with international best practices and in the march towards attaining Vision 20-2020.
Private individuals, communities, corporations, foundations, and religious bodies constitute the major private sector elements providing basic, post-basic and higher education in Nigeria. The increasing loss of confidence in public education has stimulated the growth of private schools. The belief is widely held that private primary and secondary education assures placement in choice higher education institutions and courses. Today, private schools enjoy a respectable market share of students in the education sector especially at the basic education level. The comparative percentage enrolment in public and private schools in Nigeria in 2008 for all levels of the educational system show that over 90 per cent of early childcare and development education (pre-primary) institutions are private. At the basic, post-basic and higher education levels, private shares are 8 per cent; 21 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.
The national figure reports show that about eight per cent of schools in the basic education sub-sector are private, about a fifth of basic education schools in Lagos State are privately owned. Also the fewer private polytechnics/monotechnics and colleges of education lowered the national private-sector ownership of tertiary institutions to 19%. It is noteworthy that a third of the universities in Nigeria today are private. Of the 95 universities, 34 are privately-owned.
Government take-over of mission schools in many states in the mid-1970s translated into gradual depreciation in quality. St. Malachy‘s College, Sapele, my alma mater, originally owned by the Catholic mission, stood tall in academic profile in the then Mid-West. Moral and discipline tones were exemplary. Decades after government took over, the school slumped into shameful decay. From 1999, finding the burden too heavy to bear, a number of state governments began handing back the schools to their original owners and encouraging the private sector to partner more vigorously in the delivery of quality education at all levels.
Over the years, private schools have emerged worthy competitors and collaborators with public schools. In league with public schools, private schools have provided a window of expanded access especially for those who can afford to pay for their services. Healthy competition has also been fostered.
The strengths of private schools are in five major areas. First (not in any order), they outclass their public counterparts in academic performance. In end-of-course examinations such as the Senior School Certificate Examination and national assessments such as the FGN/UNESCO/UNICEF Monitoring of Learning Achievement studies, private school students perform better than their public-school counterparts. Second is the stability of the academic calendar. Whereas public schools are caught in the web of teacher strikes and disruption to the school calendar, private school teachers can ill-afford strikes.
The third strength of private schools is the discipline tone, especially of staff. A consternation of characteristics arises from this high discipline tone. These include punctuality to work, regular attendance, and greater degree of productivity. Fourthly, pupil attendance is better in private schools. Of course, having paid the typically high tuition, parents will ensure that their children and wards are in school to justify the investment. Fifthly is the high degree of efficiency and accountability.
We turn next to the weaknesses of private schools. Many private basic and post-basic schools underpay their workers. In Lagos, a graduate teacher with five-years experience earns, on the average, about N18,000 per month. Regularity of payment of such meagre salary is also not assured. The public school counterpart earns about N25,000. This unattractive pay regime throws up another weakness of private schools- preponderance of unqualified teachers. A proprietor desirous of maximising profit engages poorly-qualified and inexperienced staff.
There is also the matter of examination malpractice. It is claimed that examination malpractice is more prevalent in private schools. This is in an attempt to woo parents by ensuring at all cost, that students do well in school and public examinations. Most private basic education schools in rural areas do not have enough students. At the higher education level, low-level patronage of many private universities has been decried. Irregular payment of fees by students makes it difficult for many private schools to function effectively. Staff salaries suffer delays and provision of facilities such as laboratories, workshops, library, hostels, recreation centres, playing field, auditorium and classrooms is compromised.
Nigeria is on the march towards being one of the world‘s 20 leading economies by 2020. In order to sharpen the teeth of the private sector in the delivery of quality education, the following are proposed for adoption from international best practices:
In all countries of the world where private-sector delivered education thrives successfully, minimum standards are set and monitored for compliance by national or regional (state-level) quality assurance agencies with mandate established by law. It is important to stress this legal provision since examples abound where private providers are quick to take to court, the authorities which clamp down on their unwholesome activities exploring the loophole that such authorities lack legal locus standi. Minimum standards should be set for facilities, human resources, curriculum and management. It has been canvassed by a large segment of the Nigerian society that an upper limit of tuition should be set for private institutions especially universities. This is contradictory to the spirit of a deregulated economy.
The kernel of the quality assurance process is monitoring and fearless application of sanctions to providers who offer service below minimum standards. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control-like and National Universities Commission-like approach of unannounced visits and closing down erring private institutions is strongly recommended. To be discouraged is the subsisting practice where Ministry of Education officials in states, as often claimed, after collecting ”brown envelopes,” look the other way on visiting a poor quality private school.
Within the ambit of quality assurance is accreditation. It is recommended that all private schools from basic to higher education should be processed through a scheme of institutional accreditation. This will certify the degree of fit of the entire institution with the quality desired for optimal performance. Institutional accreditation should be conducted once in 10 years for private schools at all levels of our education system.
A status of full accreditation means that the private school meets set minimum standards in facilities, human resources, curriculum, curriculum delivery and management.
This school is ”good to go” for the next ten years when it again, falls due for re-accreditation. If deficient in one of the areas, the institution earns ”interim institutional accreditation” and has two years to correct the deficiencies, failing which it regresses to the third accreditation status, which is denied accreditation.
An institution with denied accreditation should stop admitting students until it gets out of the relegation zone. If after five years, the deficiencies are not remedied, the school is closed down.
When applications are received from prospective providers, these should be worked through a rigorous approval process. On approval, these schools are listed in the register of approved schools. This register should be widely circulated and regularly updated. Summary closure should be applied to schools that are not in the register. It is gladdening that in all states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, there exists an application and approval scheme for private schools. What is deficient is the rigour of the approval process which should be strengthened. The model of the National Universities Commission for approval of new private universities which has been adopted in many African countries is strongly recommended.
A database of all staff and students in approved private schools in Nigeria is a worthy venture. It is common practice for private schools to run ”tutorials” and set up study centres, ostensibly for remedial training but in practice, to aid and abet cheating in examinations conducted especially by the West African Examination Council and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board. This database will expose the fraud. The database, alongside the register, will be important documentation for the quality assurance agencies.
Government grant-in-aid: In the last 10 years, a strident clamour has been made for government supplementary funding through the Education Trust Fund for private providers. Grant-in-aid by government to private schools is not new. Indeed it was the vogue for over 120 years since western-type education was introduced in 1843. This call has merit as the overall goal is for quality products from public and private schools alike to drive the Nigerian economy. However, this argument flies in the face of another argument which fails to support the pegging of fees by government in private schools in a deregulated economy. The right road to travel on the matter is allowing governmental regulation of fee regime in private schools to be supplemented by grant-in-aid through ETF.
The burgeoning numbers of Nigerian youth will want education at all levels. Nigeria‘s literacy rate, currently about 68 per cent needs to be improved. We want to achieve Education for All goals and the Millennium Development Goals both demanding accelerated provision of educational opportunities. There is no way government at the local, state and federal level can provide, at no cost, all the education that people will need throughout life. The contributions of the private sector will continue to be needed. Policies that will ensure consumer protection and reduce asymmetry between what is paid as fees and what the learner derives from private schools need to be put in place in the years ahead. A call on the National Assembly to enact relevant laws on private participation in higher education will appear to be a good point to close this paper.
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