Educational Issues
A Bleak Future Ahead: The Consequences of Nigeria’s Failing Education System -By Fadeela Mustapha Lawan
The falling standard of our basic education will have a greater consequence in all sectors because unqualified workers are more likely to employed in critical sectors such as health which can pose a serious threat to public safety and the delivery of quality healthcare. Without proper training and qualifications, these workers are likely to make mistakes, overlook important details, and provide standard service, which can lead to harming patients, costly errors; and a damage to reputation of our healthcare system.
Nigeria’s future is at stake due to its poorly funded and corrupt primary education system. Illiteracy and low college readiness have continued to limit economic growth, perpetuate inequality, and fuel brain drain. Without urgent intervention, the next generation will face a bleak future.
Corruption has bedvilled Nigerian and has created a room that almost every sector is found wanting due to unpatriotic leadership of the country that care less about the future generation.
The most critical sector that can be in danger, if expose to corruption is the educational sector which is the pillar that hold the progress and development of every nation certainly, there are several.
Factors that contributed decline in standard of educational sector at primary level includes: one of the factor is the fact that there are; many children that start school at an early age, which can lead to underdeveloped cognitive and social skills. Some schools even go to an extent of accept bribes to advance students to the next grade without proper assessment and some teachers may award grades based on favoritism or bribery, rather than academic performance.
This is done particularly in some private schools which has impacted on the mentality of people to only seek certificate instead of knowledge.
Hence, these factors, have contributed in ruining the foundation of young people since at their root level, so one can imagine how the future could be for the next generation?
Institutions, particularly universities level have become difficult for students to perform because they have missed the foundation that can prepare them for such academic challenges. The situation has further created a problem, where we see Nigerians trooping to countries such as; Benin Republic, Sudan, Ghana and many others places with lower educational standard compared to Nigeria with the aim of obtaining certificate within a short time.
The falling standard of our basic education will have a greater consequence in all sectors because unqualified workers are more likely to employed in critical sectors such as health which can pose a serious threat to public safety and the delivery of quality healthcare. Without proper training and qualifications, these workers are likely to make mistakes, overlook important details, and provide standard service, which can lead to harming patients, costly errors; and a damage to reputation of our healthcare system.
This is a devastating scenario, and it’s a wake-up call for policymakers and education administrators to address these issues head-on.
Fadeela Mustapha Lawan wrote from the Department of Mass Communication, Borno State University.
