The new educational policy and some salient issues, By Bolutife Oluwadele

Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman

Since the new policy on the new age for writing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and National Examinations Council (NECO) examinations was announced by the federal government, a lot of reactions have continued to trail its probity or otherwise.

While some of the reasons adduced elicit good scholarship that may require further interrogation, quite a few are borne out of pure emotions. While the latter is usual in our clime, it makes all policies to be viewed with much disdain.

However, beyond the above almost-parallel two groups of comments, let us still endeavour to look dispassionately at the crux of the matters that the policy may affect.

The intention of the policy in my opinion may be to address some issues that have become of great concern with dire consequences over a long period of time.

One of the critical issues the policy may be aiming to address may the rate at which children are indifferently denied childhood. Children in the past few decades are bundled into school shortly after coming out of their mothers’ wombs. No time to be children again. They are often not even allowed to develop cognitively before they are burdened with school works to keep them busy, so that they may not disturb their equally “busy” parents. As a matter of fact, these youngsters are raised on autopilot by absentee parents in search of economic fortune in the marketplace.

The consequence of the above is that an average child is already in the school environment from age one or at most age two. With this arrangement, the entire syllabus for elementary school is completed by age eight or nine at most. With that, they proceed to junior and senior high schools which will take another five or six years in most cases. Therefore, by age 14 to 15, they are done with secondary education.

Of course, with that, the struggle to go pursue higher education begins. With insufficient placements despite the plethora of private institutions, there is always a backlog of many students hanging in there for possible placements. Those whose parents can afford the huge financial requirement for backdoor placements bribe their way through to get their wards placements. This anomaly automatically means denying children of the poor admission.

However, to address this imbalance, we need much more than a mere pronouncement, with almost immediate alacrity (still a military hangover), as there are many possible unintended consequences.

Therefore, a year notice for this transition is grossly inadequate. Possible reactions may be unwholesome falsification of age by desperate wards and their accomplice parents to circumvent the system as usual.

Of course, it stands to reason that there has been a spill-over of a pool of unemployed youths over time. Again, we have affirmed time and again that many of such are not even employable. One of the reasons may be lack of proper cognitive development and the falling standard across board.

The foundation of many of these children who are thrust into the care of many “accidental” teachers (apologies to El-Rufai, the self-acclaimed accidental civil servant), with little or no interest in knowledge impartation and capacity development of the youngsters fostered on them, is a factor we dare not neglect at all.

The situation is worsened by many unscrupulous private school owners, who despite charging exorbitant fees, pay below their teachers peanuts, who in turn give out below-par service to the students in their care.

At the other end of the spectrum are senior public servants with their unwholesome practices of age reduction or falsification to remain much longer in service. These unscrupulous workers are inadvertently blocking the chances of youths, including those within the age bracket of their grandchildren from climbing the ladder to public service.

The resultant effect is the shrinking opportunities for many graduates. The situation is further exacerbated by the private sector that is skewed to the informal sector, and is also groping under the yoke of policy inconsistencies and unfriendly business environment. When there is employment at all, the conditions are mostly unpleasant.

At the minimum, a policy as fundamental as this should be given at least three years from the date of announcement before full commencement. The reasons for this are not farfetched.

First, the public school system needs to be rebuilt to address the issues of quality and standardisation. Second, the public service requires some thorough auditing to remove the deceitful workers who through age falsification have created shrinking opportunities for the incoming generation.

Third, there should be a way to address the age of starting school for children.The current system is not helping at all.

It is a truism that the issue of children finishing school before age 18 did not just start today. Even in our time that we started school averagely at age six, some still managed to beat the system. For instance, I wrote my West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) as it was known then, about sixteen years plus, despite schooling in a fairly remote area. Even at that, I happened not to be the youngest in my class. A few of my classmates finished a little above 15 years.

There have been over time some universities that will not admit students that are less than 16 years. If we are not going to pretend that the immaturity of some of our newly-churned out graduates is of grave concern, then the policy may be regarded as long overdue.

Nevertheless, the timeline for the transition is too short and sudden, and that may compromise its effective implementation. What yardstick will be used to authenticate the true age of the students, given the porous environment where any document can be obtained?

While I am not in doubt about the appropriateness of this policy, again, there seems to be unnecessary hastiness in implementing it. If the aim of the policy drafters and approving authority is to address the imbalance in our educational quality and the shrinking placements in higher institutions, there is the need to make it in a way that it can achieve its desired objective.

What will happen to students of 14 to 15 years that will be resuming to the final class in the coming session? Will they be withdrawn to a lower class? If yes, is the federal government ready and willing to bankroll the school fees for the added year?

It will be humbling for the government to take another look at the timeline and possibly re-engage the stakeholders (assuming they had been previously engaged before the policy rollout) to find a common ground for the transition and full implementation.

In addition, the government should, as a matter of urgency find means of restoring the public schools at the primary and secondary levels to their past and lost glory. After all, most of the topmost technocrats and politicians are products of the public educational system.

If these few suggestions and many others by those directly involved in our educational system can be looked into again by the government, then the policy may be a success.

Lastly, how does government intend to enforce the minimum age of a child before he/she can be admitted into the elementary school? Can the curriculum of crèches and nursery schools be modified to restore the childhood of the newly born? Can those concerned be asked to stop over- flogging the budding brains of these lads? Can we collectively appeal to them to let children be children and play as children, even if they are “dumped” in supposed school environment?

Let the government address these issues from the roots and not focus on the upper end and the unpalatable outcomes.

Will the government have the courage of revising itself once again, for the altruistic benefits of the larger society?

I hope so.

Bolutife Oluwadele is a chartered accountant, author, and public policy scholar based in Canada. He is the author of Thoughts of A Village Boy. Email: bolutife.oluwadele@gmail.com