Remedy for Education Sector amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

Importance of Universal Basic Education infoguidenigeria.com

 The worst hit institution during the COVID-19 pandemic globally and Nigeria in particular is the education sector in general and Basic and Senior Secondary Education in particular. Nigeria experience can be likened to that of the United States' experience where the demand for alternatives to traditional public schools is surging even before the pandemic struck. The pandemic has both laid bare the Nigeria education gap and pointed the way to a solution.

John B. Taylor (2020) advocates school choice as the only option to bridge this gap. In a research he carried out in Stanford, it is revealed that after years of rumblings for change in US education, the COVID-19 pandemic is becoming a catalyst for improving the system. COVID-19 pandemic  can be termed a blessing in disguise because it laid bare the educational dichotomy, inadequacies and gap  – especially in Early Child Care Development, Basic Education through Senior Secondary Education for anyone to see. Inequalities and disparities in quality and access to education are a major source of the economic, social, and racial inequalities that are driving so much social unrest from across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. It is worth noting that the children most affected are children in communities affected by conflicts, wars and natural disasters. Whether they come from any of these zones or not, every child of school age has been the hardest hit by the pandemic and its social and economic effects.

Private School Sector. qz.com

 Fortunately, economist Thomas Sowell has offered a solution in his new book, Charter Schools and Their Enemies.  He shows that schools with more autonomy and flexibility than traditional public schools are closing the educational divide, providing sorely needed choice, opportunity, and competition. Sowell’s careful analysis of the data, which was available before the pandemic struck, shows that students in publicly funded but privately operated charter schools like Success Academy in New York City score remarkably higher on standardized achievement tests than do those in traditional public schools. The book contains reams of convincing evidence, all of which is explained beautifully and presented clearly in more than 90 pages of tables.

 

 Nursery and Primary School in Nigeria

This can be likened to the surge in private schools in Nigeria even before the pandemic. This is in accordance with the National Policy on Education which stipulates that the Nigerian education sector encourages all other stakeholders to participate in the delivery of education at all levels (NPE, 2013). As a result, the private sector, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), International Development Partners (IDPs), communities and private individuals are very active in the sector. A similar study carried out in FCT on the comparative study of performance of students in public and private schools, reveals that students in private schools perform better. Not minding the high cost of private schools, will parents now prefer to enroll their children/wards in private schools in order to remedy what was lost during the pandemic?