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FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR POOR NURSERY/PRIMARY EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study

Early years in life are widely accepted as the most important period during which children experience cognitive, language, perceptual, socio-emotional and motor development which they will need for future! achievements and social functioning. This informs the reason why the periods of the early years need tat be handled with all special and detailed attention (Akinrotimi & Olowe 2016). Early years are therefore remarkable periods of growth and development in the lives of children. In their submission, Oduolowu and Olowe (2011) in Akinrotirni & Olowe (2016) noted that the early years of children are years of extreme vulnerability and tremendous potentials, during which adequate protection, care and stimulation are essential to provide the foundation for well-being and development.

Knowledge is important and in the process of attaining it, the pupils gain such advantages as a retentive memory, a reasonable altitude to hard work and discipline and of course the elementary, skills such as reading writing and numbering. In the Nigerian education system, primary education is the education provided for children in school from the age of six lo eleven or more years and it lasts for six years. With the new system of education in Nigeria which is referred to now as basic education, lasts for nine years as the starting point. This level lays the basic foundation upon which all other levels of education are built. This also means that the basic education holds the key to the success or failure of the whole education: system of any country. After independence, the Nigerian educational system has been criticized for many reasons. some Nigerians especially educationists, viewed the inherited colonial system of education as being irrelevant to the economic, political and socio-cultural needs of the country. The type of education being received then was said to be of foreign one to meet the needs of the foreign culture. It was as a result of these criticisms according to Safiya (2005), that a National curriculum conference was held in 1969, to review old and identify new national educational goals for Nigeria.

One of the recommendations of this conference proposed the 6-3-3-4 which was later adopted by the Government. In September, 6th 1976, a landmark in the history of education was made when General Olusegun Obasanjo (the then Military head of State) formally launched the Universal Primary Education (UPE) in Lagos. This programme can be regarded as a contribution to education because it benefited Nigerian in mobilizing her human resources, adjusting her educational imbalance and making provision for equal access to education for the Nigerian children. Apart from the above, history has revealed that the UPE programme was a failure for some reasons but mainly and basically for lack of fund and improper implementation.

Education has remained a social process in capacity building and maintenance of society for decades, as well as a weapon for acquiring skills, relevant knowledge and habits for surviving in the changing world (Adepoju and Fabiyi 2007). According to Adesina (2011), education is a major force in economic, intellectual, social and cultural empowerment. He goes on to say that education has the capacity to bring about character and attitudinal change, as well as reshape human potential for desired development.

Given the above, it is safe to say that primary education is very important in the Nigerian education system. The significance of primary education is also located in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals declaration – an achievement of universal access to education by 2015 (Adepoju and Fabiyi 2007). Quadri (2001) presents the following intentions of primary education in Nigeria: (1) to help the child to develop intellectually, physically, morally, socially and emotionally; (2) to produce well-qualified citizens that are capable of going to secondary and tertiary institutions to be trained as professionals in various services that are essential for the development of the country; and (3) to assist primary school learners who cannot further their education to become useful citizens to themselves and community at large. No doubt therefore that primary education is the foundation upon which other strata of educational edifice are built (Oni 2009). Adesina (2011) adds that primary education serves as the foundational level of all other education by providing children with a good preparatory ground for further education. Essentially, primary education can be considered as the most important period in the education of a child. The government of Nigeria perhaps meant well when it emphasised the place of primary education in its 1977 National Policy on Education (NPE) as follows: 1. Inculcation of permanent literary and numeracy and the ability of communicate; 2. Laying of a sound basis for scientific and reflective thinking; 3. Citizenship education as a basis for effective participation in and contribution to the life of the society; 4. Character and moral training and the development of sound attitudes.

Pre-primary education is also another name of Nursery education in Nigeria. The pre-primary and primary education in Nigeria is part of the government’s efforts to uphold her commitments to the provision of fundamental education for everyone. The efforts of the government to include the preprimary and primary education in the National Policy on Education (NPE) shows her concern for children in these levels of education. This is a response to the many world educational submits to which Nigeria is a signatory. The federal government of Nigeria has shown serious commitment to educating her citizens. It is evident from the National Policy on Education (1977, 1981, 1998). It reflects Nigeria’s philosophy of education, and acknowledges that education is an instrument for national development as well as the most important instrument of change.

Pre-primary education refers to “The education given in an educational institution to children age 3 to 5 plus prior to their entering the primary schools”. (FRN, 1998:11). It is an officially acceptable and recognized policy, and this goal is meant for every child irrespective of socioeconomic background. This education is faster in urban centres where industrialization has taken place, where government institutions and other forms of formal education have been set up. It has been slow in the rural areas.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria (1998:13) refers to primary education as the education given in institutions for children age 6-11 plus. It further stresses that since the rest of the education system is built upon it, the primary level is the key to the success or failure of the whole national educational system. In other words, the primary education is the first tier of the 6-3-3-4 educational system, which is for six year’s duration in Nigeria.

According to Adepoju (1998), primary education is the type of education which is exposed to children in primary institutions, where the child acquires fundamental knowledge, skills, thought, feelings and actions which are considered necessary for all citizens, regardless of social status, vocation or sex.

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