Education is the greatest force that can be used to bring about change. It is also the greatest investment that a nation can make for the quick development of its economic, political, sociological and human resources.

It was in realisation of this that a National Policy on Education was formulated for the country. The policy seeks the inculcation of national consciousness and national unity; the inculcation of the right type of values and attitudes for the survival of the individual and the Nigerian society; the training of the mind in understanding of the world around; and the acquisition of appropriate skills, abilities and competence both mental and physical as equipment for the individual to live in and contribute to the development of his society.

In order to preserve the culture of the people, government of Nigeria encourages the learning of at least one major Nigerian language - Hausa, lgbo and Yoruba in schools.

STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM

The structure of formal educational system has four levels:
....• Pre-primary
....• Primary 6-year duration.
....• Secondary Junior and Senior of 3-year duration each
....• Tertiary 4 years of University education
....• 4 years of Polytechnic education 2-years of National Diploma(ND) and 2-years of Higher National Diploma (HND)
....• 3 Years at College of Education

The non-formal system consists of functional literary, remedial, continuing, vocational aesthetic, cultural, political and environmental education for youth and adults outside the formal school system. The non-formal system allows for exit from and re-entry into it at desired points or times in life. There is also provision for movement from non-formal to the formal system.

Community Programmes

Deliberate efforts have been made towards community empowerment through primary education intervention. Community-based programmes are run by community-Based rural market, daily urban market centres, and community-Based women co-operative society and by some mosques and churches.

A home and community Based informal low cost and participation initiative is also being employed in the provision of non-formal education at the pre-primary level.

There are currently three main levels of teachers training establishments as follows:

• Teacher Training Colleges: These used to be part of the secondary education programme. They awarded the Teachers Certificate Grade which in the past was the qualification required for primary school teaching across the country. However, the National Policy on Education has made the Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) the minimum Qualification for teaching in the country. Therefore, the Grade II colleges are now being phased out.

• Colleges of Education: These Colleges run post secondary training programmes which product NCE teachers. They used to train teachers for junior secondary teaching but they now train for primary teaching as well in view of the fact the NCE which they award will become the minimum qualification for primary school teaching as from 1998. Some of the colleges also run NCE pre-primary courses in order to produce teachers for the pre-primary level of education.

• Universities: All conventional universities if Nigeria run the Bachelor of Education Degree Programmes which, are open to holders of the senior school certificate and the NCE. Senior Secondary School teachers are trained in the universities.

GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION

Of the entire social sector in Nigeria, education receives the most attention. This is noticeable from the number of new public schools springing up, and the rapid increase in the number of high caliber private primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.

The Universal Basic Education Scheme (UBE) was launched in 1999. The renovation of education infrastructure is a primary target, as well as the provision of furniture to create a conducive learning environment. School enrolment has accordingly improved since the launching of UBE.

University equivalent includes institutions like polytechnics and specialized tertiary institutions that admit students who have acquired at least secondary school education.

A close look at the data reveals that primary school enrolment increased by only 11.5% in the first two years but by above 34 % in the year 2003 (four years after the introduction of the Universal Basic Education).

Secondary school enrolment equally improved by 15.4% in the first two years and 32.6% in the year 2003. Universities had 20.5% more students in the first two years and 49.4% more after four years.
With training for more than 4,000 teachers and fresh recruitment, the ratio of teacher/pupil may still not have reached impressive levels in public schools.

The data available here presents a ratio of one teacher to 51.9 pupils in 1999, to 56 pupils in 2001 and 53 in 2003.