The National Policy on Education, first published in 1977 was the outcome of the 1969 curriculum conference which has the role for the articulation of policy guidelines on standards, procedures, strategies and the coordination to ensure and sustain the delivery of qualitative education in Nigeria.
Nigeria, like most other countries of the world is undergoing rapid socio-economic and political reforms. The need for an all-inclusive transformation of the Nigerian state became urgent and critical with the return of democratic rule. The transformational drive aims at having a large strong diversified sustainable economy that can effectively harness the talents and energies of the people and responsibly exploits its natural endowment to guarantee a high standards of living and quality of life. This quest brought education to the limelight with the creation of National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS) which recognizes education as the means of empowering the people for the attainment of the nation’s developmental plans and targets.
INTRODUCTION
The National Policy on Education, first published in 1977 was the outcome of the 1969 curriculum conference which has the role for the articulation of policy guidelines on standards, procedures, strategies and the coordination to ensure and sustain the delivery of qualitative education in Nigeria.
Nigeria, like most other countries of the world is undergoing rapid socio-economic and political reforms. The need for an all-inclusive transformation of the Nigerian state became urgent and critical with the return of democratic rule. The transformational drive aims at having a large strong diversified sustainable economy that can effectively harness the talents and energies of the people and responsibly exploits its natural endowment to guarantee a high standards of living and quality of life. This quest brought education to the limelight with the creation of National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS) which recognizes education as the means of empowering the people for the attainment of the nation’s developmental plans and targets.
AIMS/OBJECTIVES
The aim of the national policy on education NPE is to constitute blueprint for successive education development as well as the reference point for educational plan implementation and human development.
The NPE has the following objectives:
· To ensure equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels of education.
· Provision of compulsory, free universal primary education, free university education and free adult literacy programs as soon as practicable.
· Provision of the basic legal framework for all three tiers of government (federal, state and local) to participate in the management and provision of education.
LIMITATIONS
The key challenges are to effectively coordinate activities and interventions, as well as strengthen and deepen collaborations through appropriate policy guidelines, monitoring and quality control.
Secondly, education being a capital intensive social service requires adequate financial provisions from all tiers of government for successful implementation of its programs. Funding for the realization of education – free for all has not been actualized fully.
NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION AND ITS STRUCTURE
The National Policy on Education prescribes national guidelines and requirement for improving the quality of education through effective teaching, learning and management, administration and counselling at all tiers of government through effective teaching and learning.
Therefore, NPE is a statement of intentions, expectations, goals and standards for quality education delivery in Nigeria. In this process, it is expected that educational activity is such that engages this policy preparation for leveraging the limitless possibilities of education in promoting the development of work- related skills and abilities, life-long learning and empowering peoples participation in all socio- economic process for rapid transformation in Nigerian nation.
The Nigerian education initially structured by the National Policy on Education was the 6-3-3-4 system of education. They are:
a) Primary Education of 6 Years With UPE
b) Junior Secondary Education – 3 Years
c) Senior Secondary Education – 3 Years
d) Tertiary Education – 4 years.
This structure has the aim of promoting work – related skills and abilities.
Recently, in 2004, the national policy revised its structure to include:
A) Early childcare and development education – 0-4 years
B) Basic education UBE which encompasses pre-primary, primary and junior secondary education.
C) Post – basic and career development – 3 years in senior secondary education and technical/vocational
D) Mass and Nomadic Education – mass literacy, adult/non formal , nomadic
E) Tertiary Education – colleges of education, monotechnics, polytechnics and university
F) Special Needs Education
G) Open and Distance Education.
This structure aims to pursue the commitment of the global education for all and the millennium development goals as well as the national economic empowerment and development strategy goals. (NEEDS)
REVIEWS OF THE NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION
The revision of national policy on education has been necessitated by the need to address noticeable gaps in context and provisions that emerged in the course of implementation, maintain currency, relevance and to give adequate attention to new opportunities, issues and challenges. The NPE since first published in 1977, has been successively revised into 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and recently 6th editions published in 1981, 1988, 2004 and 2007 respectively.
The revision and update of the 2007, 5th edition of the national policy on education was:
i) To position the education sector within the overall context of government’s reforms agenda enumerated in the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy.(NEEDS)
ii) To reposition Nigerian education sector to effectively meet the challenges of the Education for All (EFA) initiatives and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
iii) To refocus and improve education quality and service delivery for speedy attainment of needs goals of social and economic transformation, wealth creation, poverty reduction, employment generation and value orientation
iv) To accommodate, reflect and respond to the universal basic education Ube act and the implications for the educator sector.
v) To achieve public ownership of the national policy on education and improve compliance through consensus building in its development and strengthen its implementation monitoring.
vi) To reflect on the national vision of attaining global economic relevance by 2020 and to respond to the four year strategy plan for the development of education sector.
vii) To incorporate all new sub sector policies to reflect global achievement and development.
THE WAY FORWARD
The national policy on education recently revised the 6th edition which restates the national goals and the philosophy of education clearly specifies the goals and objectives. It defines the structure and strategies for the provision, sets guidelines and required standards for its delivery, management and quality assurance.
The national policy further clarifies the responsibilities of the three tiers of government, their agencies and all other education stakeholders. The 6th edition highlights as follows:
i) The consolidation of pre-primary, primary and junior secondary education to a 10 year basic education in line with UBE.
ii) The improvement of quality assurance, restructuring and enhancing the capacities of federal/state through performance evaluation.
iii) The development and maintenance of a credible and up to-date national education management and information system (NEMIS) and corresponding State Education Management And Information System (SEMIS)
iv) The effective use of strategic planning to improve the quality of education, provision and service delivery.
v) To improve teacher quality through professionalizing the teaching profession in Nigeria and the provision of more in-service training opportunities and other incentives.
vi) To reposition Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) for effective career building.
vii) To establish and adequately empower special policy implementation monitoring units within the appropriate existing structures.
viii) To ensure that continuous gaps in education policy and implementation are widely consulted and coordinated by National Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC)
CONCLUSION
The National Policy on Education (NPE) and sustainable development is the central framework for standard quality education delivery and human capital development. In Nigeria, education is regarded as an instrument for social and economic reconstruction of the nation. Government itself regard education as the bedrock to the realization of Nigeria’s collective aspiration of being among the top 20 developed nations of the world.
Though, with the current economic challenges in Nigeria such as out-of – school children, insecurity, economic hardship, poorly equipped laboratories and youth unemployment the education system has begun laying the groundwork for a modernize system through strategic policy adjustments. For an example, the government has introduced a revised National Education Management and Information System (NEMIS) to enhance the activities of national examination bodies like JAMB, WAEC etc. to continue to scale up in computer based test and enforce digital literacy.
Recently, the federal minister of education has declared for national learning assessment NLA for all the states of the federation to assess learner’s competence, abilities and encourage productivity. These programs offer strategies to drive the full realization of Nigeria desire to becoming a leading world economy.
REFERENCES
Adebayo, A. M., & Yusuf, A. (2023), Rethinking Education Policy for Sustainable Development in Nigeria: Journal of Educational Development and Policy Studies, 15 (1), 10 – 22
Adepoju, A., & Fabiyi, A. (2007 ). The Universal Basic Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Way Forward. Research Journal of Social Sciences, 2 (6), 96 – 100
Edugbo, C. C., & Salami, A. T. (2021 ). Policy Analysis of the 6-3-3-4 Policy on Education in Nigeria. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa, 23(1), 44 – 53
Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN). (2014) National Policy on Education (6th ed.) NERDC Press.
Obasi, K. K., & Asodike, J. D. (2014 ). Educational reforms and attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Nigeria. International Journal of Education and Research, 2(3), 109–122.
Onyeachu, J.A.E., & Jibril, A. K. (2021) Methods of Teaching Arts and Humanities. ESCOE Printing press.
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- Recheal Okoro (Author), National Policy on Education and Sustainable Development in Nigeria: The Way Forward, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1741233
