THE THEORY OF PRIVATISING EDUCATION

By Yushau A. Shuaib

With the few statistics flashed to the public, it seems the principal culprits in the bastardization of education are the civil servants, the technocrats in charge of those institutions. Probably it was for this reason the allegation that she unilaterally directed the redeployment of some top civil servants, directors and permanent secretary in her ministry of education for not meeting up with the modern trends and assigned consultants to take the responsibilities of some of the functions in the ministry.

The most disheartening situation we find ourselves today is that even the civil servants are no more comfortable sending their wards to public schools as they also cut corner to make sure they put them in private schools like their senior citizens, political appointees who not only send their children to foreign schools but also establish and invest in the proliferation of private schools to the university level in Nigeria instead of improving the standards of public schools they had benefited from. In the olden days there was no demarcation between the school attended by the princes and the children of the servants which were all free public schools. Today the children of those poor farmers and servants are the mightily rich and powerful officers in the society and also major beneficiaries of non-discriminatory policies on education formulated by our forefathers.

Today while the children of junior workers and poor citizens contend with decayed public schools that produce certificated illiterates, the rich children attend the prestigious private schools that guaranteed their future in the spirit of cartelization. A child that attends X privatized (privately owned) schools from elementary to tertiary, would not require any godfather to get a job in X privatized group of companies or  institution owned/operated by Chief/Alhaji X? The recent commendable policy of government that only highfliers with Distinction would be offer employments in the federal civil service may not require the service of soothsayers to predict how it could be abused by proprietors of private universities who may churn out more first class graduates (different from first class materials) to compete in filling up the job quota with their alumni.

In a situation where average senior civil servants, not junior cadre or ordinary masses, earn less than N50, 000 as monthly take-home pays, how can their children benefit from intended privatized schools? If it is necessary to privatize the schools it may be imperative too that the ordinary citizens are giving the opening to have the financial muscles to afford the fees to make the rich and the poor have the equal opportunity to get quality education for their kids to reduce the rate of touts and illiterate criminals in our midst. We need to be cautious on the craze for privatization of everything because if the purpose of Unity Schools is to expose our children to diverse cultural environments and promote mutual coexistence in a united country, I wonder what will befall similar schemes like National Youth Service Corps and other forces in the near future!

What irked me more as a Nigerian is how civil servants are sacrificed as scapegoats over misdeeds mostly engineered by political appointees and contractors that promised to deliver quality service. Even though they take order blindly without hesitation for fear of losing their job, they (workers/teachers) deserve no mercy for colluding with corrupt officers, consultants and contractor in wrecking havoc on the image of public service and destruction of our collective patrimonies as legacies of our forefathers but being hunted by the few.

We can not deny the fact that foreign trained, especially Harvard scholars, who holds sensitive positions in our present political landscape have great passion for positive change in how we do things locally. We can attest to Madam Due Process’ exemplary leadership in the formation of Due Process Office and the transformation of Ministry of Solid Minerals within few months. But they must note that there are strategies required in solving severe problems, more than just deploying academic theories to address stark realities.
           

As I was about to post this piece, I hooked to NVS to read a posting on education in Nigeria by Prof. Mobolaji Aluko, the respected human encyclopedia on Nigeria’s political economy. Apart from providing web links to Nigeria’s 2006 Budget and Appropriation bill approved in February 2006, he formatted version of NASS document with specific reference to Education Budget in 2006. He states that Education sector has N166.6 billion or 8.77% of a total of N1.9 trillion which is far below the recommended 26% UNESCO international target. Of that N166.6 billion for education, payroll takes a whopping 69.5% with capital taking only 22.4% and overhead rounding out the rest. Unity Schools take up only about 11% of the total Education budget with its own payroll 53.6% and overhead 27.9% both taking up   Recurrent total 81.5% with the Capital project being about 18.5%. He therefore ended by saying that “It is ONLY this recurrent total of the Education budget that comes ANYWHERE close to the 78% mentioned by the Minister of Education, an observation that needs to be quickly clarified. One hopes that she has not been misinformed in her news position as Education Minister.”

As we project the positions of public officers on what concerned all of us, we must also defend the conservative public servants who are influenced to toil the line for fear of victimizations.
 
Yushau A. Shuaib
yashuaib@yahoo.com
Wuye Estate, Abuja

Robot  Villager

# 1 We can attest to Madam Due Process’ exemplary leadership in the formation of Due Process Of...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 13.10.2006 04:25

philipikita  Villager

# 2 "Already many are getting worried with the theory that any bad situation in a public institution is best handled by privatization, while collapsed privately owned firms are not usually sanctioned or acquired by the government." "With the few statistics flashed to the public, it seems the principal culprits in the bastardization of education are the civil servants, the technocrats in charge of those institutions. Probably it was for this reason the allegation that she unilaterally directed the redeployment of some top civil servants, directors and permanent secretary in her ministry of education for not meeting up with the modern trends and assigned consultants to take the responsibilities of some of the functions in the ministry." These (above) a catchy statements that I admire and agree with totally. Why should civil servants be blamed for the failure of everything in government? When they are absolutely under the command of obnoxious laws? The signed to abide by these laws. These laws, like the official secret act (actually, a near-century-old colonial ordinance to hide the evil and corruption of colonial administrators) are ensured and strengthened by our crooked state. I insist that the civil servants are not the cause. Meanwhile, private institutions also fail. Education is not a private matter, why do our master-reformist want to use privatization to solve every problem? why don't they recommend that Aso Rock be handed over to Delloite or Pricewaterhouse? Also we must look before we leap! Public schools have degenerated, but the private schools pioneered and promoted organized exams cheating in Nigeria! Proprietors do this to attract enrolment into their schools and higher enrolment figures mean more money and more profit. Very few private school owners do it as a service...many of the schools are for profit. Well, the churches I see as non profit organizations but some of the religious schools are not exempted from my accusations. In my university class (and I bet, many classes in our tertiary institutions) only very few of these private school graduates with there A grades could not match us, poor public school graduates who struggled to get Cs at the "O" level. That is why in one of the "winning" private universities, a "highly" rated one at that, owned by a church that has no "failure" in its dictionary, two prominent scholars ran back to their federal-government owned university. Reason: They "failed" some students in their courses and the Chancellor told them "all our students are winners", don't fail them in any course(s), "because winners don't fail" Let's watch carefully before we leap. Posted by philipikita| 13.10.2006 08:15

philipikita  Villager

# 3 In my university class (and I bet, many classes in our tertiary institutions) only very few of these private school graduates with there A grades could not match us, poor public school graduates who struggled to get Cs at the "O" level. SORRY, I meant a great many of private school graduates could not match us. Posted by philipikita| 13.10.2006 08:26

Abraxas  Villager

# 4 Hi, philipikita! My mother's soup is the sweetest, south of the North Pole. Muchas gracias. Don Juan Carlos ABRAXAS (III) Posted by Abraxas| 14.10.2006 03:04

onwuchekwa  Villager

# 5 The privatisation of Unity Schools is indeed a sad proposition. It is an unfortunate ploy to misinform the public by suggesting that Unity Schools take up over 80% of the budget as opposed to 11% in actual fact. - Our national unity depends on a true understanding and tolerance between ethnic and religious groups. No other institution in the country, the NYSC scheme included, has as much ability (and has had as much impact) as unity schools to provide an environment of social and cultural integration (for a good 6 years!) - devoid of divisions of social class or economic power - at a period in time when (a) the usual ethnic stereotypes are not yet fossilised in students' minds; and (b) students are at a stage in their emotional development where friendships with a wide circle are still easily made. (Sociological studies show that the breadth of people's circle of intimate association reduces with age). Given the potential danger that misdirected ethnic sentiments pose, I believe this overrides all other considerations in the need to maintain unity schools. - Every developed country in the western world subsidises education, and if Nigeria indeed intends to hold its own in the 21st century, the government should wake up and smell the coffee on this issue. Good quality education is the only way forward. Obasanjo's government really appears to have failed the nation in this regard, at every level of education. If the percentage of the educational budget spent on unity schools is 'too high' then: (a) increase the budget (b) take steps to manage the schools more efficiently (they don't all need to be sold off for that to happen) (c) If absolutely necessary, and i'm not convinced that it is, prune down the number of schools based on weighted criteria including various indices of educational performance but maintain geographical spread! - Privatisation will not widen the patronage of the 102 unity schools, but definitely (for a great majority of them) reduce it, and reduce its social spread. Some of the greatest minds the country have produced have come from economically deprived backgrounds. Shrink the pool, and the country will be much worse off for it. Of course, sentiment plays in favour of retaining Unity Schools, but the point remains that privatisation is not the way to make education available to ALL. We cannot afford to foster a society in which only the elite can enjoy a high quality of education. I'm not sure just how much dues Oby's privatisation process is going to exact from the nation, but i'm sure they are dues we should not have to pay. Posted by onwuchekwa| 14.10.2006 07:26

Bolaji Aluko  Villager

# 6 There was a clarification of sorts on the Education Minister's position in an email to me (see another thread on this Board, under my essay on the Education budget), as well as in this THIS DAY report: QUOTE Unity Schools: Ezekwesili’s Memo Recommends Privatisation By Yemi Adebowale, 10.21.2006 Contrary to denials by the Minister of Edu-cation, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili that she did not recommend the privatisation of the 102 Federal Government Coll-eges, a document made available to THISDAY last night has shown that the minister indeed wrote to President Olusegun Obas-anjo, seeking approval for outright privatisation of the schools. According to the memo with reference number ME/FME/42/XlV/13, dated September 1, 2006, the minister proposed outright privatisation of the unity schools, as part of the restructuring of the ministry. “Mr. President, we propose the privatisation of these schools. The ministry will work with the Bureau of Public Enterprises to allow competent private sector-driven education organisations to manage these schools. Sir, we assure you the Brand will be retained and the original idea of the unity schools as vehicles of national unity will not be compromised. The ministry will maintain a regulatory role with strict guidelines for the management of these schools defined and agreed upon,” the minister wrote. In the memo titled, The Restructuring of The Federal Ministry of education: The Emergence of a new FME, Ezekwesili premised her recommendation on alleged waste and decay in the unity schools. “At a more strategic level, we are proposing a fundamental shift in how we manage unity schools. These schools since they were established 40 years ago have raised generations of leaders from diverse backgrounds and ethnic groups. The vision of the unity schools is a powerful one motivated by a strong desire to build one nation. The capacity of the 40 years old model to achieve the nobel dreams of earlier decades in the light of modern Nigeria's impinging constraints, has caused the vision to fossilize. Many of the schools are sub-standard with the absence of basic infrastructure and amenities, and have become a very sorry sight in the landscape of secondary education.” Ezekwesili said her greatest concern “is the fact that the Ministry spends an inordinate amount of time and resources on these schools that constitute only 3% of the secondary schools in the country. Out of 6.4 million secondary school students, only 120,718 are in the 102 unity schools. This number cannot on any account justify the disproportionate amount of staff and budget allocated to these schools. This has to be reversed. We have to do things differently as the current business model can no longer be sustained. Even more disturbing are the facts on staff distribution with the 102 Federal Unity Colleges accounting for 85% of the ministry's staff strength.” The Minister said over the last two decades, the ministry unwittingly abdicated its role, while focusing on transactional activities and initiatives “that often do not add value because they are marginal and diversionary to the fundamental challenges of the education sector. This has unfortunately converted the ministry into an organisation with a paucity of ideas and a penchant for superficiality.” Ezekwesili promised that her new team at the Federal Ministry Education (FME) was determined to reverse the rot and transform the ministry into a knowledge-driven organisation with a vision to become an emerging economy model, delivering sound education policy and management, for public good. “We are determined to establish an educational sector wired for the 21st century. We have therefore spent the last five weeks gathering facts and allowing these facts to drive the initiatives for transformation.” The minister in the memo also signed by the Minister of State in the ministry, Sayyad Abba Ruma, therefore urged Obasanjo to approve the implementation of the privatisation agenda for the 102 unity colleges, which would be undertaken by a joint team of the BPE and the Federal ministry of Education on the premise that the unity colleges 'Brand' would be retained but operated by private owners within a framework monitored by a new Basic and Secondary Schools Regulatory Authority. She said the focus of the new FME would be on delivering sound education policy and professional management of education for the public good, through strategic partnerships with key stakeholders. “We intend to provide qualitative education relevant to the 21st century. Our convenant with the Nigerian Child is access to quality education relevant to the needs of the Nigerian economy. We nurture the mind to create a good society that can compete globally anywhere in the world,” she stated. It would be recalled that the minister was summoned by the Senate two weeks ago, following the protest that greeted the proposed privatisation of unity schools. She told the Senate that it was not true, saying her proposed plan was for a public-private sector arrangement. Efforts to speak to the minister on the issue last night proved abortive. Phone calls to her were not picked. UNQUOTE Bolaji Aluko Posted by Bolaji Aluko| 21.10.2006 19:06