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From
'Unity' to 'Privilege' Schools
By
Kunle Sanyaolu
culled from GUARDIAN, October 7,
2006
Going by Feelers from government,
Federal government colleges, otherwise known as Unity schools in the
country, may be phased out. Point of correction, they may be privatized. But
then, if this happens, can the schools retain their nomenclature as federal
government college? Highly unlikely, the issues will become clearer in the
weeks, perhaps months ahead. At the moment, there are 102, such institution
scattered all over the country. They account for 120,718 secondary students
out of 6.4 million such students countrywide.
The number is indeed paltry
the, considering the 6.4 million is itself conservative. If the country
has only 6.4 million secondary school students population, that is
because several millions other children with the potential of being in
the schools are not there, for one reason or another. It is fairly clear
however that by the time the unity schools are privatized, they will
lose their 'unity' quality in the sense that the schools will not be
representative of the diverse culture, population ethnicity and classes
of Nigerians. They will be 'unity' only in the fact that their students
are privileged, coming as it were from very rich parents. No one should
be under any illusion that Federal government colleges or by whatever
name they are called, under a private sector management, will be
accessible to both rich and poor parents as is presently the case. By
the way, government should still clarity if the proposed change will
affect only the school's management or their entire ownership structure.
I do not envisage any major difference in what the schools become,
whether the change is of management or of ownership. It is not expected
that under a private management, government will retain and keep paying
their teachers and non-teaching staff in the schools. It is also not
expected that the new managers will be required to simply administer the
schools and cannot a regular income to government coffers after perhaps
deducting their overheads and profits. The new managers, if they are
going to be so-called will expect to be given a leeway in their running
of the schools, in order to achieve a combination of educational
excellence and optimum economy. Give and take, the only scenario that is
conceivable is of a set of secondary schools built and nurtured by
public resources for over four decades, and ultimately designed to cater
for a highly selected few, privileged only by virtue of their huge
financial standing.
In a way, education has
become an elitist matter because over the years, the governments
both at the federal and state levels have gradually abdicated their
governmental responsibility to the private sector. Public sector
funding of education has been grossly inadequate to meet the
challenges of population, quality and the changing world. Highly
placed government officials and public officers, particularly those
with access to the treasury, send their children to expensive and
glamorous primary and secondary schools. They similarly send them
abroad far higher education or lately, into any of the numerous
private universities that have been lately given approval to
operate. These institution are not for the average Nigerians, most
of whom are perceptually in the struggle to keep their lives afloat
indeed, the nation is getting to grasp with the reality that
education has become so uncreative a business that the country's
topmost citizens including the president and the vice president, are
said to own private colleges and universities, built and ran in a
state of the art fashion. This development account for why
governments, particularly in the present dispensation, have cared
little about public education. It is also reflective of why
officials are keen to divest government completely of public
education and its finding. The reasons are clear, first, their own
institution can make more economic waves because Nigerians, left
with no choice, will tax and slave themselves to send their children
to the schools. Secondly, and this is more sad, the new arrangement
will leave more money at the disposal of government, not to spend on
other public demand as usually insinuated by government officials,
but to loot, embezzle and misappropriate purely for selfish end.
By opting to
privatize the 102 Federal government colleges dotted all over
the country, the Federal government has again adopted a quick,
but lazyman's solution to a fundamental problem. It's the
government did in other areas, the proposed solution not only
admits failure on the part of government, it deliberately and
wilfully turns a blind eye on the original reasons for setting
up the colleges in the first place. By the singular act, the
Obasanjo administration appears to be abdicating its
responsibility as a government, to the people. It is a lame
excuse that government officials have consistently mismanaged
the school projects and therefore, the projects should be
committed into private hands. There is no double that this
government has predicated its policies on private sector drive,
the general idea is that government should worry less about
running outfits that could be better managed by non governmental
people, while the authorities busy themselves with enacting
broad framework to facilitate the success of the private
endeavors. One thing we can give government, including the
present Federal government, is its huge capacity to run a ground
with projects conceived as sweet dreams, the realisation of
which would make a great positive difference for Nigeria. But,
just like in the other legs of government, reform one cannot but
ask the question what is it for the average Nigerian?
Usually, this
government is eager to rationalise that the pains of today
will produce the gains of tomorrow. Consistently however,
the lie has been put to this contention as officials either
cannot account for huge public funds, or spend them
frugally. Otherwise, education should not be a matter that
government will wholly entrust to private hands in a
developing country like Nigeria whose mainstream citizens
are struggling to keep afloat of the poverty line. From
reports, the minutes of education Dr. (Mrs.) Obiageli
Ezekwesili had complained of the unwieldy nature of
parastatals and agencies under her ministry. She was worried
that about 85 percent of the allocated resources went to
overheads, at the expense of capital investment. According
to her: "the ministry spends an inordinate amount of time
and resources on these schools that constitute only 30
percent 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."
One issue that will surface in
government's proposal is the matter of who buys the
schools, at what price and how is the buyer determined?
Going by previous experiences when government officials
use fronts to win contracts and to buy government houses
and property, the fear is already expressed that the
schools will ultimately find their way into the hands of
some government official or officials. After the sale,
we can expect a few scandalous revelations. We can admit
that ordinarily, secondary education should not be
concern of the federal government, under a federation.
So far however, we do not runs true federation in the
country. Besides, education at post primary and higher
institutional levels. Is a matter for both federal and
the states under the 1999 constitution. The Federal
government should be seen to play its pant. Mrs.
Ezekwesili ought to be talking about how government
intends to curb waste and make education funding more
cost effective in the unity schools. She should be
expressing concern about the plunge in quality of
education over the years, particularly under the present
administration. The minister should be assessing how the
unity schools have fared say in the less 30 or 40 years,
and to examine whether government at all levels have
been able to utilize the schools to raise standards of
other schools and in the education sector. Somebody
should be showing government's concern about its
inability to achieve constitutional grails in section
18, to the effect that government shall direct its
policy towards ensuring that there are equal and
adequate educational opportunities at all levels, and
that government shall as and when practicable, provide
free compulsory and universal primary education, free
secondary and free university education for all
Nigerians. In my view, no one should be more qualified
to canvass this desire than the Honorable minister of
education.
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