What is basic education?

Basic education is the formal education deemed necessary for a person to function properly in society. (Bing)

Or,

Basic education refers to the whole range of educational activities taking place in various settings (formal, non-formal and informal), that aim to meet basic learning needs. (Wiki)

Or,

Basic education is considered as a broad pool of knowledge that everyone, children, youth and adults alike are entitled to, at any stage of their lives, as a right. (UNESCO)

If you need a more in-depth explanation or analysis on what basic education is, UNESCO has an 80-paged operational definition. You’re welcome.

So why are we talking about basic education today?

Before I answer that, you should also know that basic education is considered a priority for developing countries like Nigeria for a number of reasons including public health, political stability, human rights, governance, etcetera.

Back to your question, we are talking about it today because the government wants to rob Nigerian children of something as fundamental, significant, essential… I need more adjectives

Basic?

Aha! Basic, which of course is a synonym for fundamental, but it’s okay. The government wants to rob our children of something as “basic” as a basic education.

How?

They increased the school fees for Federal Government Colleges from N20,000 which is already N2,000 above the country’s minimum wage, to N75,000.

WHAT?!? Why will they do that?

Because they are the ALL-MIGHTY Federal Government, but more importantly, they are the Nigerian Federal Government, infamous for erratic policy changes. Oh! And of course, it’s the administration of change, so, things just have to change. Be it for good or bad, no one actually cares, as long at it’s CHANGE.

I am asking a serious question here…

But I just gave you a serious answer. Is this not the reality of the Nigerian people under this administration? Everybody up there talks from both sides of their mouths; one can’t really bank on anything the government says because it is subject to CHANGE at any given point in time.

Let’s see, how many different policies has the CBN implemented in the last 15 months? In the education sector, how often has the framework/requirement for admission into tertiary institutions been changed? Post UME has been scrapped and “un-scrapped” so many times, Universities aren’t adhering to the rules anymore. And didn’t the president promise “free and relevant education” with one free meal a day for students during his campaign? How does a fee hike translate to that? Inconsistency has always been the way of our government, ad nauseam. Only problem is that this administration has taken it up a notch.

What reason did Adamu Adamu give for this unreasonable fee hike?

Initially, he denied being aware of the fee hike. I know you want to ask how the Minister of Education can comfortably make such a claim, or how this information went over his head, if he truly wasn’t aware. But please don’t, because I honestly don’t know myself. I don’t have all the answers.

Okay. How are parents reacting to this new development?

I bet you know the answer to that already. How do you react to such a betrayal? Wait, don’t answer that. I know it’s subjective. But in this case, it isn’t, and so parents have kicked against the fee hike. They even released a statement citing how “untimely” and “insensitive” the government’s decision is.

Let me give you excerpts of it:

“The increase of school fees from about N20,000 to about N75,000 in Unity colleges is most untimely and insensitive. An average Nigerian worker, whose minimum wage is N18,000, and who has one or two children in the Unity colleges, will be unable to keep his or her child or children in the Unity colleges.”

“The increase is a negation of the policy or principle that established Unity colleges, which is to make basic and secondary education affordable and accessible to an average pupil.”

“The association appeals to President Muhammadu Buhari and members of the National Assembly to compel the Federal Ministry of Education to revert to the old bills as the education of children is a right, and not a privilege.”

“The association frowns at any attempt to commercialise or make the cost of training children in the Unity colleges beyond the reach of an average parent.”

“The education of children is a right, not a privilege,” they couldn’t have said it better. Do you think the Federal Government will heed to this appeal?

They had better. If parents can not afford the fees of schools regulated by the government, then the future of education in Nigeria is gloomy. As stated in the communique released by the National Parent and Teacher Association of Federal Government Colleges (NAPTAFEGC), the fee hike goes against the very principle upon which FGC’s were established. And this is to make basic and secondary education affordable and accessible.

It is the height of betrayal for the government to go against that principle and impose such an exorbitant fee, especially given the present state of the economy. Besides, the percentage is unbelievable; how do you go from N20/25,000 to 75,000? That is callous. The government is simply turning FGC’s to elite schools, affordable only by the rich.

At this point, no one is even asking for the free and relevant education promised? Since the government cannot make good on that promise, it should at least not force Nigerian children out of school with an unreasonable fee hike.