Education in Nigeria, getting better or not?
As I write this, the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) has downed tools. What effect does this have on the sector?
To answer this, I decided to look at the forest of the education sector. I started with a cursory look at the pass rate of students taking the final examinations after their secondary education.
The image above shows the results of the November/December NECO examinations from 2013 to 2016. It shows an increasing average from below 10% in 2013, to just under 40% in 2016.
The image above shows the results for the June/July NECO examinations for the same period. This shows a slightly better story, with averages improving from above 20% to somewhere around 45%.
So, on the surface, it would appear that things are all well and good.
However, Nigeria is made up of 37 administrative regions, and taking at look at the figures from these regions paints a completely different picture. Let’s start with a look at the 2013 November/December examination results.
See anything interesting?
I usually scroll to the bottom and look at the numbers for Zamfara State. Those numbers are real! In an examination, for an entire state, only 208 students sat for this very important examination. Of these 208 candidates, only 3 candidates got 5 credits. That is a 1.5% pass rate. Forget politics and religion, we should be having a national debate about this!
Take a look at Borno State. Of 127 candidates, only 5 got 5 credits. That is a 5% pass rate!
Adamawa and Benue have an about 10% pass rate. Delta, Edo and Enugu have an about 12% pass rate.
Okay, let’s look at the Jun/Jul results. We have more people taking those examinations.
The above numbers are in thousands. Now we have slightly better numbers. In Yobe and Zamfara, we get a pass rate above 10%. That’s a relief! In Taraba, it’s above 40%. If we look at our average for 2013, its somewhere between 20% and 30% for both male and female candidates.
Unfortunately, for each year under review, the male rate is above the female rate. Do we have any idea why that might be so?
The good news is that states like Oyo, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Benue, and Akwa Ibom have a high enrollment rate, and their success rate hovers around 50%. When averaged, it all comes down to that 20% to 30% range.
Of 37 states, only about 10 have a success rate that is close to 50%.
Of 59,836 candidates who took the examination in November/December of 2013, 6,887 male and 5,278 females got above credits in 5 subjects inclusive of Math and English.
In June/July of the same year, 1,034,264 candidates took the examination. 272,465 male and 220,689 female candidates got credits in 5 subjects inclusive of Math and English.
Please note that his is not the entire story. The question remains as to whether they got the right combination of subjects to gain admission to study something of their choosing, or even anything useful at all.
Is it any wonder that the unemployment rate is so high? What exactly are our people qualified to do? Of those who gain admission into an institution of higher learning, what percentage are trained and equipped for modern day job functions? But that’s a topic for another article.
For now, let’s discuss what the explanation is for the above figures, and what can be done about them. I would love to hear your view.
You may fine more visualizations on this topic at this location.
