The Nigerian Girls Primary Education Project (NGPEP)

Adewunmi Alugbin

The Nigerian Girls Primary Education Project (NGPEP) Proposal

State University of New York at Albany, Department of Africana Studies

Politics of Developing Countries

Introduction

           

            This developmental project proposal is aimed at breaking the cycle of permanent illiteracy and innumeracy that plagues Nigeria: more so northern Nigeria through basic primary education. Part one of this paper will provide a country overview, which includes an overview of Nigeria’s history, culture and people.  Part two will discuss the socio-political disparities within Nigeria that have led to a relatively high level of development in some regions of the country compared to the superseding poverty and underdevelopment of others. It will also present an overview of the Nigerian educational system- past to present while exploring some of the current educational projects being undertaken in Nigeria which includes but is not limited to projects sponsored by the United Nations in an effort to reach their Millenuim Development Goals. Part three including the rationale, the implementation strategies, it will discuss program administration, strategies included in the project design that will help offset some anticipated setbacks and finally discuss the methods in which the project will be monitored and evaluated and the command of power. Part four will present the actual project design, the budget and conclusion. 

PART ONE

“Education is the greatest catalyst of change or development in any society. It is also the greatest investment a nation can make for quick development in all spheres of national life: economic, social, political and mental.”

-Andrew F. Uduigwomen

Country Overview

            Perhaps more than any modern day African country, the instability in Nigeria’s socio-political, and economic systems can be directly linked to the unabashed partitioning of the continent and the legacy of colonization. The Federal Republic if Nigeria, one of the continent’s giants is located in West Africa and is bordered by Benin, Niger and Cameroon. It has over 200 ethnic groups, which speak over 250 languages with over 400 dialects. Historically, this dizzying mosaic of tribes and languages made it difficult to modernize as one nation because some politicians exploited ethnic loyalties in order to build their power base. Nigeria's natural resources are crude oil, tin, columbite, iron ore, coal, limestone, lead, zinc and natural gas however the Nigerian economy is a dominated by petroleum. Although Nigeria is Africa's leading oil-producing country, it remains on of the worlds poorest.

The British, who colonized Nigeria, saw African colonies as a place to extract natural resources or to further their business interests due to the abundance of raw materials. The English had no intentions of ever having Africans, as citizens of their nation; the Africans were just simply the current inhabitants of their newly acquired territories. Since the colonies were not settler colonies like one would have found in East Africa, to the British, there was no point in investing in the infrastructure of the country. The particular administrative style employed was Indirect Rule, which meant the British, set up separate administrative machines for each of their colonies (Boahen, A. et all 1986: 124).  The British decided not to send too many officials to run the colonies, because it would have been too costly. They instead, used local power holders rather than installing a whole new administration. They gave orders through the current leadership structure and in some cases; they killed or replaced those who refused to cooperate. Each area had a district commissioner whose job was to advise the rulers and supervise their activities.

 The direct rule administrative style was flawed because it used to local leaders to implement and enforce unfair laws, that system of administration in certain parts failed to educate the local rulers in a style appropriate so that can run the area so the leaders became overly dependant on the British district officers. The “system of indirect rule failed to promote the welfare and development of the ordinary people while it made the traditional authorities not only backward-looking but also very unpopular both with the educated elite and the ordinary people from whom they collected taxes on behalf of the British” (Boahen, A. et all 1986: 126).  The technique of indirect rule was set up by Lord Lugard, the governor-General of Nigeria in the 1900s within the framework of eventual independence for the colonies. “Liberty and self-government”, he claimed, “can best be secured to the native population by leaving them free to manage their own affairs through their own rulers” (Bayly 1989: 125).

            Benefits of British colonization in Nigeria included the introduction of some sort of technology despite the unequal distribution of these efforts. Colonization in general emphasized urban/rural differences since most of investment was made in urban areas- which were closer to the coast. For instance, since the building of educational institutions were concentrated in the coastal, urban areas, this caused vast educational gaps between urban and rural peoples in the way of education. At independence, power was turned over to the educated so that the people with the power were concentrated in the same areas. Conversely, the introduction of western education was officially discouraged in certain areas because the British feared that the traditional ruling families would become “denationalized members of the royal families” (Boahen, A. et all 1986: 126). Regardless of the administrative style of the Europeans that partitioned West Africa, the era of colonization was one that robbed African nations of their identity, by failing to “promote the welfare and development of the ordinary, people” (Boahen, A. et all 1986: 127).  

Nigeria currently suffers from extreme poverty and although an oil producer, approximately 75 million people live in absolute poverty. Nigeria has some of the lowest social indicators in the world: one in five children die before the age of five; 12 million children are not in school; and there are nearly two million AIDS orphans (World Bank Report- Nigeria : Social Sectors Strategy, Report No. 11781).

By 1990, the primary education setting in Nigeria showed the results of the legacy of the colonial administrative system because only 36% of the population ages 15 and older had completed primary school (DHS EdDATA Survey, 1990. p 68). According to the 1990 DHS EdDATA Survey, a little over half of the school aged children in Nigeria attend primary school at all; with females less likely to attend than males.

PART TWO

Disparities

The education of southern Nigerians was actually the accidental outcome of missionary, protestant and catholic, church rivalry. Education was necessary to win converts, but since British colonial governments restricted Christian missionaries to Muslim areas, northern Nigeria did not experience this expansion of education. Therefore, education grew in Southern Nigeria unlike elsewhere in the country (Bassey,M.O,  1991. p 38-41). The regional disparity within Nigeria is evident in several ways: social indicators are worse in the northern part of the country than in the south, and poorer in rural than in urban areas. The under-5 infant mortality rates are much higher in the northern parts of the country than in the south, and higher in rural than in urban areas. Fewer children go to school in the north than in the south. Twice as many women in the north have never attended school, and girls' participation in primary and secondary education continues to be much lower in the north than in the south; this disparity is one of the more pervasive legacies of the colonial era. The graph below shows the large regional disparities in the Nigerian primary school attendance rates by region.

Gender Inequality in Education

            In Nigeria, the percentage of males attending school is higher than the percentage of females at every age except 6 which is the age for primary school enrollment. After the age of 6, female enrollment and retainment drops below that of males and stays below, (see graph below).

            Getting more girls to school is imperative because there is a link between female education and development, and the substantial social benefits of getting girls educated. According to the chart below, 1n 1990, only 37% of the Nigerian women surveyed reported that they can read.

This number is appalling because aside from not being able to provide help to their children in terms of school work, these women can not be productive members of society and catalysts for change if they cannot read. Women who have completed primary education tend to give better health care to their children, protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and are less likely to become pregnant at an early age than women with no education. Getting more women educated thus has the potential of breaking the perpetual cycle of illiteracy by helping mobilize this marginalized group and working towards the eradication of poverty. According to Steele, the Nigerian government identified conditions responsible for the low participation of girls in education, which include lack of public and parental awareness of the need for female education, a misguided female attitude towards education and are working towards addressing these conditions through the implementation of national as well as local projects and educational reforms.

Overview of Educational System- Past to Present.

            Nigeria's education and health services expanded rapidly during the oil boom of the 1970s due to the influx of money generated from the oil however, mismanagement and corruption has led to the severe deterioration in the quantity and quality of services since then. Facilities are ill maintained; personnel are often insufficiently or inappropriately trained and are demoralized; and there are critical shortages of materials and equipment. Enrollment ratios in education and utilization rates of public health facilities have declined in the 1980s, as perception of poor quality affected demand. About 80 percent of public sector health facilities do not offer family planning services. Social services tend to be more available in the south than in the north: over 80 percent of hospital beds (public and private) are located in the south (The World Bank, Novenber 20, 1990).

            Nigeria in the late seventies introduced the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme, which made primary school education free but not compulsory. The programme recorded mass enrolment of pupils, but it became a colossal failure because of corruption and lack of infrastructure and teachers.  (Aka, E.O, 2000. p28). The basic primary education programs in nigeria have usually fallen to the same fate- lack of funding, infrastructure and few qualified teachers. Though education has been expanding in terms of enrolment, the resources available for support are inadequate.
            Currently in Nigeria, each state operates its own education law, and with the different ethnic groups already discussed, it becomes very difficult to dictate an absolute structure for uniform education through out the county. This project however proposes that there needs to be uniformity in the structure of the system when it comes to qualification of teachers and general objectives of education. One major problem in attaining some level of education in Nigeria has always been the cost. It makes more sense to a family to send a young girl to the market place than to pay for her to sit in class all day because they are not looking at the long term benefits of that education- they need food on the table immediately. Before 1979, tuition cost of education was shared among government, voluntary agencies and parents. However, in 1979, the military government abolished tuition fees at all levels of education. Thereafter, the government paid the salaries and emoluments of administrative, teaching, and supportive staff in all institutions (Steele, T. 1993).

Partners in the Policy Area

There are several organizations both governmental and non-governmental, which have either sponsored or currently sponsor an educational project in Nigeria or have implemented a program. These organizations include but are not limited to The United kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) through its projects to fight world poverty and meet the goals set forth by the United Nations in the Millennium Development Goals. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Federal Government of Nigeria collaborating on joint projects. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank (WB) and private companies such as ABT Insulpanel Ltd.

            PART THREE

Rationale

Education is not only a right of every human being, as stated in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, but it is central to the quality of life. It is at the heart of economic strength and security, creativity in the arts and letters, inventions in the sciences, and perpetuation of cultural values (Steele, T. pg 1). Primary education is the foundation for all future learning. It is the cornerstone from which the human capital base is built. As a result of not meeting the objectives, these education systems have seriously jeopardized national efforts to build a human capital base for development (World Bank, 1990. P 2-3). The rationale of this project is that because more women who completed their primary education report that they can read as opposed to women who dropped out half way through at Primary 4, (see chart below). The more girls that can be kept in school for the completion of their primary education and thereafter, the higher women’s literacy will become on aggregate in future Nigeria.

Implementation

Before breaking ground on building any schoolhouses, the areas must be well researched and found suitable for the successful implementation of such a project. Factors such as adequate infrastructure will be weighed because the delivery of needed services rely on adequate ways to transport the materials needed for building (roads), reliable means of communication (electric and phone lines), and receptive parents who are willing to make the investment in their daughters’ futures and send her to school.  This project depends heavily on the the participation of the Federal government because institutional support is needed by the local governments, which are responsible for the provision of primary education services and also on the mobilization of private resources

Building the Schoolhouse

The physical environment in a typical Nigerian primary school is not conducive to learning. School buildings are dilapidated, with inadequate restroom facilities, roofs, fences, playgrounds, furniture, and storage facilities. There are too few classrooms, and those that exist usually need major renovations. As part of the project is to mobilize private resources, NGPEP will receive support from ABT Insulpanel Limited, a Canadian Corporation that has formed a Joint Venture in Nigeria to use local waste wheat straw and Elephant Grass (renewable and biodegradable materials) producing building panels for rural primary schools, low cost houses and shelters, rural field hospitals and rural community centers that locals will erect. ABT will manufacture the prefab schoolhouses and ship the to the site. Each year ABT Nigeria is capable of building at least 100 Primary Schools at a very low cost.

Books, Furniture, Fixtures

Supplementary materials are crucial to sustain interest and enhance learning, but these are hardly available in primary schools in Nigeria. Books are very few, most of the titles are unsuitable therefore the material learned is not compatible with the children’s real lives or experiences. The Nigerian educational policies require that class/school library resources be provided, but the lack of accountability makes it questionable whether this has ever been successfully implemented (World Bank, November 20,1990. P 4-6). NGPEP coordinators will oversee the delivery and installation of books, furniture and fixtures due to lack of transparency in the Nigerian system.

Uniforms

Two sets of uniforms will be provided for each girl that enrolls in the primary school. The uniforms are important because it reduces the worry that a parent might have in having to clothe a child before sending her to school. The uniforms are to be returned to the school at the completion of each year so that the ‘gently-used’ ones may be given to another child.

Teaching the Teachers

            In 1976 when the Nigerian government introduced free universal primary education, there was no simultaneous increase of teachers. This increased enrollment resulted in a deficit of teachers and an increased teacher/student ration at primary school level. The political instability that plagues Nigeria since the 1980s have limited promotions or room for advancement, delayed and/or due salary payments, which have lowered teacher morale. The low salaries, uncertainty of payment, poor working conditions and looming possibility of cutbacks are major obstacles to recruitment of qualified teachers. With this noted, it must be said that the retention of qualified teachers is imperative to the success of this program. Educators need to be well trained and supported by adequate resources, which is why NGPEP holds as a cornerstone of the project, the recruitment of qualified teachers either internally or from abroad.  By partnering with the Peace Corps or other volunteering agencies, NGPEP can attract volunteers who are willing travel overseas and make real differences in the lives of real people. NGPEP will pay for the training of these volunteers only because their volunteer agencies cover the costs of their room and board. After the year of volunteering, and foreign volunteer who wishes to stay to teach will be paid as the internal teachers are. The process is similar for internal recruits with the obvious exception that there is a permanent appointment. They will be trained by NGPEP, however, their salary will be paid by the federal government; another reason why cooperation between the Nigerian government (federal and local) is paramount.

            Curriculum Development

Curriculum development in Nigeria is not of major concern because in general, it is based on modern approaches to curriculum design. The concern to NGPEP is to make the curriculum relevant to the class by adjusting the material in order to make the most gains with respect to Nigeria's rich and diverse cultures and geographic conditions. Techniques and strategies to accomplish this will be part of the training process, which will train the teachers to be able to address the aims, goals and objectives of primary education in practical terms.  Once the curriculum in deemed adequate for the class, another difficulty might be the medium of instruction. One of the reasons that the NGPEP focuses on primary education is so that English can be introduced as the medium of instruction and communication early as it is Nigeria’s primary language.

                       

            Lunch Program

            It goes without saying that a child that is not hungry will most likely be attentive and able to learn more than a hungry child. The daily caloric intake of children in Nigeria is well below the suggested levels, by providing school lunch it not only enables a better learning environment, but it also acts as an incentive to the parents because the child they are sending to school all day and not to the market place will not need to eat lunch at home and is thus guaranteed that meal.

            Health Care

            Any child enrolled in the school will be eligible for bi-annual, non-emergency doctors visits. These visits, sponsored by NGPEP will be at the beginning of each school semester so that the children can be checked for general growth and wellness as well as contagious childhood diseases. NGPEP will not be able to provide emergency care or have a regular doctor on staff as a means to keep the costs down.

Program Administration

            At the local level, Educational Project Coordinators, who are recruited from the top percentile enrolled in The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), will coordinate NGPEP. NYSC was established in 1973 and as a way of promoting integration and development, decreed that each student graduating from university owes the Government a year of compulsory public service. The graduates are placed in government, private and voluntary institutions where they work for a small stipend set by the Government. Teachers will also be recruited from the pool of graduating students entering the National Youth Corps. Because this service is compulsory, NGPEP does not really need to provide an incentive, however, the opportunity to work with a project that is a joint venture of multinational companies, the government will provide opportunities to the volunteers to network and begin building their future careers.

            The supervision of the project is important for several reasons. Due to the involvement of so many different organizations, at different levels, there needs to be system of checks & balances, and accountability at each level. From the top down, there needs to be a direct way to ensure that the share of the national budget allocated to the National Primary Education Fund is maintained at a satisfactory level. Furthermore, the administration of other projects has proven problematic because of administrative structure and inadequate resources. The primary schools have inspectors that are affiliated with the local government, usually under the control of the local Education Council. An inspector is expected to visit a school at least once a term and conduct a full inspection annually. This inspection will cover everything from the students, to the administrative staff, the teachers and the school itself. These local inspectors must be independent of the school and the project itself so that an objective evaluation can be attained. The inspections will focus on administrative and organizational problems as well and professional and developments concerns such as advising teachers, curriculum development, and so forth. Because the inspectors are independent of NGPEP, the by the district’s educational council through the local government will cover the costs associated with transportation, housing and travel of the inspectors.

The Educational Project Coordination unit of NGPEP will be composed of:

1. Two professionals (to be able to meet with the project sponsors, the local government representatives and the ministry of education and present progress reports to them of solicit donations).
2. One a research fellow (to gather and organize the data collected through the inspections for future use and also to ensure that the share of the national budget allocated to the National Primary Education Fund is maintained).
3. One general office clerk/ support staff to handle the day to day business of the project.

On the following page is a diagram of the project leadership and the chain of command and accountability.

Nigerian Girls Primary Education Project (NGPEP)

Project Leadership and Chain of Command and Accountability

 

A double arrow signifies a symbiotic relationship as opposed to one of a supervisory nature.

PART FOUR

The Nigerian Girls Primary Education Project Design & Budget.

            In Nigeria, the demand for education is growing higher everyday but the available resources are not keeping pace in terms of the development. That is the problem of education in Nigeria. Limited resources have led to inadequate infrastructure and qualified teachers, overcrowded classrooms and dilapidated buildings, forcing pupils especially in rural areas to take their lessons under trees in some cases. This project seeks to address this problem at a very basic level by addressing the building of schoolhouses, teacher training and retention, provision of uniforms and books. This development project recognizes the importance of caloric intake in learning and will there for include a lunch program as well as school sponsored health care visits to promote wellness.  NGPEP has a goal of making long-term impacts by allowing a larger amount of girls Nigeria to receive at least a primary education to break the illiteracy cycle. Hopefully more local graduates will move on to higher learning and some will graduate from college.

            The project design is one that is supplementary and complimentary to the educational system currently in place in Nigeria. It is not an experimental design- it utilizes procedures and strategies that can be evaluated readily. The project is not a national scale project; in fact it targets local regions and single educational districts so that it is more manageable. The target group for this project is girls due to the glaring disparity that exists between male and female attainment of at least a primary education in Nigeria. The success of this project depends on the national rates of female literacy rising and once achieved, the project can be used as a blue print for other local education project.

Budget for Primary Education for 50 Girls through NGPEP

All Amounts are in US$

                                                                             COSTS

Building the schoolhouse                                                        3,000.00

Resources/Books/Furniture and Fixtures                                1,800.00

Uniforms                                                                                    600.00

Teachers (training only, state will pay salary)                700.00

Teacher Costs (meals and transportation reimbursement)      2,000.00

Curriculum Development                                                                   0

Health Care (Bi-annual visits; non-emergency)                        700.00

Lunch  Program                                                                       3,000.00

Sub total                                                                               11,800.00

Salary NGPEP Educational Project Director                         1,000.00

Salary NGPEP Coordination Unit                                          3,500.00

Annual Salary of Local Inspector (paid by government)                   0

10% Administrative Costs                                                      1,160.00  

Total                                                                                     17,480.00

*Note the salaries offered are only supplemental to the salaries already received. The federal government provides for the salaries of all p8rsonnel involved in the project in one way or another

*The above budget is only the startup costs of building a schoolhouse and educating 50 girls, an amount will be added each year to offset the costs of the maintenance of upkeep of the physical facilities, books, furniture and fixtures.
Evaluation Plan

The ultimate goal of this project is to increase literacy rates in Nigerian females because there is a relationship between literacy, effective communication skills and political stability, which ultimately promotes sustained development. Even though through out the life of the project, the inspectors will keep detailed records of the projects as well and the NGPEP research fellow, the impact of the project will not be seen/ felt immediately. The true measure of whether the project reached its objectives will be shown in the years after primary school as the university enrollment of these girls increase. After six years, an impact evaluation study will be conducted with the hopes of finding that the enrollment levels of the girls from the rural area with the NGPEP school is several times higher than the multiple average.

Conclusion

In order to truly inspire change in the educational disparity in Nigeria, the educational system as a whole must undergo some renovations. The factors that affect gender equality in education are both socio-economic and cultural. Socio-economic factors that include the direct costs of attending school (fees, uniforms, transportation), along with inconsistent educational policies, an educational system that is not well adapted to local learning needs, limited employment opportunities and prospects.  Cultural factors that perpetuate illiteracy include the parents' low level of education, limited school/classroom space, lower priority for girls' education because its is perceived as incompatible with the girls’ role in the society, early marriages and pregnancies and much more. These factors have yielded result of women being marginalized due to limited access to schooling, low female enrolment, high female drop out rate, a higher proportion of illiterate women, a reduced contribution to national economic and social development and absence from the political decision-making processes. By increasing female attainment of primary education- a positive change will come as these women grow, learn and contribute to society while instilling in their daughters the importance of education.
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