ED/EPS/2006/RP/12d September 2006

Decentralization of Education in Nigeria

Country Report at the UNESCO Seminar on “EFA Implementation: Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization”

Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, India, 6-8 January 2005

In this series: Country Reports: Egypt Indonesia Mozambique Nigeria Pakistan

Thematic Reports: SIASAT

Education policies and strategies

UNESCO Seminar on EFA Implementation: Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization

Administrative Staff College of India Hyderabad, India 6-8 January 2005

Organizer: UNESCO

This series carries in extenso the national report of the country representatives presented at the UNESCO Seminar on Implementing Education for All: Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization, held in Hyderabad (India) from 6 to 8 January 2005. Organized by UNESCO, with assistance from the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, and the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi, the seminar was attended by over fifty participants, including two national representatives from each of the E-9 countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan) as well as Mozambique. Any part of this paper may be freely reproduced with the appropriate acknowledgement. The authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of the facts contained in this book and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. UNESCO expert, Abby Riddell, contributed to the planning and design of the seminar as well as the design and writing of this compendium volume.

Published in 2006 by: Division of Educational Policies and Strategies United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP (France) © UNESCO Website: http://www.unesco.org/education/eps/ Rubric: Experience Sharing, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP (France)

Contents

Introduction...........................................................................................1 Context ......................................................................................................... 1 Common issues raised.................................................................................. 3 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................... 6

Decentralization of Education in Nigeria............................................9 I. An Overview of Nigeria's Education Reform.......................................... 9 II. Teacher deployment and management .................................................. 13 III. Assessment of Teacher Management in Nigeria.................................. 17 IV. Resource management in Nigerian education...................................... 24 V. Achievements, problems and prospects ................................................ 37 VI. Lessons from the Reform processes..................................................... 43

Conclusion ...........................................................................................46 Bibliography ........................................................................................47 Annexes ................................................................................................51 Annex 1: Report Guidelines....................................................................... 52 Annex 2: The Programme of the Seminar.................................................. 55 Annex 3: Some statistical tables ................................................................ 57

Abbreviations ASUU B.A.(Ed) B. Ed. B.Sc.(Ed) CFSI CIDA CSACEFA COE DFID ECCE EDOs EFA EMIS ESA ETF FME FRN FTC GDP GER HND ICT IDPs ILO JAMB JCCE JICA JS JSCE LGAs LGEA MLA NAP NAPTAN

Academic Staff Union of Universities Bachelor of Arts (Education) Degree Bachelor of Education Degree Bachelor of Science (Education) Degree Child Friendly School Initiative Canadian International Development Agency Civil Society Coalition for Education for All College of Education Department for International Development (UK) Earl Child Care and Education Education Development Officers Education For All Education Management Information Service Education Sector Analysis Education Tax Fund Federal Ministry of Education Federal Republic of Nigeria Federal Teachers Corps Gross Domestic Product Gross Enrolment Ratio Higher National Diploma Information and Communication Technology International Development Partners International Labour Office Joint Admissions Matriculation Board Joint Consultative Committee on Education Japanese International Cooperation Agency Junior Secondary Junior Secondary School Certificate Local Government Areas Local Government Education Authority Monitoring of Learning Achievement National Action Plan National Association of Parent Teachers Association of Nigeria

NBTE NCCE NCE NCE NCNE ND NEEDS Strategy NEFAF NERDC NIEPA NINLAN NLB NLC NMEC NPC NPCU NPE NPEC NTI NUC NUT PCE PES PTA PTTP SEEDS Strategy SNEP SMOE SPEB SS/SSCE TESCOM TRC TTQ

National Board for Technical Education National Commission for Colleges of Education National Council on Education Nigerian Certificate in Education National Commission for Nomadic Education National Diploma National Economic Empowerment and Development National EFA Forum Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council National Institute for Educational Administration and Planning National Institute for Nigerian Languages National Library Board Nigerian Labour Congress National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult Education and Non-formal Education National planning Commission National project coordinating Unit National Policy on Education National Primary Education Commission National Teacher’s Institute National Universities Commission National Union of Teachers Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Examination Primary Education Studies Parent Teachers Association Pivotal Teacher Training Program State economic Empowerment and Development Strategic National Education Plan State Ministry of Education State Primary Education Board Senior Secondary Certificate Examination Teaching Service Commission Teachers Registration Council Teacher Training and Qualifications

UBE UBEC UME UNDP UNESCO UNICEF UPE USAID VAT

Universal Basic Education Universal Basic Education Commission University Matriculation Examinations United Nations Development Programme United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund Universal Primary Education United States Agency for International Development Value Added Tax

Introduction The Dakar Framework for Action invited national governments to develop Plans of Action on Education for All (EFA) before the end of 2002. In response to this call, many countries have developed or strengthened existing sector plans for the achievement of EFA and have begun implementing them. However, experience has shown that at the time of developing their plans, some countries have had difficulties in defining workable strategies and translating them into clear-cut operational and reform actions. Delays have been due to lack of experience in the subject. UNESCO supports the strengthening of national capacities not only by providing countries with expertise, but also by facilitating exchanges of national experience among countries from different regions of the world. The dissemination of experience and good practice is one of the means of transferring technical know-how and skills and can help national managers to identify practical solutions which best answer the problems arising from their own education systems. The issue of governance and decentralization is one of the issues most frequently raised by country representatives and other stakeholders at various national and international events and is often referred to as one of the factors affecting the success of EFA implementation. This is particularly true in countries with federal systems and the E-9 countries, where governance is a major issue of concern within their decentralized administrative and institutional settings. Organizing an international seminar for these countries on the pressing issue of governance promotes not only South-South cooperation, facilitating the sharing of their experiences and best practices, but it also helps them to design and implement their own country-specific strategies for accelerating the achievement of EFA.

Context Decentralization has become a virtual mantra of development, emphasized increasingly as the market, as opposed to the state, has been allowed to exercise its influence on public policy. Taken to the extreme, this has entailed 1

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization the privatization of formerly state-run activities such as health or education, but in between complete centralization and privatization are various types of decentralization. These have commonly and increasingly involved the use of performance assessment and results-based management as a means of exerting state influence while still allowing for multiple nodes of decisionmaking. Such assessment and management practices have thus become part of the panoply of tools that government uses to regulate an increasingly decentralized environment. Many different arguments are used in support of educational decentralization, not least to ensure that decisions made closest to the educational beneficiaries result in policies tailored to their particular contexts and requirements. Other arguments in support of decentralization stem from a desire to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of educational management. Large, cumbersome, centralized bureaucracies can be slow and unresponsive. Further arguments for decentralization are based on political expediency, to transfer the responsibility for educational decisions – and commonly, the accompanying finance – away from the national government. Thus, decentralization can be used as a means of supplementing inadequate national resources. Whatever the reasons behind educational decentralization, it is also important to distinguish between different types of decentralization. There are many patterns. Some involve merely a déconcentration of tasks, creating a regional office that mirrors the national ministry. Some involve the delegation of responsibility, where decisions taken at the centre are carried out by those delegated authority at a lower level. And other types of decentralization involve outright devolution, in which the responsibility for decision-making is transferred to a lower level. In addition, some educational decentralization involves all educational management and administration, while others focus on particular sections, allocating responsibility for different tasks to different levels of the administration. For example, teacher deployment and finance may remain at the centre while textbook ordering and distribution may be the responsibility of a local office. Two key areas of educational decentralization that have extensive ramifications for the achievement of EFA are teacher management and deployment; and financial resource generation and management. How decisions are reached on the allocation of human and financial resources across the various levels of decentralization in different countries will have a major impact on the provision and quality of educational services. Whether district or regional education officers are empowered and enabled to make 2

Introduction decisions concerning the targeting of key educational resources will contribute to the responsiveness of the education system to local conditions and needs and will influence the provision of quality education for all. Different countries have worked out different arrangements across the levels of responsibility for educational administration and management to deal with governance in these key areas. Some of the actual arrangements are highly dependent on particular contexts and inappropriate for replication elsewhere. For this reason, the seminar focused on governance and not merely on decentralization. The issues of common interest, whatever the nature of decentralization, concern how decisions are reached, based on what information, with what accountability, in turn based on what information. Analysis of the effectiveness of systems of governance is also of common interest: how are they judged to be effective? Does the system deliver on its promises and achieve its targets? And, finally, how have the capacities been developed of those staff given decentralized, governance responsibilities over teacher deployment and management and resource mobilization and management? An outline of the questions to be answered in each national report was distributed and formed the basis for the countries’ submissions (Annex 1).

Common issues raised Four common issues can be identified across the reports prepared for the seminar: • weak fiscal decentralization; • compensatory role of central government; • rationalization of allocation and deployment of teachers; • school-based management.

Weak fiscal decentralization The national reports describe various forms and contexts of decentralization – to states, to districts, to municipalities, and to local communities and school committees. Responsibilities and authority for delivering educational services at all these different levels vary considerably. However, an underlying issue concerns the sourcing of funds for any such services and the accompanying management of service delivery. The Indian national report states succinctly:

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Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization

When decentralization in education takes the form of deconcentration, it is very difficult to ensure accountability of local administrative units and support structures. Issues of control versus legitimacy are raised. If teachers’ salaries are paid by the state and not the local authorities, and if resource allocation decisions are made in the state capital, for example through conditional grants, how is the necessary accountability to the beneficiaries of the education provided at decentralized levels to be developed? The national reports also cover many different types of fiscal decentralization. Some countries use block grants; others, such as Bangladesh, earmark funds; some set financial norms for the percentage of fiscal revenue to go to education, and so on. Indeed, the Pakistan national report points out how incomplete decentralization to the district level, entailing mainly earmarked finance, has created too few delegated powers regarding resource allocation decision-making. The national report of Brazil also elaborates this point: Unsuccessful results have involved the transfer of responsibilities without any guarantee of the necessary reallocation of financial resources. Such situations have reinforced proposals such as FUNDEB and its important redistributive characteristic, i.e. guaranteeing the transfer of financial resources, the key to reducing education inequalities in the country.

Compensatory role of central government The national reports describe various mechanisms used for equalizing resources in areas having weak fiscal capacities, for example financial transfers, which, like the block or conditional grants generally used, commonly take the form of transfers to regions according to specified minimum standards. The Chinese national report well illustrates the different roles taken by central and state governments. Initially the policy shift to a socialist market economy resulted in a heavy burden on peasants who had to pay educational surtaxes as part of a drive for the diversification and mobilization of resources. The shift in responsibilities for resource mobilization to the counties re-established the compensatory role of central and state government, which subsidized poorer counties.

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Introduction In addition, several of the national reports describe the financial targeting as well as the differentiation of educational services of particular, marginalized groups. One of the implicit questions raised is what should be the role of the state – at whatever level – in subsidizing marginalized groups or regions, when such subsidies are by their nature economically inefficient and unlikely to be self-sustaining.

Rationalization of allocation and deployment of teachers Without exception, all the national reports focused on the challenges that decentralization posed for rationalizing the allocation and deployment of teachers. This issue is closely related to teachers’ qualifications, status, support and professional development, and their integration within local communities. Notwithstanding the fact that bringing teacher management closer to the schools typically results in fewer delays in salary payments and the potential for enhanced local supervision and support, decentralization, in some countries, has created artificial barriers between states or districts, making it difficult if not impossible for states experiencing teacher shortages to draw on surplus teachers from other states. Additionally, as described in the Nigerian national report, the decentralization of teacher management has been clouded by ‘parochial and ethnic sentiments’, as well as poor supervision due to greater familiarity. The inability of many countries to afford the necessary complement of fully qualified teachers has led some, such as Indonesia, to implement zero-growth policies, while allowing the relaxation of qualifications and the hiring of contract teachers. This phenomenon appears as community or private provision such as PTA teachers in Nigeria, para-teachers in India, minban teachers in China, temporary teachers in Egypt, etc., and has wrought havoc with wage negotiations with teachers’ unions, given the different conditions of employment applied to such contracted, temporary teachers outside the civil service. Mexico’s decentralization has afforded a different pathway: it has included an element of state-level wage negotiation under more general, national agreements, together with a complex system of financial incentives for teachers that are tied to school progress as well as school performance factors. Particularly under wages and conditions of service that are insufficient for raising a family, teacher absenteeism, unsurprisingly, is another common issue discussed in many of the national reports, a partial answer to which 5

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization leads to another common, important issue raised in most of the national reports: school-based management. School-based management School-based management – within many different decentralized state structures – is featured as a promising pathway exemplified by both state initiatives and pilot programmes of external development partners. In some countries direct resource allocations are made to schools (e.g. in Mexico, and in Mozambique, under the auspices of a World Bank project). In others, such as Indonesia, such resource transfers are envisaged in the long term. Community involvement of a different sort, that of tailoring curriculum, language development and specific courses to marginalized groups, is the focus of the two thematic reports prepared for the seminar.

Acknowledgements The national representatives who participated in the seminar include Akhtary Khanam and Abdus Sattar (Bangladesh); Oroslinda Maria Taranto Goulart and Maria Isabel Azevedo Noronha (Brazil); Wang Libing and Zhu Xudong (China); Hisham Abdel Muniem Al Sayed Al Sankari and Salah Eldin Mohamed Shater (Egypt); Smt. Prerna Gulati and K. K. Biswal (India); Jalal Fasli and Ella Yulaelawati (Indonesia); Jose Gutierrez Garcia and Leticia Gabriela Landeros Aguirre (Mexico); Paula Maria Guiao de Mendonca and Moises Celestino Matavele (Mozambique); Charles Maduegbuna Anikweze and E. O. Oga (Nigeria); T. M. Qureshi and Mohammad Saleem (Pakistan). In addition, we were fortunate to have presentations from K. M. Acharya, Joint Secretary and Kumud Bansal, Secretary, Elementary Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi; Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Chief Minister, Mohan Kanda, Chief Secretary, and S. Chellappa, Principal Secretary (Education), State Government of Andhra Pradesh. Our thanks go to all, including the other report writers/presenters of the synthesis report and the two thematic reports: R. Govinda, National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration, I. Subba Rao, Principal Secretary (Health, formerly Education), and Zahid Ali Khan, The Siasat Daily. Finally, we must thank the Administrative Staff College of India, S. K. Rao and Gautam Pingle for their contributions, not least to the logistics of the seminar itself.

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Introduction UNESCO expert, Abby Riddell, contributed to the planning and design of the seminar as well as the design and writing of this compendium volume. The originality of the seminar, which gave rise to the present publication, lies in creating a stimulating and rich dialogue between planners and administrators. This dialogue, although taken for granted, usually constitutes a stumbling block at local level where education administrators or civil service managers are the key coordinators of the implementation process. The latter are not always fully equipped to carry out this task effectively. The collaboration between the two national institutes, namely NIEPA based in Delhi and ASCI based in Hyderabad, provided the seminar with a broad combination of education planning expertise as well as corporate management and public administration techniques. The participation of media involved in educational programmes added a third and rich dimension. Though the seminar addressed issues common to the E9 countries, the experience of Mozambique in donor mobilization and coordination was highly appreciated. Through this publication, UNESCO hopes to disseminate more widely the lessons drawn from the experiences of the participating countries to specialists in other countries. The different contributions that we present here can play a part in nurturing useful reflection and debate to improve planning and implementation of education policies in other countries striving to overcome the challenge of attaining the goals of Education for All.

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Decentralization of Education in Nigeria I. An Overview of Nigeria's Education Reform The political structure of Nigeria before and after independence has impacted on its education system. Since Nigeria attained political independence in 1960, the political structure has evolved from three regions through a 12-state structure in 1967, to the present 36 states with a Federal Capital Territory at Abuja. The country experienced long periods of military rule, but returned to civilian rule in 1999. The states were created by military fiat based on agitations founded on ethnic identities and cultural similarities especially language and traditional norms and values. After the Constitutional Conference of 1995, the concept of geo-political structure was introduced. The 36 states were then grouped into six geo-political zones that have no administrative machinery; hence the states still manifest significant decentralization in policies regarding delivery of education and the training and recruitment of teachers. According to (FME,2003:11), the policy of regionalism which prevailed in pre-independence Nigeria and continued until October 1, 1960 had occasioned many problems, some of which included : • • • • •

•

Regional imbalances in educational access and attainment; Low level capacity of secondary education; Fragmented education management; Few specialized and professional support services; Shortage of qualified primary and secondary school teachers; Lack of qualified teachers in technical education;

a. Background to Decentralization Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. The 1991 census puts the population at 89 million and this is projected to be about 120 million at present. Agriculture is the dominant means of livelihood for some 70% of the working population. The economy is tied to the exploration and exportation of oil. The socio-cultural and economic diversities among its over 120 million people, make decentralization in the provision of education an imperative. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN, 1999) places education in the concurrent list, such that all levels of government (federal, state and local council) have the constitutional right to intervene in the education of its citizens. For purposes of shared responsibilities, the arrangements were for Local Governments to manage primary education, 9

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization State Governments to manage secondary education, while the Federal Government manages tertiary education. By 1977, a National Policy on Education (NPE) evolved, and on it hinges most of the policies that govern educational practices in Nigeria today. The NPE has provision for Pre-primary education, but its provision and management has been left in the hands of the private sector. b. Evolving Educational Policies and Priorities Nigeria has adopted education as an instrument par excellence for national development (FRN, 1977, 1981, 1998) and this is reflected in the National Policy on Education. Thus, most government development and reform agendas rely on education as a springboard. The formal education system, commonly referred to as the 6- 3 - 3 - 4 system implies 6 years of primary education, 3 years of junior secondary, 3 years of senior secondary and 4 years of higher education obtainable from the Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Education, or any other specialized tertiary education institutions. It has to be stressed that although the structure of education in Nigeria remains 6-3-3-4 in design, in practice however, a lot of changes have occurred. First, with the spirit and vision of the Dakar Framework on Education For All, the emphasis has shifted from the 6-year primary education to a 9-year basic education, with additional attention given to early childhood care and education (ECCE). Indeed, due to the importance the present government attaches to basic education, and to demonstrate Nigeria’s commitment to Education For All (EFA), the Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education, 2004 was enacted. The Act provides among other things, for: • • • • •

Federal Government Intervention for uniform and qualitative basic education; Right of a child to compulsory, free universal basic education, etc; Services in public primary and junior secondary schools are free of charge; Duty of a parent to ensure the education of his child; and Magistrate courts to have jurisdiction over certain offences related to basic education.

Secondly, there is provision for adult and non-formal education consisting of functional literacy and other forms of remedial, continuing and vocational 10

Case of Nigeria education for out-of-school youths and adults. At the post primary level, there is no strict conformity with the 4-year structure because the various programmes and fields of specialization demand differing lengths of study before graduation. The current government multi-sectoral reform agenda captioned National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) capitalizes on education for success. The inputs into the Education Sector of NEEDS include the issues of poverty reduction among rural teachers, enhancement of education quality, modern approaches to learning including multi-grade teaching, early child care and education (ECCE), gender sensitivity, employment generation via entrepreneurial education, women and youth empowerment and the culture of peace. The following specific strategies have been put in place: 1. Faithful implementation of the free, compulsory Universal Basic Education law, among others, to: - Improve education infrastructure, - Expand institutional capacity to produce quality manpower - Expand total school enrolment to increase the literacy level 2. Review of school curricula from primary to tertiary to incorporate vocational and entrepreneurial skills 3. Re-tooling and repositioning of technical schools to be able to address the technical manpower needs of the economy 4. Establishment of more vocational centres to encourage Nigerians to embrace vocational education 5. Review of schools’ curricula at all levels to incorporate the study of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Source: PCNEEDS(2004:101) c. The EFA Challenge Consequent upon the World EFA Forum held at Dakar in 2000, with 2015 as the new target date for achievement, a National EFA Forum was inaugurated in 2001, with a National EFA Coordinator appointed from civil society and located in the Office of the Honourable Minister of Education (HME). The EFA Unit was set up and staffed with personnel drawn from departments of PRS, FIS, and Primary & Secondary Education. Two consultants were appointed, one for project management and the other for IT. The Unit is financed jointly by the FME, World Bank (WB-PEP II), UBE, UNICEF and UNESCO. The key objectives of the EFA Unit are: 11

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization

• • • •

Production of a fully participatory, gender sensitive National Action Plan (NAP) that would form the foundation for the wider Education Sector Plan; Ensure the credibility of the Plan by addressing issues of data at all levels; Ensure the Plan impresses the IDPs to attract their funding for gaps in EFA; Ensure NAP justifies the funding of basic education by the Federal and State governments.

d. Effectiveness and Efficiency of the System in Delivering Quality EFA Based on the baseline statistics of primary education spanning from the 90's (Fagbulu, 2003), one can say that access to and the quality of education is improving. In terms of access, the gross intake ratio has moved from 99% in 1991 to 116% in 2001. Gender balance in enrolment, which has been problematic to achieve, especially in the north-western states, has improved from 35% in 1999 to 48.7% by 2002. The national rate stands at 44.3%. The gross enrolment ratio has also improved from 79% in 1991 to 95% in 2000 and 93% in 2001. Similarly, the percentage of pupils completing primary six has improved from 59.8% in 1991 to 83.4% in 2001 (see Table 3). The gender gap has been decreasing progressively from 16% in 1991 to 9% in 2002 (Table 2). The Monitoring of Learning Achievement (MLA) conducted in 1996 showed the national mean percentage scores on the literacy, numeracy and life skills tests as 25.1, 32.2 and 32.6 respectively. The corresponding national means of the MLA conducted in 2001 by UBE are 40%, 34% and 36.9% (FME/UNESCO, 2003:37). These results suggest that internal efficiency was low. The MLA conducted in 2004 by ESA (Makoju et al, 2004), indicate mean scores of 33.4% for numeracy, 35.05% for literacy and 43.81% for life skills. Generally, boys performed better than girls just as urban schools did better than rural schools and private schools performed better than public schools. The targets for delivering quality EFA are being met but not at the anticipated rate thereby necessitating the shifting of the time frame from 2005 to 2015. For instance, ongoing strategies are targeted at ensuring that by 2015, all children (particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities) have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality. By the same time frame, there is the target of achieving a 50% improvement in levels of adult literacy, especially for women. 12

Case of Nigeria

II. Teacher deployment and management Education in Nigeria is constitutionally decentralized (FRN,1999:151) such that teacher deployment and the management of primary education are concurrently provided by federal, state and local governments. Decentralization enables formal education delivery to be modified to suit the socio-economic and cultural differences of individual federating units. For instance, Nomadic Education operates in Nigeria as a variant of primary education, specially designed to benefit nomads and the children of migrant cultures such as migrant farmers and fishermen. The Islamiya and Koranic Schools, which hitherto were concerned solely with religious education in the dominantly Islamic States of Northern Nigeria, have become integrated into the formal basic education system. In both of these cases, the issue of teacher management, training, certification and standards are clearly hard nuts to crack. For example, retention of teachers from outside nomadic cultures is problematic as teachers find it difficult to adjust to the migratory nature of their pupils. On the other hand, most of the Mallams who teach in Koranic/Islamiya schools, because they have not had the benefits a basic western education, can only read and write in Arabic. a. Model of Teacher Management in Nigeria Gaynor (1998.5) provides a succinct description of teacher management in a centralized model of education. She also identifies three models of decentralized teacher management designated as the administrative model, the grassroots model and the alternative model. In her typology of educational centralization, she notes that : Teachers are usually government employees and subject to highly regulated and hierarchical management systems. These systems determine standards and qualifications and control recruitment, promotion, leave, transfers, discipline and lines of communication. Salaries are often fixed or negotiated centrally. Based on the foregoing characteristics of educational centralization, the system in Nigeria may be described as centralized. In practice however, the four administrative levels that operate in Nigeria, viz: the federal, state, local government and school levels (including private and community initiatives), compel departures from the pure centralized model of teacher management to include a potpourri of administrative and grass root characteristics. 13

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization

b. Teacher Education and Qualifications The Federal Ministry of Education through its various parastatals, is responsible for setting standards for the qualifications of teachers, setting salary and staffing levels for teachers in public schools and determining the curriculum or minimum standards for teacher education and such other national norms as class size, classroom size and provision for Science: Arts ratio. Its agencies also carry out accreditation and monitoring of school practices to ensure conformance with set standards. By the Decree No. 3 of 1989 (now Act) as amended by the Decree No. 12 of 1993 (now Act), the Federal Government (FRN,1989 & 1993) established the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), which, among other functions is to: • • • • •

advise the Federal Government through the Minister and co-ordinate all aspects of teacher education programs below degree level; make recommendation on the national policy necessary for the full development of teacher education; lay down minimum standards for all programs of teacher education and accredit their certificates and other academic awards after obtaining thereof prior approval of the Minister; approve guideline setting out criteria for accreditation of all Colleges of Education; and lay down standards to be attained and continually review such standards.

From the foregoing, it is crystal clear that the qualifications for education personnel are determined by the central authority. However, the Colleges of Education (COEs), where the teachers are trained, belong to Federal, State and private proprietors with unequal financial capacities for funding the operations of their teacher training institutions including, the hiring and payment of their staff. Nevertheless, all COEs are subject to the same minimum standards for their operations with particular reference to courses of study, entry requirements, staff requirements, physical facilities and equipment. The NCCE controls and ensures quality through accreditation and monitoring. c. Teacher Recruitment, Posting and Transfers Teaching in public schools is recognized as scheduled service, hence the recruitment of teachers has to conform with established civil service requirements laid down by government. State and local governments, backed 14

Case of Nigeria by practice and constitutional mandates, provide and manage basic education (primary, junior secondary and non formal education). They recruit, post, remunerate and promote their teachers and other personnel. Tahir (2001) notes that, "they also make laws and bye-laws with respect to basic education in the states and local governments". Nonetheless, the Federal Government in September 1999 launched the programme of Universal Basic Education (UBE), partly because it has overall responsibility for all citizens of Nigeria, but more so because of its obligation to fulfil the charters it has signed concerning Education For All (Okoro, 2000). Writing on the major challenges of UBE, Obanya (2001) articulated the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the project in a graphically defined holistic pattern. In terms of scope, the UBE programme involves initiatives for early childhood care and socialization; the acquisition of functional literacy, numeracy and life skills; especially for adults; out-of-school, non-formal programs for updating the knowledge and skills of persons who left school before acquiring the basics needed for life-long learning; special programs for nomadic populations; and the formal 9-year school system from primary to the end of junior secondary. d. Who Actually Hires and Fires Teachers? By a practice developed under the military regime and prior to the launching of the UBE programme, primary school teachers’ salaries were borne by local governments but paid by state authorities from funds deducted at source by the Federal Government. With the onset of democracy, and based on the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, this financial arrangement became a disputed issue. The UBE management framework allows for decentralization and devolution of powers down to the grassroots level, but limited autonomy could be exercised at the lower levels, and bottlenecks appeared. For instance, the Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAs) were supposed, in principle, to be responsible for the recruitment and posting of primary school teachers but they are unable to do this without the approval of the State Primary Education Board (SPEB), which, itself, cannot execute the policies of the UBE programme without the approval of the State Ministry of Education. As a result, it has not been uncommon for situations to arise in which there are teacher vacancies in primary schools but a prevailing state embargo on employment has prevented such vacancies from becoming filled. In such cases, teacher shortages persist largely due to a lack of political will on the part of state and local governments, to recruit qualified teachers from outside their boundaries. In such cases, out-of-state teachers are recruited only on a 15

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization contract basis. Consequently, at the national level, Nigeria harbours a glut of qualified teachers in the midst of paucity in some states. For instance, in a tracer study from a sample of 7 states of the country, of 5,057 NCE teachers who qualified between 1998 and 2003, 56.3% were unemployed (NCCE, 2004). Yet, during this same period, class sizes existed of 111 per teacher in Yobe, 93 in Gombe, 70 in Bauchi, 68 in Edo, 59 in Ondo and 52 in Sokoto States (FME, 2003: 38) as against the prescribed teacher - pupil ratio of 1:40 set by the National Policy on Education. Some States have Teaching Service Commissions (TESCOM) that handle issues of teacher recruitment, posting, promotion and discipline, particularly for teachers in secondary schools. The TESCOM functions like a department or parastatal of the State Government. A peculiar development is the existence of a category of poorly paid teachers employed on a temporary basis by Parent Teachers Association (PTA) representing the communities in which schools are located, their stakeholders and students. The presence of 'PTA teachers' in schools has come about as an intervention by sympathetic stakeholders, to fill the gaps occasioned not by shortages in teacher supply, but rather financial inadequacies in budgeting for education. It makes headline news when a State Governor approves the employment of 1500 teachers in the face of teacher requirements up to 10,000 +. 2. Responsibility for Transferring Teachers Every Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) is headed by an Executive Secretary who coordinates teacher deployment within the Local Council Area. He has the powers to deploy and transfer teachers around the schools in the Local Council Area, but cases of inter-LGEA transfers are handled by the SPEB. Similarly, cases of inter-state transfers (which is uncommon), are the affairs of the State Ministry of Education or the Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM). 3. Setting Teachers’ Salary Scale One of the legacies of the past military leadership which politicians have found difficult to uproot, is the issue of unified salary scales in the public service throughout the federation. Teachers’ salaries and their salary scales are nationally negotiated by the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) and processed through the Joint Consultative Committee on Education (JCCE) and finally endorsed by the National Council on Education (NCE). Thereafter, the Federal Executive to which the Minister of Education would present the 16

Case of Nigeria adopted Teachers’ Salary Scale would refer the document to the Salaries and Wages Commission for rationalization with the prevailing wages in the public sector before approval for implementation. However, in spite of harmonized and uniform scales of basic salaries for teachers of different cadres, some state governments have found it expedient to pay different allowances, either to motivate or perhaps to frustrate their teachers. In general, conditions of service differ across the states although the basic salaries remain the same for teachers of the same rank. For instance, teaching in Jigawa State has been elevated to an enviable height by the present State government which has approved a100% increase in teachers’ salaries. The Executive Governor of Adamawa State was hailed for extending motor vehicle loans to primary school teachers in 2002, a practice that was uncommon. What is not certain is whether such practices can be sustained after the tenure of the present regime. 4. Salary Increases and Promotions The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), a conglomerate of labour unions to which the NUT belongs, is wont to canvass for increases in the wages and salaries of workers in the public sector generally. The negotiations, often punctuated with strike actions or threats of strikes, are carried out with the Federal Government once an increase has been secured, state chapters of the labour unions insist on its implementation in their various states. Fiscal federalism has been advocated by some state functionaries, but the spirit of unitarism practiced for decades under the military regimes, seems to exert an inertial force with regard to paradigm shifts in practices across the states.

III. Assessment of Teacher Management in Nigeria This chapter contains an analysis of the way teacher management works in Nigerian basic education particularly in the context of decentralized administrative and institutional settings. a. The Issue of Accountability As a consequence of decentralization and the devolution of powers, accountability for teacher performance starts from the institutional setting in which the Principal or Head teacher takes stock of teacher behaviour in the school. Records are kept on such specific issues as teacher attendance, diligence in the preparation and delivery of lessons and the maintenance of 17

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization class records. As the school head, she keeps all the essential school records such as financial records (teachers’ salary vouchers and school fees, if any), log books for visitors and for cases of discipline, examination results, management of school meals where they exist, school regulations and records of critical events. These records should be readily available for inspection to any superior officer who comes to inspect the school on rather irregular schedules. The range of supervision which defines the ascending hierarchy of accountability is, in the case of primary schools, from the Head teacher of a school via the Supervisory Head teacher, who may be in charge of about ten or more schools, to the Executive Secretary at the Local Education Authority Office and thence to the Chairman of the State Primary Education Board (SPEB). According to Olubodun (2002a), there are primary school supervisors who play the role of monitoring officers and report to the Executive Secretary at the LGEA. The supervisors of schools complement the efforts of the State and Federal Inspectors of Education in maintaining standards. In the case of secondary schools, the equivalent order is from the Principal to the Supervisory Principal (in some states) then to the Chairman of TESCOM or the Director of Schools at the Ministry of Education. There are also School Inspectors from the State and Federal Inspectorate Services who visit the schools occasionally to monitor teacher performance and ensure the maintenance of quality. Inspection visits extend to privately-owned schools, although our school inspectors have yet to function with the level of professional expertise that exists, for example, in South Africa, where they are currently designated Education Development Officers (EDOs). As EDOs, their thrust is not to find fault with the teachers, but rather to serve as a resource, for improving teacher performance and school work generally. An area that is yet to take root in school management in Nigeria is the development of school strategic plans that map out, in advance, for a particular school cycle (e.g. 6 years of primary or 3 years of junior secondary), the needs of each school within the LGEA, in terms of physical structures, classrooms, furniture, chalkboards, reading corner and library requirements, teachers’ guides and pupil work-books, and a variety of instructional materials. Adaralegbe (1992) has recommended that each LGEA should have on its staff experienced officers in the areas of school finance, budgeting, and purchasing; school accounts and auditing; school architecture,

18

Case of Nigeria design and repairs. These officers should jointly prepare the school strategic plan and up-date it annually. Accountability for what obtains in schools is not limited to government. It has spread to local communities which are mainly responsible for the provision of school infrastructure and, when necessary, complement government’s efforts in combating teacher shortages. The local community functions through the PTA whose chairman is recognized as a visitor to the community school. Indeed, since the issue of EFA was given a new focus, based on partnership and the recognition that education is the responsibility of all, the National Association of Parent-Teachers Association (NAPTAN) had come up with its ‘Lokoja Declaration’ of commitment to ensuring quality basic education through mandatory active involvement of PTAs in monitoring the management and operations of all schools in collaboration with policy makers, teachers and head teachers. What is generally assessed in a school represents what could be regarded as its core values (Haines, 2000:157). It spans the standards reached by learners in work that is visible, progress made by learners in lessons over time as manifested in Continuous Assessment Report Sheets, the attitudes of pupils toward their studies and their general behaviour in and outside the classrooms, the quality of teaching, the standards reached in public examinations (Common Entrance for Primary Schools and JSCE & SSCE for secondary schools), attainments in sports and games, right up to the effectiveness of leadership and management of the school. b. How is Information Accountability?

Gathered

and

used

for

Purposes

of

Head teachers of primary schools accumulate weekly records with which they build up monthly returns to Education Secretaries of LGEAs who process the returns and build up summaries that are submitted to the SPEB. The Board meets on a regular basis to consider these reports and to take decisions and to intervene where appropriate. While Education Secretaries have the mandate to advise head teachers or to act on issues of school events, the utilization of available structures and teacher disposition, they can only forward recommendations to the SPEB on such issues as teacher discipline for gross misbehaviour, environmental hazards affecting the school and the budgetary needs of their constituencies.

19

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization At the local level, every head teacher submits quarterly progress reports to the PTA meeting, which takes decisions on how best to assist the school to discharge its functions. Interventions are usually in the form of levying parents per school child to contribute towards repairs to infrastructure, the provision of games equipment, the employment of PTA teachers and the enhancement of the tone of the school. Nevertheless, despite the fact that local communities provide considerable material support to public primary schools, their involvement in school management is relatively weak, and the notion of a school board of governors to link the school with its local community and provide for greater decentralized accountability as done in the UK, is still a novelty (Urwick & Aliyu, 2003:6). Just the same many development partners, such as DFID and the World Bank, insist on involving local communities in the execution of their co-funded projects. Practically, however, the faces that appear before development partners still remain those of public servants or agents of government. c. Capacities and Professional Development There are three main elements of teacher development that contribute to effective capacity and professional efficiency. These are: (i) initial teacher preparation, (ii) induction into teaching, and (iii) continued professional development. Based on these elements and applying the five core propositions of the United States National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, Aarons (2002) posits that primary teacher development programs in Nigeria are limited, while access to professional development is largely determined by teachers’ ability to pay. She further observes that career paths in primary education are not well articulated. Consequently, most teachers seek careers in other education sub-sectors or outside teaching. The Teachers Registration Council (TRC) sets professional standards, accredits teachers and promotes demand for specialist teacher development programs in state and federal institutions. However, it is the Federal and State governments that decide on the proportion of education budgets for teacher development. Hence, the professional development of teachers has never been accorded priority attention. Similarly, the Federal Ministry of Education sets national policy standards; but as a consequence of decentralization, States decide on the conditions for study leave in agreement with schools heads. However, teachers in federal service often enjoy study fellowship with full pay. 20

Case of Nigeria Initial teacher training has been described under Teacher Education and qualifications. Graduates of teacher training institutions do not undergo any induction or probation as they enter into the teaching profession. However, the Federal Government has approved the establishment of a Federal Teachers Corps (FTC) designed as a 2-year internship programme for NCE graduates. During this induction programme, the new teachers are supervised by school heads and selected mentors. Their certification and registration by the TRC is dependent on successful performance of the internship examination at the end of the programme. It is noted (NCCE, 2003) that aside from inducting probation teachers into the profession, the FTC scheme is expected to provide qualified teachers for UBE programme in States with a paucity of teachers amidst political unwillingness to recruit from outside their borders. The scheme would therefore solve the problem of unemployment for NCE teachers. Other recently introduced professional development programs for teachers are the School-based teacher support systems such as the Child Friendly School Initiative (CFSI), focus (resource) schools, and self-help projects in schools. These programs are being piloted by the UBE project with World Bank and UNICEF support. They aim at strengthening partnerships between the head teacher and teachers, and between them and the community for creating school environments that are conducive to teaching and learning. Makoju and Nwagwu (2003:31) report that as soon as UNICEF concluded the pilot project on CFSI and embarked on its multiplier programme, "many states followed the example by increasing the proportion of these advantaged schools". There are also the cluster-based teacher networks for exchange of ideas and best practices. The NUT also organizes annual workshops for its members at which pedagogical issues are raised, going beyond the erstwhile preoccupation with unionism. Other strategies for improved teacher professional development recorded by Tahir (2001) include: • • •

Regular teacher mentoring for younger teachers by more experienced teachers and even retired educationists within the locality; Collaborative teaching, monitoring; inspection and feedback control mechanism involving teachers, head teachers and supervisors; Need-based in-service training through refresher courses, workshops and seminars; 21

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization • •

On-going professionalization of teaching through the operations of the TRC; and Use of professional associations in retraining and re-skilling teachers.

The percentage of primary school teachers with the minimum required qualification (NCE) has improved from 35.7% in 1996 to 50.8% in 2002. Nevertheless, reliance on sub-standard teachers varies between15% in Anambra state to 66% and 81% in Niger and Sokoto states respectively. It could have been much higher but for lack of financial resources to pay wellqualified teachers. Urwich and Aliyu (2003:7) lament that “girls attending primary schools (and even Koranic schools) in the far northern states have the disadvantage that few of their teachers are female”. Table 6 gives a false impression of gender balance in enrolment into teacher education on a national level, but Table 8 shows that schools in the northern states will continue to be dominated by male teachers for many years to come. The initiation of the Federal Teachers Scheme is expected to address these issues since the NCE interns would be paid by the Federal Government. Good efforts are being made by State Governments in Nigeria to attend to the differentiated needs of learners through the establishment of schools for children with special needs including the gifted and those with varied handicaps. By the establishment of the National Commission for Nomadic Education (NCNE) in 1998, the Federal Government showed its determination to ensure that basic education reaches all categories of marginalized groups - the children of the nomads, the migrant farmers and migrant fishermen. The enrolment in nomadic schools increased from 19,000 in 1990 to 230,000 in 2002 with 55% transition rate into secondary education. The adapted curricula for each teaching subject and the innovative approaches to teaching and school organization are yielding positive results. Non-formal education in Nigeria is coordinated by the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-formal Education (NMEC). The thrust of non-formal education is to improve the literacy rates, which differ geographically from 36.9% in Yobe State to 95.0% in Imo state and vary widely between males and females, being 96.1% in Imo and 23.4% in Yobe respectively. There is also a disparity in adult literacy rate between urban and rural dwellers being 79.5% and 52.1% respectively for females aged 15-24 years and 90.7% 22

Case of Nigeria and 74.6% for urban and rural males. The targets specified in the Strategic National Education Plan (FME, 2004) signify the determination of the Federal Ministry of Education to ensure a system that guarantees the total development of the individual, and offers every Nigerian child and citizen, the best of physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual development. d. The impact of private education Concerning teacher development and management, the impact of the private sector could be felt in two contrasting dimensions. On the one hand there are superlatively funded prestigious private schools of international standards. They employ qualified teachers and give them attractive salaries. Students coming out of such private schools are ahead of those in public schools in all aspects of learning achievement. However, as elite schools that charge exorbitant fees, they are not accessible to the children of the masses (Iheme, 2002). On the other hand, there are relatively less-equipped private schools that charge affordable fees and deliver quality primary education. Their management attitudes towards teachers differ from the considerate (e.g. the mission schools), to the extortionate (e.g. private investors), who indulge in maximum exploitation of their teachers’ time and pay them less than the minimum wage. No form of professional support is available to such teachers under such school proprietors and the inevitable consequence is instability in their job placement. e. Effectiveness of Decentralized Management Policies on Meeting the EFA Challenge Decentralized management policies have impacted positively on all structures involved in the EFA process – the Federal, State, and Local Governments, the civil society, community organizations and town unions. In the first place, all local communities are now involved in contributing opinions towards the development of facilities for basic education and literacy programmes. Both the State and Local Governments share the responsibilities of sourcing and managing funds for payment of teachers’ salaries and the renovation of schools. The UBE through its departments of Social Mobilization and Community Development orientate the stakeholders on their duties, obligations, and responsibilities as wards, custodians, implementers and facilitators of UBE. A special programme was designed for empowering local communities through supervised ‘Self Help’ projects. This aspect of contribution to achieving EFA enjoys donor interventions in terms of support to community participation in EFA implementation. 23

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization Consequent upon the new perspectives, communities now regard provision of school land, facilities such classroom blocks and library, science and games equipment, as part of their responsibilities towards the education of their wards. In the rural areas, Chiefs and traditional rulers now join in the effort to identify and secure decent accommodation for teachers, especially those deployed on National Youth Service Corps. Decentralized teacher management policies have motivated community leaders to the point of lobbying for the best teachers to be posted to their schools. The commitment of opinion leaders to basic education has also led to the recruitment of ‘PTA teachers’ as a reaction to shortfalls in teacher availability. The PTA teachers are appointed, paid and disciplined by the PTA of specific schools. One way in which decentralized teacher management has militated against full implementation of EFA, is by the injection of parochial and ethnic sentiments into the recruitment of primary school teachers. Consequently, qualified teachers may not be employed because they hail from outside the LGA in question. Another drawback identified with the decentralized teacher management policy, is poor supervision of instruction due to the high degree of familiarity that often exists among teachers and their head teachers. The ultimate end result is poor efficiency of teachers and poor quality basic education. Due to the reforms introduced by the Federal Government, the grassroots are being empowered to be accountable for the funds provided for basic education. Financial support from donor agencies is disbursed directly to stakeholders involved in the implementation of UBE. They may be officials of State and Local Governments, but the fact remains that they are not employees of centralized agencies of the Federal Government as was the case in the years of NPEC. Consultants may be engaged by the National Project Coordinating Unit (NPCU) and posted to the States and Local Governments to facilitate the implementation of the UBE-WB assisted projects.

IV. Resource management in Nigerian education The provision of adequate resources and their efficient utilization are factors that determine the quality of education in any country. There have been repeated complaints that the education sector in Nigeria has been seriously under-funded resulting in poor quality performance of our educational products (Hodges, 2001:164).

24

Case of Nigeria

a. Policy on Education Budgets: Who Decides about Sources of Funds? The financial resources for education are provided by the Federal, State and Local Governments, but a significant proportion of the resources come from non-governmental providers, particularly religious groups and individuals. It is crystal clear that for EFA to succeed, there must be adequate domestic resource mobilization as well as efficient and effective use of resources. Federal Government policy decisions determine the sources of funds for education. The 2% levy paid on the profit of companies as an education tax is managed by the Federal Government through the ETF, which decides on budgetary allocations to various sectors and levels of education. The main sources of revenue to Nigerian government are the federal taxes and duties on petroleum, profits, imports, taxable adults and also property taxes in support of education (Nwagwu, 1998). The Federal Government decides on budgetary allocations to various competing sectors of the economy and any increased allocation to other priority areas such as health, agriculture and transportation implies a reduction in the available resources for education. Through disbursements from the Federation Account, the Federal Government affects the revenues of State and Local Governments and thus, their sources of funds for education for the further decentralized authorities. Over time, the powers and responsibilities of the three tiers of government have been undergoing some metamorphosis with no single tier having absolute responsibility for education but rather varying degrees of overlap. Furthermore, it is the Federal Government that decided on the abolition of user fees implied in the declaration of UBE thereby offering itself as a major source of funds for primary education. In any case, the spirit of the Dakar Framework makes it compelling for the Federal Government to carry along not only the other two tiers of government but also the civil society organizations including NGOs, teachers’ unions, parents’ associations and professional bodies. Iheme (2002) quoting Afrobarometer (2001) reports a research finding, which indicated that 67% of stakeholders “accept user fees for schooling if it is linked to improve standards”. State and Local Governments also decide on sources of primary education funds within their own borders to the extent that decisions are complementary and non-contradictory to Federal Government decisions.

25

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization

b. Who Decides How Much Revenue? With the launch of UBE in 1999, the Federal Government has prioritized education. Many state governments have also declared `Free Education’ schemes at the state level. However, the endemic problem of fiscal federalism with particular regard to the balance between financial responsibilities and financial resources at each level of government (federal, state and local) remains largely unresolved (Hinchliffe, 2002). It is hoped that the recent launch of SNEP will provide coherence and tie the EFA plan into a broader education sector plan that fits into the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS). c. Who Decides the Allocation or Budgeting of Revenue? The constitutional provision is that primary school enrolments are part of the allocation formula for disbursing centrally collected revenues across the states. This ensures that the salaries of primary school teachers are funded from central revenue allocations to local governments. This share, amounting to about 76.6% of total local government revenue from the Federation account and 15.7% from VAT, is deducted from source and transmitted through the UBEC to the SPEBs. Some LGCs complain about zero allocation after the deductions from source. However, this no longer obtains since the Supreme Court ruling in April, 2002. Consequently, local government allocations pass through State governments, some of which decide on unified/joint accounts with local governments. This has resulted in the dishonest diversion of local government funds and by implication, the salaries of primary school teachers. With the UBE law now in place, the financing of the compulsory, free Universal Basic Education shall be from: • • •

the Federal Government block grant of not less than 2% of its Consolidated Revenue Funds; funds or contributions in form of Federal guaranteed credits; and local and International donor grants.

The UBE law provides that the UBE Commission shall receive block grant from Federal Government and allocate them to the State and Local Governments and other relevant agencies implementing Universal Basic Education in accordance with an approved formula as may be laid down by the Board of the Commission and approved by the Federal Executive Council; 26

Case of Nigeria provided that the Commission shall not disburse such grants until it is satisfied that the earlier disbursements have been applied in accordance with the provisions of the law. It is clear therefore, that the UBE Act, which empowers the Federal Government to intervene in the provision of basic education, which constitutionally belongs to State and Local Governments, was meant to inject sanity and accountability into the expenditure of public funds. The Act has not, in any way, detracted from decentralized democracy in the management of education funds; it is rather intended to abridge corrupt practices. To this extent, the UBE Act is a safety valve for successful implementation of the UBE and the attainment of EFA goals. It is noted that there are provisions for penalizing those found guilty of contravening the provisions of the Act. The Education Tax Fund (ETF) identifies areas of weakness in the educational sector and intervenes with funding. Table 6 shows the fund allocations to various sub-sectors by ETF for the period 1999 - 2002. However, it is noted that only about 60% of the funds on the average are disbursed due to the slow rate of project implementation. The ETF also funded special education needs (N = 362m), nomadic education (N = 50m), and curricular revision for basic education (N = 35m). The ETF is managed by a Governing Board appointed by the Federal Government, but has representatives of the decentralized federating units on the basis of one representative for each geo-political zone. Other interest groups represented on the Board are the organized professions, women’s organizations, the university sector, NAPTAN, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, etc. From Table 6 in the Appendix, the allocations of the ETF between 1999 and 2002, indicate a bias for tertiary education which received about 42% of the total allocations, while primary education received about 23%. Secondary education received even less, about 12%. The explanation here could be because of the grants from the IDPs to basic education, which span up to the first three years of secondary education, and Government’s desire to balance support to the various sectors of education. It must be appreciated that substantial funds have been injected into the support of UBE by international development partners (IDPs). The World Bank has followed its US $55 million intervention in 2000 - 2003 phase with another US $101 million for another phase with a further ₤11 million in technical assistance from DFID. The interventions of IDPs are in the form of pilot schemes involving the introduction of innovative dimensions into the delivery of basic education. For instance, UNICEF in collaboration with the Federal Government, intervened in the introduction of non-formal curriculum 27

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization for out-of-school children. This project targeted the boy-child drop-outs in the south-eastern States, particularly in Anambra, Enugu, Imo and Abia States, and the girl-child drop-outs in most of the northern States (Alajuruonye, 2001). UNICEF also initiated, on a pilot basis, strategies for ECCE in 10 selected states, and pioneered the provision of supplementary milk and/or school meals in educationally disadvantaged states. At present, most states are providing school meals or supplementary milk to learners in primary schools. The curriculum for day care and nursery education developed by NERDC with UNICEF sponsorship is being considered for adoption since ECCE is part and parcel of basic education. The WB has intervened in the establishment of model primary schools in selected states and LGEAs. It is also supporting teachers’ professional development in eight focal states. The introduction of relevant text books distributed by the UBE under UBE-WB Primary Education Project (PEP II) has resuscitated libraries in Nigerian primary schools. Teacher-librarians have been trained through WB sponsored workshops. A lot of inputs into the battle against HIV-AIDS have been made by both the WB and UNESCO. UNESCO has supported teacher education especially in the areas of Science and ICT. It has also stimulated a lot of research into gender issues, particularly the problems of girl-child education. UNESCO is supporting the development of vocational and technical education in addition to its interest in ECCE. Indeed, by Federal Government’s request, UNESCO is supporting the development of curriculum for Peace Education and the Culture of Reforms. DFID is providing technical support intended to empower the implementers of UBE through capacity building programs. The overall idea is to establish reforms that will anchor “credible” education programs that is financially sustainable, of high technical quality, and that can politically and socially be implemented in the national context. However, it is worth mentioning that the mobilization of external resources for EFA has become more linked to performance and so, some identified best practices, even in parts of Nigeria, are slow to spread nationally. d. Who Decides About Actual Spending? Since education is in the concurrent list, each tier of government is free to determine what to spend for different levels of education. In general, Local Governments concentrate on primary education, since the years of grant-aided County Council Secondary Schools ended with military rule. Table 7 in the Appendix shows the percentage of total education funding by level in a sample of eight states in Nigeria in 1998. The highest investment in primary 28

Case of Nigeria education is by Benue State with almost 61% of its educational budget put into primary education. The other States allocated between 30% and 50% of their education budgets to primary education excepting Borno State, which spent more on secondary than primary education. Tertiary education in Benue received about 19% of the education budget while secondary level got about 15%. Benue is educationally advanced judged by northern standards and it has a State university besides hosting a Federal University of Agriculture. Between 1997 and 2002, Federal Government expenditure on education was below 12% of its total expenditure and with a downward trend. Abani (2004) notes that even with NEEDS, a paltry 8% has been proposed. He therefore repudiates the often-touted claim that due to the complex federal system, government’s investment in education is ahead of the 26% UNESCO benchmark. The Federal Government, spends on average 73.5% of its education budget on tertiary relative to 12.9% for primary and 15.2% for secondary. A factor that partly accounts for this lopsidedness in Federal allocations to various levels is the radicalism exhibited by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in forcing its demands on Government. Table 8 (see Appendix) shows the percentages of Federal Government Expenditure shares by level of education, 1996 – 2000. The less than 8% federal expenditure in primary education is in terms of specific initiatives such as construction and renovation of classrooms, the training of teachers for the UBE scheme at the primary, JS, Adult literacy and Nomadic Education levels, and the provision/guarantee of counterpart funds required to encourage external investment by World Bank-IDA credit and technical assistance from DFID. The dependence on external sources of funding is primarily to fasttrack the EFA process, otherwise the 2015 target may become an illusion, particularly as the ability to raise tax revenues for responding to the demands of EFA are severely limited by slow-growing economies, with a small “taxable” modern sector. Tables 10, 11& 12 depict the sharing of responsibilities between the tiers of government across the levels of basic education: The Federal Government is in the position to bear much of the burden of UBE because of its control over the initial disbursement of funds from the Federation Account. In the spirit of the new arrangement, the Federal Government will be responsible for the provision of 75% of the infrastructure of primary school, 50% of junior secondary schools, 25% of adult literacy institutions and 100% of the infrastructure of nomadic education; while states will contribute 25% primary, 50% JS and 50% adult literacy; the Local Governments will provide for 25% 29

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization of the infrastructure. Similarly, the Federal Government will provide 100% of the funds for instructional materials needed in primary schools; 50% of the funds for instructional materials in JS; 25% of instructional materials for adult literacy and 80% of that of nomadic education. The State Governments will provide 50% of funds required for instructional materials in junior secondary schools; 50% of the funds for adult literacy instructional materials, and 20% of the instructional materials for nomadic education. The Local Governments will provide 25% of the funds for adult literacy instructional materials. The sharing of these responsibilities is clearly prognostic, but since it is backed by law, there is every hope that the arrangements will work. The UBEC becomes functional with effect from January, 2005. e. The way the System Works - Resources Today, the state governments allocate funds both for teachers’ salaries and for other items to LGEAs. The system of deduction at source has resulted in considerable variations between states and between local government areas in the proportion of allocated revenue deducted (Hinchliffe, 2001) due to the complex criteria for revenue allocation. Unfortunately, data are not available for any logical comment on the present situation in this regard. Nevertheless, it suffices to report that the lack of an adequate legislative and policy framework to ensure that states spend equitably on education and focus more on basic education is being addressed by the Federal Government. It sponsored the UBE Bill which has been passed into a law that has the following implications: •

• • • •

The establishment of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to be financed by the Federal, State and Local Governments as a percentage of and first charge on the contribution from Federation Accounts as appropriated by the National Assembly. The UBEC shall determine appropriate modalities for sharing the Federal Government UBE resources among States and LGEAS in the most equitable manner. The funds shall be utilized for all aspects of the UBE program, especially teachers’ salaries nationwide, overheads including allowances and schoolfriendly environments, and pensions. The administration of salaries will be through SPEBs; allowances through LEAS; and classroom furniture etc. in consultation with SPEBS and LEAS. 20% of the funds will be disbursed to 25 educationally disadvantaged states. 30

Case of Nigeria Pending the implementation of the UBE Act, the Federal Government, in demanding accountability from State and Local Governments, has resorted to withholding allocations to local governments where irregularities in the expenditure of funds have been spotted. As part of the reform agenda, the Federal Government has also proposed amendments to the Local Government Bill with the intention of streamlining responsibilities and accountability. f.

Effectiveness and Efficiency of System in Delivering Quality EFA

From the foregoing, it is obvious that resource allocation has changed as a consequence of decentralization. Before the declaration of Universal Basic Education in 1999, the average proportion of Federal Government expenditures across levels of education in Nigeria were 79% for tertiary, 18.7% for secondary and only 12.2% for primary education. These proportions were disgracefully below those of 18 sub-Saharan African countries where the proportions were 48% Primary, 31% Secondary and 21% tertiary (UNESCO 2000). With decentralization, the allocations to primary education have improved significantly to about 26% of the total education budget. Indeed, the increases in the salaries of teachers between 1998 and 2000 claimed about 42% of the expenditure on education. g. Is the Quality of Education Improving? The quality of education is certainly improving especially with regard to access and retention in schooling but a sweeping generalization cannot be made due to existing diversities in the country - politically and socioculturally, all of which impact on education delivery. For instance, in some of the northern states, policy makers probably imagine that the educational gap between the states could be bridged by discriminating against the children of non-state indigenes in access to public schools in the states where their parents are living. There have been cases of frustrating levies or fees charged to only non-state indigenes, and sometimes outright denial of admission into state schools. The affected children can only resort to patronizing the private schools, which may charge prohibitive fees. Even the operation of private primary schools may be frustrated through biased legislative provisions, such as compulsory subject offerings, dress code, and other demands that clearly impinge on individuals’ fundamental rights. Similar discrimination is rife with regard to teacher recruitment in which ethnic patronage takes preference over qualification and merit. These indications suggest a warped perception of what decentralization implies, since in the final analysis, all sections of the country do contribute to the national status of education. 31

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization There are however, areas in which decentralization has assisted states to pursue peculiar socio-cultural interests. For instance, some of the northern states have introduced ‘Sharia’ legal system which demands strict conformance to Islamic tenets in school discipline, gender separation, patterned uniforms, general ethos of the school, support for pupils, etc. The elevation of Islamic religion to become a state affair, has facilitated the integration of Islamyia and Koranic schools into the formal education system. But it may have also discouraged the education of children outside the Islamic faith. The MLA (ESA, 2004) shows that urban schools perform better than rural schools in spite of prevalence of over-sized classes. The private schools also perform better than public schools, essentially because of more stringent discipline among both staff and pupils h. Have the targets been met? Are they likely to be met? The proposals in the UBE Act provide for the funding of basic education, which comprises primary and junior secondary schooling, as well as adult literacy and nomadic education, from 2% of the Federation Account deducted at first charge. The Act is specific on the percentage of the consolidated revenue fund to be involved in financing basic education, but the exact amounts are subject to the ever-fluctuating price of crude oil. However, even if there is a downturn in the oil prices, the first charge will still take care of, at least, teachers’ salaries before government would devise any stabilization mechanism. The UBE Act has certainly altered the shares of responsibilities of Federal, State and local governments in funding basic education. Initially, the State and local governments contributed needed funds for primary education at the ratio of 1:9 respectively, while the Federal Government provided funds only on an ad hoc basis. The arrangement in the UBE Act has significantly increased the Federal Government’s share of responsibility for funding basic education. With effect from January, 2005, the Federal Government will pay the salaries of estimated 40,000 teacher-interns under the FTC scheme; pay for 75% of the cost of needed infrastructure, and pay for 100% of all instructional and learning materials. Since junior secondary is part of basic education, there will be a situation in which the responsibilities for both primary and junior secondary education will be shared at the ratio of 47% from the Federal Government, 35% from the States and 18% from the Local Governments. The net result, undoubtedly, will be an assurance for meeting the goals of EFA. At present, local governments can exercise unwillingness to hire more teachers, but under the proposed new 32

Case of Nigeria arrangements, the power to employ teachers will be augmented by Federal Government’s intervention through the Federal Teachers Corps Scheme. Another ray of hope is that alteration in the power base may break the artificial political boundaries that used to militate against equitable deployment of teachers, resulting in wide disparities in pupil-teacher ratios between the local governments. For instance, the ESA (2003) survey shows that by 2000/2001, Kaduna State had primary-teacher demand of 1,349. In the same state, in a sample of two districts in each of six out of 23 LGAs, as many as 516 NCE teachers who qualified between 1998 and 2003 remained unemployed (NCCE, 2004). The observed situation may not be different in other states of the country. Meanwhile, the existing teachers are burdened with class sizes of more than 60. i.

Are Differentiated Needs being met?

The UBE Bill provides for 20% of the fund to be distributed among the 25 educationally backward states although it does not explain the sharing formula. The current allocation criteria built on the twin bases of equality and population is not equitable because it does not take cognizance of the weight of teachers’ salaries, which differ according the ranks of the teachers. For instance, while 97.6% of teachers in Ogun State possess the NCE and above, only 18.9% are so qualified in Sokoto State. Similarly, Anambra State has 85.5% while Gombe has only 27.9%; and Delta has 74.3% while Niger has only 33.5%. It is evident that states with better qualified teachers will spend money on payment of salaries. Indeed, the desire to save funds has been the reason offered by some LGEAs for their reliance on sub-standard teachers. Since the parameters for allocation of UBE funds will include the number of teachers by qualification, it is hoped that employers will be encouraged to recruit better qualified teachers. j. Are the Marginalized being reached? The 400% expansion in enrolment recorded in nomadic primary schools between 1999 and 2000 (Tawari, 2002) is an indication that resources are being properly deployed to reach the marginalized. There were 3,782 teachers to 169,221 pupils in 301 nomadic schools by 2000 giving a teacher: pupil ratio of 1:45. The NCNE has recorded gains in the provision of education to migrant groups (NCNE, 2002). It has embarked on curriculum enrichment to reach the educational needs of nomads; e.g. migrant fishing communities require a curriculum that includes swimming. The recent World 33

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization Bank estimates of costs to reach EFA are heavily predicated upon the need to reach the marginalized and disadvantaged children (Mingat et al, 2002). Since, it is the Federal Government’s responsibility to provide for 100% of the infrastructure and the teachers’ remuneration for nomadic education, the probability is high that EFA targets, with regard to the marginalized groups will be met. k. Non-Formal Education The target of achieving 50% improvement in adult literacy by 2015 especially for women is likely to be achieved because of the planned activities of the NMEC with World Bank supported finance. There is also strong on-going advocacy for adoption of open and distance learning employing the most accessible technology to reach the clientele. The current literacy rate of about 60% is therefore expected to move upwards to about 90% by 2015. With improved literacy rates and better appreciation of the education of females, especially in the northern states, the ultimate aftermath will impact on gender participation in teacher education. For example, the FPR in five sampled states from the North averages of 27.5 %, contrasted with 74.2% in five comparable southern states (NCCE, 2002; ESA, 2003). The implications will be most significant with regard to recruitment and training of teachers and care-givers for ECCE institutions. Also, there is bound to be reduced gender gap in primary schools (see Table 2), as well as improved female completion rate (see Table 3). l.. Private Education and Community Involvement The contributions of private entrepreneurs to education in Nigeria have been enormous, particularly in the way of ‘best practices’, innovations, locallydesigned educational materials, telecommunication in rural areas and innovative design of functional, cost-effective school buildings (Ibrahim, 2002). Some of the leading private schools operated by missionary authorities serve the middle class and provide the finest quality primary education (Utomi, 2002). As government recognizes the private sector as a source of management support and training, non-governmental and community-based organizations are being encouraged to contribute to the realization of the EFA goals. For instance, in the South East geo-political zone, virtually every ward or village has established a nursery school to cater for ECCE and in time, they progress to primary schooling. This aspect of community-based effort is being canvassed by the UBE because of its various benefits: it socializes the children in a properly organized and disciplined environment; it 34

Case of Nigeria frees the parents, particularly mothers, to engage in gainful economic activities thereby contributing to poverty alleviation; and it creates an opportunity for women with an appreciable level of education to be employed as teachers or care-givers. The NMEC has adopted the REFLECT (Regenerated Freirean Literacy through Empowering Community Techniques), originated by Action Aid, to make literacy more relevant and responsive to community needs (ESA, 2003). The programs are implemented with regard to the peculiarities of benefiting communities and, in response to the demands of decentralized resource management, the teachers used for the literacy program are recruited from within the affected communities. m. Extra-Budgetary Financial Resources Although domestic resource mobilization and effective utilization remain a strong determinant of success in achieving EFA targets, contributions by external agencies play a vital supporting role. The World Bank recently estimated that a sevenfold increase in donor support would be required to reach EFA (Fredrikson, 2002). Accordingly, a lot of financial aid is coming to Nigeria in support of basic education. Most of the aid from the World Bank and other agencies including CIDA, JICA, DFID, UNESCO, UNICEF, IDA etc. has been in support of school infrastructure, rehabilitation of classrooms, equipment, textbooks, teacher training and technical assistance, particularly in educationally disadvantaged states such as Ebonyi and Bayelsa in the south and Jigawa, Kebbi, Zamfara and Yobe in the north. Fredrikson (2002) insists that external resource mobilization for EFA should be linked to performance with particular reference to reforms in the management of resources. The ‘due process’ conditionality involved in accessing funds has affected the ease with which implementers of the EFA process can access funds from the IDPs, but it has also laid a solid foundation for transparency and accountability. n. Recent Initiatives in UBE Project Management The disbursement and monitoring of the recent World Bank financial support of $US 101 million comes under the National Project Coordinating Unit (NPCU), the Federal Ministry of Education. The NPCU is to ensure articulated and coordinated implementation of UBE Projects at both State and Federal levels, in line with the reform agenda of the present government, and especially adherence to due process, transparency and accountability. At State level, the key components of the project address the issues of access, 35

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization teacher support, teaching materials, infrastructure, capacity building and EMIS, as well as integrating the issues of gender and HIV/IDS into the school curriculum. At the Federal level, support to the Federal Ministry of Education and some parastatals would strengthen ESA, EFA, EMIS, teacher reform, monitoring and evaluation, curriculum review and capacity building. All the efforts would need to be supervised by the National Steering Committee to ensure that they filter into the NEEDS and SEEDS proposals for poverty alleviation, women and youth empowerment, child security and development, a culture of peace and sustainable economic recovery and development. Doubtless, such a projectized contribution will positively change the overall public sector management practices, including resource management for improved school-friendly environment for learners and teachers. o. Mobilization of Communities and Private Sector US $55m of the World Bank credit facility under the Primary Education Project II (PEP II) comprises a counterpart fund with the Federal Government contributing US $6.11m to the mobilization of communities for self-help projects. During phase II of PEP II, a total of 2,513 community-based projects in 515 local governments nation-wide were supported in creating conducive teaching and learning environment in primary schools (Olubodun, 2002b). An office under an Assistant Director at the UBE Commission is in charge of coordinating self-help and community based projects and success stories abound. For instance, the Civil Society Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA) exists to mobilize, coordinate, facilitate and advocate on educational issues from a civil society perspective. The coalition is distributing posters and airing jingles on HIV/AIDS as well as printing HIV/AIDS training manuals for teachers. It was instrumental to the organization of headmasters’ forums in states in which head-teachers dialogued on their roles and problems of school management. The recommended solutions to identified problems are being implemented by the SPEBs. The good practices associated with community initiatives include: • • •

The formation of Village Vigilante Groups to cater for the security of school property including preventing trespassers on school land; Provision of individual seats and desks which are labelled in the pupils’ names, and the pupils encouraged to take personal charge of their seats; Introduction of ‘Children’s Parliament’ at which children are given opportunity to simulate the roles of adult opinion leaders of their 36

Case of Nigeria

•

communities, and suggest proposals for improving education in their communities. There are bright hopes for the sustainability of the self-help community projects because they emanate from the initiatives of the members of the communities themselves.

Secondly, some state governments provide financial assistance to communities with impressive projects in addition to encouraging their competitive spirit through the offer of prizes to those that completed their projects on time.

V. Achievements, problems and prospects The UBE scheme was hailed as a bold and popular project when it was launched by the Federal Government in September, 1999. The reminiscences of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) scheme of the mid-seventies, introduced by the then President as military Head of State, resonated with mixed feelings. As many Nigerians appreciated the noble intentions of government, they could not hold back their skepticism concerning projects embarked upon with inadequate planning and consultation in such a decentralized system as we have. Some landmarks have been achieved particularly in access to basic education but there have also been unfettered constraints which will be briefly discussed in this chapter.

a. Quality The Nigerian public, especially the private sector, has become committed partners and joint owners of the educational enterprise at all levels and are contributing immensely to improving quality delivery of education. For instance, the NAPTAN, by the Lokoja Declaration is now committed to ensure quality basic education through the mandatory active involvement of PTAs at national, state and local government levels in “monitoring management and operations of all schools (public, private and Islamiya) in collaboration with policy makers, teachers and Head teachers”. The problem with the declaration of commitment by NAPTAN remains lack of funds to coordinate the envisioned monitoring exercises to ensure comparability of findings in different parts of the country and to maintain national standards.

37

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization

b. Innovative Strategies Through the UBE scheme, a number of innovations have been introduced to enhance the achievement of EFA. These include: •

Improving Community Education and Literacy Using the Media:Although distance education through the internet is becoming popular, yet other media such as radio and television broadcasts, film strips and projectors are still being put into effective use to aid adult learners.

•

Reinforcing capacity for local level Management:- Managerial skills development of LGEAs, and - Institutional strengthening of NIEPA

The major thrust here is to assist the beneficiaries to carry out their responsibilities in a more efficient and effective way using their own resources. For instance, empowering the staff of LGEAs will enable them manage the resources for teachers welfare more satisfactorily.

•

Enhancing quality assurance through capacity building for school Inspectors Reforms in the Federal Inspectorate Service started with a revolution in the perception of policy makers about school inspection. From serving as dumping ground for ineffective educational administrators, the Inspectorate Service has become an arena for education development officers, whose track record commend them as mentors for other education officers and teachers.

•

Teacher education enrichment programme: - Training Teacher educators in information Technology, - Revitalization of science education in teacher training colleges, and - Strengthening of teacher educators in Primary Education Studies. The teacher is regarded as the pivot of the educational process, and what he cannot do, or fails to do, can be an irreparable loss to the child (Ukeje, 1991). Therefore, part of the innovative strategies that have been put in place is capacity building for teacher educators so that they can apply computers and ICT for improving their lesson delivery. They were also groomed on the production of small science kits improvisations as well as in language/literacy methodology for mother tongue education.

38

Case of Nigeria •

Improving Learning Opportunities in Early Primary Grades. Projects aimed at improving the teachers’ skills for handling infant classes were introduced through workshops and cluster mentoring approaches. Better qualified teachers have begun to regard it a an obligation to improve the skills of their less qualified colleagues. The effect is that schools are becoming more child-friendly and conducive for learners, which is a plus for the achievement of the EFA goals.

c. Problems and Constraints Many of the activities of the UBE scheme designed to achieve EFA cannot be implemented within the targeted time frame because of lack of lack of funds. Due to the political nature of the decisions that determine investment in decentralized education management, targets are often thwarted by what Adeniyi (2002) described as “ethnicity (entrenched in the concept of educationally disadvantaged regions), nepotism and opportunity for embezzlement”. As a result, “only World Bank credit supported projects are being implemented” (Olubodun, 2002b), as the release of locally sourced budgets for education depend on what the key players at state and local governments consider politically expedient . Another constraint has been lack of enabling legislation to streamline the structures and their responsibilities. Consequently, the UBE programme has been operating under the canopy of Decree 96 of 1993 that established the National Primary Education Commission (NPEC) until the Supreme Court ruling of April, 2002, referring to the 1999 Constitution, declared the activities of the UBE Programme illegal because, as a Federal Government parastatal, it has no right to interfere with the funds of the Local Governments. The achievement on increased access (increased enrolment) has resulted in over-sized class sizes and congestion in available classrooms. The National Council on Education has prescribed the maximum size for primary schools to be 6 streams per class of 40 making a total of 1440 per school. But we now have schools that exceed 4000. During the Tracer Study on NCE graduates in Enugu urban (NCCE, 2004), this writer observed that the same facilities, located on the same compound that could serve a primary school with about 1200 pupils, may be shared by about six distinctive schools operating on a shift system, and still under suffocating conditions for pupils and teachers alike. ESA (2003:35) reports that “about 36.5% of the 200 good schools visited are over-enrolled” leading to a lowering of quality. There is also the 39

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization problem of inadequate training of supervisory staff thereby constraining effective quality control strategies. In the case of the special project purposed for ‘reaching the unreached’, the most serious constraints are paucity of funds and shortage of teachers. The NCNE complains of inadequate funds to implement its planned activities, which include setting up model schools in grazing reserves, recruitment and retention of specially prepared nomadic education teachers, and extension services. Another headache of the nomadic education commission relates to poor enrolment. For instance, “out of an estimated population of 3.6 million children of school age, only 203, 844 are in school” (NCNE, 2002). Other constraints include: inadequate tools, materials, books, equipment and transportation for school inspectors/supervisors. Before the innovations and reforms started, the inspectorate was so badly neglected that people regarded transfers to the inspectorate service as a punishment. It suffered from both budgetary marginalization and attitudinal abandonment, apparently serving as a dumping ground for teachers in the bad book of the authorities. Further, non-implementation of inspection reports and recommendations is evident. The reports turned in by schools inspectors often are neither analyzed with keen interest nor are their recommendations given adequate attention. The decentralized authority over the management and supervision of resources for basic education seems to have eroded the maintenance of national standards, leading to policy instability, uncertainty and confusion. For instance, the National Council on Education took a decision that 1998 was to be the deadline for implementation of the policy on NCE as the minimum teaching qualification. There was no coherence in responding to the decision which was reiterated at the ‘Bauchi 2000’ meeting of the National Council on Education. Four years later, employers of teachers in some states still recruited untrained and sub-standard teachers. The UBE is supposed to be free, but fees and charges have been collected under various headings and are never subject to accountability, e.g. the development levy, library development, equipment, games, medical fees, etc. Because decentralization has been shrouded in ethnicity and the politicization of educational yardsticks, there has been a failure of the regulatory bodies to exercise their lawful responsibilities, or to apply sanctions when necessary: the regulatory agencies (NPEC/UBE, NMEC, JCCE, NCE) have either been lukewarm or cautious in taking stringent measures to avoid heating up the 40

Case of Nigeria polity. There has been curriculum overloading at both primary and secondary levels. This became inevitable because every segment of the federation wanted subjects of particular interest to be elevated to national status. The trade-offs between primary and post-primary education, with particular regard to maintaining budgetary priority for EFA, is difficult amidst the demand for post-primary education that will sharply increase due to progress towards EFA and continued growth, plus the pressures from the vocal tertiary education sector, which will be the potential losers. Before the launching of the UBE scheme, libraries were virtually non-existent in primary schools while in most secondary schools, “libraries were mere tokens” (ESA, 2003). Equipment for science, agriculture, arts and crafts was generally lacking. There has been an acute shortage of teachers and pupil furniture, with the result that pupils either would come to school with furniture provided by their parents or they would sit on the floor. d. Hopeful Signs Since the Federal Government expressed its commitment to basic education and the EFA goals, policy guidelines have been directed at overcoming identified problems and mitigating constraints. Reforms are being implemented both at Federal and lower tiers of government to enforce accountability and transparency in the utilization of education resources, particularly in the execution of capital projects for UBE. Communities have been mobilized and they now accept full responsibility for the provision of furniture and books needed by pupils. However, the Federal Government and the World Bank still intervene to assist educationally backward areas and “focus schools” in developing infrastructure. A significant intervention through the UBE is the provision of box libraries distributed to over 50,000 primary schools nation-wide. At least for once, there has been equity in the distribution between north and south, and between rural and urban schools, unlike what prevailed in the early nineties (Read, 1990). The NCE has also directed State Education authorities to select one or two textbooks for each subject based on such criteria as tradition, availability and quality (Marinho, 1990). The happy developments can be described as indicators of ‘sanitized’ decentralization.

41

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization With regard to curriculum innovations, policy suggests the cautious infusion of new subjects such as computer education and family life/population education and HIV/AIDS into appropriate existing subjects to avoid overloading. However, the dilemma of how to balance the infusion of new knowledge against overloading remains with the implementer of the curriculum. In practice, decentralization permits different states to decide within the gamut of the national prescriptions, which aspects of the curriculum to emphasize or de-emphasize. To tackle the problem of equipment supply, a number of locally-based companies are being used to manufacture science equipment and materials according to specifications by the Federal Ministry of Education. Famous amongst such manufacturing centres are the PRODA at Enugu and the ones in Minna, Kaduna and Ilorin. All of these measures contribute to improvements in delivering EFA, though we have not attained the expected targets. The process, nonetheless, is on the right track, and indeed, on the fast track especially with the recent Federal Government policy that development assistance from external development agencies to State governments should be channelled through the National Planning Commission for effective coordination of donor assistance and in pursuance of government’s commitment to the sustainability of NEEDS and SEEDS. The implication is that there will be some coordination and control in spite of decentralized arrangements. e. Drawbacks versus Prospects Decentralization in teacher recruitment has not contributed to greater teacher motivation on a national level. Much as pockets of good practices exist in some States, notably Adamawa, Jigawa, Abia and Oyo, where the lot of teachers has been given a face lift, the same cannot be said of other states where teachers are still neglected. Much depends on either the proactive insights of the political leadership of the states, or the vibrancy of the opposition groups, or the lack of both. A gradual revolution is taking place with regard to teacher training while in the service and also with the perspective on school inspection. New initiatives about teacher professional support and in-service training have been introduced by the UBE Project in states under the educationally disadvantaged category. The approaches used include cluster-based weekly meetings, inschool mentoring, and week-end releases for courses in Colleges of Education. A new crop of school inspectors have been arranged with 42

Case of Nigeria orientation to serve as education developers in the various geo-political zones and states. The effects of reforms in the two foregoing areas are yet to be assessed but there are prospects of enhanced professional competence as end results. The collaboration between teachers’ associations and government agencies in evolving reform agendas for teachers is another source of hope for enriched working environment and better school-community interaction. Most importantly, the UBE Bill, which has been passed by the National Assembly, carries the potential of adequate flows of funds to basic education as well as articulated modalities for monitoring and supervision of service delivery by all stakeholders involved in delivering EFA.

VI. Lessons from the Reform processes A key slogan initiated by the Federal Government in advocating for UBE has been that “Education For All is the responsibility of all”. The military government that dominated the political scene of Nigeria for over three decades, pursued a policy of government take-over of educational institutions, thereby casting the impression that the provision of education is the responsibility of government. There are now copious indications of government failures and incapacity to single-handedly undertake effective and efficient management of educational resources in such a way as to engender qualitative and sustainable educational development. Government, thus, has invited the private sector to fully participate in the management of education at all levels. Individuals with track records are appointed into the Governing Councils of tertiary institutions. The PTAs are given the leeway to decide what is considered good enough for the development of the schools in which they have a stake. Registered civil society organizations are given space and opportunity to participate in policy-making meetings of the JCCE and NCE and to introduce memoranda in areas they want to influence changes. Private proprietors as individuals, communities and corporate organizations are being encouraged to establish educational institutions at various levels provided they adhere to laid down minimum standard requirements. a. Initiation of Reforms and Lessons Learnt The Federal Government initiated reforms aimed at the general overhaul of all aspects of life in Nigeria in order to remove the country from its pariah status 43

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization consequent upon aberrations created by the military in politics. Since the intentions are in the positive direction, they are supported by international development agencies. In the educational scene, some teachers and other Nigerians opposed the reform proposals, which would have implied the return of control and supervision of schools to uncompromising missionaries and private sector authorities. We are bound to learn a lot of lessons from the past and present policies to be able to provide workable policies for sustainable future. The following lessons deserve mentioning: b. Education For All is indeed the Responsibility of All The message has gone down to Nigerians that education, even when offered free, is never free, because somebody must pay for it. Indeed, this insight began to penetrate into the psyche of Nigerians since the early 1990’s when the advocacy was “Each one teach one, or pay for the teaching of one”. What is demanded of government is rational decentralization and devolution of powers on the one hand, and equitable sharing of resources on the other. As things stand, the Federal Government still controls an unduly large share of nationally-acquired revenue against the spirit of true federalism. We are yet to learn to surrender powers to those levels at which the benefits of decentralization would be generated. c. A National Teachers’ Service Commission may be needed Fredrikson (2002) observed that most current education aid is for investments in building school blocks, renovation of existing ones, provision of furniture and other learner- and teacher- friendly environments. But to him, the most important cost is teachers’ salaries as he posits: “To help reach EFA, aid needs to support recurrent costs”. A variant of this proposal is perhaps to bring all teachers into the same national service where their salaries can be borne by the Federal Government without removing the other responsibilities for control and management of basic education from the State and Local governments. This is part of the idea behind the proposal for the Federal Teachers’ Corps in Nigeria. d. Communities and NGOs To meet the challenges of EFA, we are beginning to learn that local communities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations have key roles to play and their increased involvement does not amount to privatizing primary education. Though Government would ensure 44

Case of Nigeria availability of enough funds for good quality education, it need not be the sole provider of education Indeed, some private proprietors are setting enviable standards for public schools to emulate. e. Teachers as Vital Stakeholders Teachers constitute the single most important group of stakeholders in determining good quality education. What they know and can do can make a great difference and what they do not know and cannot do or fail to do, can be an irreparable loss to the children (Ukeje, 1991). And yet, teachers’ working conditions in Nigeria have been poor and demoralizing. Teachers have been so pauperized that their status has become insignificant. In addition, their ability to perform effectively has been reduced by large class sizes, lack of teaching materials and an absence of in-service training and professional support. We have learnt that for EFA to succeed, teacher reforms are inevitable including better welfare packages for them. f. Need for Deliberate and Affirmative Actions Since it is the government that initiated UBE, it is therefore the most important actor requiring strong political will and commitment to ensure budgetary priority for EFA. The Federal Government has learnt this lesson and has gone ahead to introduce legislative procedures that would enable it to mobilize sufficient resources for EFA and to control the appropriate utilization of financial aid from development partners. g. Cooperation with Key Partners All those involved in EFA, either as partners or beneficiaries, have learnt that external resource mobilization for EFA is becoming strongly linked to performance. All are prepared to abide by the rules and regulations introduced by the World Bank, UNESCO, DFID, etc. in order to remain in their good books. Therefore, the recent financial aid from development partners is likely to yield profitable results for EFA. The implementation of the federal components of the UBE projects demands cooperation and collaboration among the participating Federal agencies, such as the NIEPA, NMEC, NCNE, NCCE, UBEC, NINLAN, and TRC. Staff of these agencies stand to benefit from the capacity building aspects of the projects. In this regard, there is no doubt that a strong bridge for institutional sustainability in being built.

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Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization

h. Capacity Building for Sustainability We have realized that foreign partners may not remain perpetually with us, hence there is a need to acquire the relevant competencies for managing basic education effectively by ourselves. In this regard, a number of strategies have been put in place for building the capacity of implementers of EFA Plans of Activities, including the training of inspectors and supervisors, the provision of professional support for teachers, training of UBE officers for various assignments, institutional support for capacity building of the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), training of teacher educators in language and literacy methodologies, etc.

Conclusion Teacher deployment and resource management, in the context of decentralization in Nigeria, may remain an unsettled issue adversely affecting the implementation of UBE and the EFA process, because of the uncompromising ethno-political resentments and parochialism that prevail in the country. The Federal Government is planning to employ and deploy qualified teachers to States where shortfalls in the supply of teachers exist. The attitudes of the beneficiary States to the continued service of the teacherinterns after the internship, cannot be predicted. If the present posture of the policy makers in parts of the country continues to persist, whereby people are prepared to accept their own kith and kin as teachers in their schools, then achieving EFA by 2015 will be facing a formidable problem.

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Case of Nigeria

Bibliography Aarons Audry (2001).‘Career-long Professional Development Teachers’. Discussion Paper on Establishing a coherent framework for Nigeria. Abani, Charles (2004). ‘Attaining the Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria: Indicative Progress and a Call for Action’. Paper delivered at the World Bank Round Table on Education MDGs in Nigeria on behalf of Action Aid Nigeria. Adarabegbe, A. (1992). ‘Management of Primary and Secondary Education in Nigeria: Progress and Prospects’ in Ipaye, B. (ed): Education in Nigeria, Past, Present and Future. Lagos: Macmillan Nig. Publishers Ltd. Adeniyi, S. O., (2002). ‘Cost and Financing of Education in Nigeria Organised by ESA, Abuja, September 18-19. Afrobarometer Research Network (2001). Down to Earth: Changes in Attitudes Toward Democracy and Modern Markets in Nigeria. Lagos: SMS Ltd. Alajuruonye, L. N. (2001). ‘An Appraisal of the FGN/UNICEF Non-Formal Curriculum for Out of School Boys’, in UBE FORUM, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp 66 – 75. Ciwar, A. M.(2002). “Teachers empowerment in the EFA process: Challenges, reforms, and outcomes”. Position Paper of the Teachers’ Registration Council at the Retreat Organized By The NCCE. Hilton Nicon Hotel, Abuja. December 12 - 13, 2002 ESA/Education Sector Analysis (2002). Historical Background on the Development of Education in Nigeria. Abuja: Author with support from UNESCO & Japan Trust Fund Project. ESA/Education Sector Analysis (2003). Problems of Education in Nigeria. Abuja: Author with support from UNESCO & JICA. ESA/Education Sector Analysis (2003). Education Sector Status Report. Abuja: Federal Ministry of Education, with support from UNESCO & JICA. ESA/Education Sector Analysis (2004). Report of Measurement of Learning Achievement in some states of Nigeria. Fagbulu, A.M. (2003). A Handbook of Information on Basic Education in Nigeria. Abuja: Federal Ministry of Education. FGN/UNICEF/UNESCO/UNDP (2000). Comprehensive Education Analysis Project (Secondary Data Report). Abuja: Federal Ministry of Education and others. 47

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization FME/Federal Ministry of Education (2001). Technical and vocational education development in the 21st century: Blue Print and Master plan 2001 - 2010. Vol. II. Abuja: Federal Ministry Education FME/Federal Ministry of Education (2002). Plan of Action on the Resolutions of the National Summit on Higher Education. Abuja: Federal Ministry Education. FME-ESA/Federal Ministry of Education - Education Sector Analysis (2003). Education Sector Status Report May 2003. Abuja: Federal Ministry Education with Support from UNESCO/Japan Trust Fund. FME/Federal Ministry of Education. (2003). Strategic National Education Plan, 2003-2007. Abuja: Federal Ministry of Education. Fredriksen, Birger (2002). “Education for All African Children by 2015: What will it take to keep the promise?” Paper presented at the Forum on Cost and Financing of Education in Nigeria. Abuja, Sept. 18-19. FRN/Federal Republic of Nigeria. (1977 & 1998). National Policy on Education. Lagos/Abuja: Federal Government Press & NERDC FRN/Federal Republic of Nigeria (1989). National Commission for Colleges of Education Decree No. 3 of January 17. Lagos: Government Press. FRN/Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999). Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Lagos: Federal Government Press. Gaynor Cathy (1998). Decentralization of Education - Teacher Management. Washington DC: The International Bank for Reconstruction & Development/World Bank. Gukas, Raymond (2003). “Government Set to Promote Teachers” in Champion Extra, Daily Champion Newspapers, Tuesday, March 4 Haines, G. S. (2000). The Systems Thinking Approach to Strategic Planning and Management Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press LLC Halliday Ian G. (1999). A Reference Guide for Teacher Managers. London: Commonwealth Secretariat/ADEA. Hinchliffe, Keith (2002). Public Expenditures on Education in Nigeria: Issues, Estimates and Some Implications. World Bank: The Human Development Sector, Africa Region. Hodges Anthony (ed) (2001). Children’s and Women’s Rights in Nigeria: A Wake-up Call- Situation Assessment and Analysis. Abuja: National Planning Commission and UNICEF.

48

Case of Nigeria Ibrahim, A.J. (2002). ‘The Nigerian National EFA Forum: Facilitating Consultation and Participation in the Realization of the EFA Goals’, in Charles, H.J. & Iheme, E. (eds): Nigerian Private Sector and Education For All. Abuja: UNESCO, pp 44 – 55. Iheme, Emeka (2002). ‘Towards an Enabling Environment for Increased Private Sector participation in Education in Nigeria: Issues and Approaches’, in Charles, H.J. & Iheme, E. (eds): Nigerian Private Sector and Education For All. Abuja: UNESCO, pp 87 – 102. Makoju, G.A. & Nwagwu, R.E. (2003). Pre-Diagnostic Bibliography Collation on Studies Proposed for the Nigerian Education Sector Analysis. Abuja: Education Sector Analysis. Makoju, G.A. et al (2004). “Assessment of Learning Achievement of Primaries Four and Six Pupils in Nigeria”. Abuja: ESA Draft Report. Marinho, H.E.G. (1990). ‘Coping with the Crisis in Education in Nigeria; in Education Today, Sept. Vol.3, No. 4 Lagos: FME, pp. 53 - 64 Mingat, Alain Rakotomalata, Ramahatra & Tan Jee-Peng (2002). “Financing Education for All by 2015:Simulations for 33 African Countries”. In Africa Region Human Development Working Paper Series. Washington D. C. World Bank. NCCE/National Commission for Colleges of Education (2003). Statistical Digest on Colleges of Education, Vol. 6. Abuja: NCCE Publications. NCCE/National Commission for Colleges of Education (2003). “Draft Implementation Plan for Federal Teachers Corps”. Abuja: Unpublished Submission to the Federal Executive Council. NCCE/National Commission for Colleges of Education (2004). ‘Report on Tracer Study of NCE Graduates of 1998 – 2003’. Abuja: Unpublished Research Report by the Department of Planning, Research and Statistics. National Population Commission (1998). 1991 Population Census of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: Analytical Report at the National level. Abuja: National Population Commission. NCNE/National Commission for Nomadic Education (2002). ‘Reforming Teachers and Teaching Profession in Nigeria: Nomadic Education Experience’. Position paper presented at Retreat on Teacher Reform, Abuja, 12-13 Dec. NCNE/National Commission for Nomadic Education (2002). Information Brochure. Kaduna: Author. Nwagwu, N. (1998). ‘Management, Structure and Financing Education in Nigeria’ in R. Akpofure (ed.): The State of Education in Nigeria. Abuja: UNESCO, pp 10 – 21. 49

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization Obanya, Pai (2001). ‘Major Challenges of UBE’, UBE FORUM, A Journal of Basic Education in Nigeria, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp 13 – 22. Okoro, D.C. (2000). ‘Basic Education - Emerging Issues, Challenges and Constraints, in UNESCO: The State of Education in Nigeria. Lagos: Excellence Systems Ltd. pp 33 - 51. Olubodun, J.B.O. (2002a). ‘UBE Trains Primary School Inspectors and Supervisors’; in UBE Digest, Vol.2 No.2 page 18. Abuja: UBE Commission Olubodun, J.B.O. (2002b). ‘Progress Report on the UBE Programme’, in UBE Digest, Newsletter of Basic Education in Nigeria, Vol. 2, No. 2. Dec 2002. Abuja: UBE, pp. 4-9. Read, Anthony (1990). The Nigerian Books Sector Study: Summary Report. Lagos: Book Development Council Tahir Gidado (2001). ‘Federal Government Intervention in Universal Basic Education’ in UBE Forum, A Journal of Basic Education in Nigeria, Vol. 1 No.1, pp 1 - 12. Tawari, F. (2002). “Improving Education Access to Migrant Fisherfolks”. Paper presented at the Nomadic Education Research Findings Workshop sponsored by DFID, Abuja. Ukeje, B. O. (1991). ‘The Education of Teachers for a New Social Order’, The Nigerian Teacher Today (TNTT), Vol. 1, No. 1. Kaduna: NCCE Journal of Teacher Education, pp 4 – 12. UNESCO (2000). EFA Monitoring Report. Abuja: Author UNESCO (2002). Education for All. Programme of Activities of UNECO Abuja Since Dakar 2000. Abuja: Author Urwick, J. & Aliyu, B. (2003). Towards the re-dynamism of Nigeria’s Education System. Report of the symposium on the future of Nigerian education. London: Council for Education in the Commonwealth. Utomi, Pat (2002). ‘The Nigerian Experience with non-State Delivery of Educational Services’, in Charles, H.J. & Iheme, E. (eds): Nigerian Private Sector and Education For All. Abuja: UNESCO, pp 56 – 63.

50

Annexes

51

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization

Annex 1: Report Guidelines 1. Country background (a)

(b) (c) (d) (e)

Brief synopsis of education system: structure, institutional organization and management; any recent or ongoing reforms; arrangements for providing learning opportunities for youth and adults. Nature of decentralization – broad strokes including political, economic and social context. The EFA challenge: current educational statistics pertinent to EFA goals and progress achieved. EFA plans: vision and modalities; how existing governance structures have helped to accelerate the pace and quality of EFA implementation. Reliance on external funds: percentage of education budget/expenditure; amounts, sources, types, use; recurrent versus development expenditure.

2. Teachers (a)

(b)

Description of responsibilities and authority levels: (i) Who determines the qualifications for education personnel? (ii) Who actually hires and fires? (iii) Who can transfer teachers? (iv) Who sets the pay scale? (v) Who determines increases and promotions? The way the system works: (i) Who is accountable (and to whom) and what is the system of accountability? What is measured? Has accountability increased to beneficiaries/local groups? Is there wider participation beyond government? (ii) How is information gathered and used for the purposes of accountability? (iii) Capacities and professional development – how developed – effective? (iv) Effectiveness and efficiency of system in delivering quality EFA: 1. Is the quality of education improving? 2. Have targets been met? Are they likely to be? Why/why not? 3. Are differentiated needs being met? 52

Annexes 4. Are the marginalized being reached? 5. What about non-formal education? Private education? What arrangements concerning teacher deployment and management? 3. Resources (a)

(b)

Description of responsibilities and authority levels in answer to questions – resources: (i) Who decides about sources of funds? (ii) Who decides how much revenue? (iii) Who decides the allocation or budgeting of revenue? (iv) Who decides about actual spending? The way the system works: (i) Who is accountable and what is the system of accountability? What is measured? Has accountability increased to beneficiaries/local groups? Is there wider participation beyond government? (ii) How is information gathered and used for the purposes of accountability? (iii) Capacities and professional development – how developed – effective? (iv) Effectiveness and efficiency of system in delivering quality EFA: 1. Has resource allocation changed as a result of decentralization? How has this impacted EFA goals? 2. Is the quality of education improving? 3. Have targets been met? Are they likely to be? Why/why not? 4. Are differentiated needs being met? 5. Are the marginalized being reached? 6. What about non-formal education? Private education? What arrangements concerning resource allocation and management? (v) What effect has extrabudgetary finance had on EFA implementation? How is it directed and utilized? Is its implementation different from the prevailing system, for instance, its use for recurrent or development expenditure, its control, monitoring and evaluation? (vi) Have communities or the private sector been encouraged to mobilize financial resources? What are the arrangements and have these worked to further effective EFA implementation?

4. Analysis of successes and pitfalls (i) What differences has the decentralized system – teacher deployment and management and resource mobilization and management – made to EFA implementation? 53

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization (ii) Has there been increased local accountability/ participation? (iii) What has worked? What has not worked? Why? (iv) Specifically, have teacher recruitment, deployment, training and performance monitoring practices significantly contributed to: 1. Greater teacher motivation 2. Enhanced professional competence 3. Enriched working environment 4. Better school-community interaction (v) Specifically, has the timeliness and adequacy of fund flow improved and has this made a difference to the quality of service delivery at the school level? 5. Lessons Following the critical analysis above of why the system works in the way described – whether effectively or ineffectively – it is important to consider how the reforms in teacher deployment and resource mobilization and management were initiated, internalized and sustained. It would be particularly helpful if the reports focused on how the effectiveness of the system is being measured, what capacity building has been or is still required, how needs have been identified for improving the system (of teacher and financial deployment and management), and whether the attempts to address those needs have been sufficient and/or appropriate. This will enable the focus to be on the final two issues below: (a) Lessons learned; (b) Road map for sustaining ongoing reforms.

54

Annexes

Annex

2:

The

Programme

of

the

Seminar

UNESCO Seminar on EFA Implementation: Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization 6–8 January 2005 6 JANUARY 2005 8:00 9:00 9:10 9:30 9:50 10:00 11:00 12:00 1:00 2:00 3:30 4:00 5:00 6:00 6:30 8:00

Registration of Participants Welcome Remarks by Dr S. K. Rao, Principal, ASCI Theme Setting by Dr Mir Asghar Husain, Director, ED/EPS, UNESCO, Paris Inaugural Address by Dr Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Vote of Thanks by Dr Abby Riddell, Senior Programme Specialist, ED/EPS, UNESCO, Paris UNESCO High Tea Synthesis Paper Presentation on Ten Countries: Dr R. Govinda, National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) Plenary Questions to NIEPA and Country Representatives Lunch Working Groups on Identified Problem Areas: Designation and Discussion/ Sharing of National Experiences Tea Panel Presentations by two Indian States: Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh on Teacher Deployment and Resource Management at State Level; Comments by National Participants: India, China, Brazil and Pakistan Plenary Discussion on Issues Raised in Panel Presentations Close Cocktails by ASCI at ASCI campus, Bella Vista, Khairtabad, Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh State Reception at Jubilee Hall, Nampally, Hyderabad

7 JANUARY 2005 9:00 10:30 11:00 12:30 1:30 3:30 5:00 8:00

Report Presentation and Plenary Discussion on Populations in Tribal Areas: Dr I. V. Subba Rao, Principal Secretary, Andhra Pradesh Coffee Report Presentation and Plenary Discussion on Women from Poorer Sections of Indian Society: by Mr Zahid Ali Khan, Siasat Lunch Tasks for afternoon explained; three Working Groups on (1) Teacher Deployment and Management; (2) Resource Management; and (3) Capacity Building Lessons (Tea served during working group sessions) Report back from Working Groups Close Siasat Reception at Taramati Baradari, Golconda Fort, Hyderabad

55

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization

8 JANUARY 2005 9:00 11:00 11:45 12:15

1:15

Moving Beyond the ‘Issues’ to the Problem Areas Requiring Attention: Identification of Potential Assistance? – Plenary followed by Working Groups Report back: The Way Forward High Tea Valedictory Addresses: Dr S. K. Rao, Principal, ASCI Dr Mir Asghar Husain, Director, ED/EPS, UNESCO, Paris Mr K. M. Acharya, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India Dr Mohan Kanda, Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh, India Vote of Thanks, Mrs Leticia Aguirre, Ministry of Public Education, Mexico Lunch

56

Annexes

Annex 3: Some statistical tables Table 1: Enrolment Trends by Gender, Year and Geo-political Zones Zone

Male

Year

1999

N-W

2,439,394

N-C

1,543,844

N-E

2,024,592

S-W

1,508,920

S-S

1,470,785

S-E

1,070,899

Total

10,058,434

Female ( %) 1999

Male

Female (%) 2000

2000

1,305,565 (35) 1,212,431 (44) 1,303,248 (39) 1,524,932 (50) 1,444,329 (50) 1,058,071 (50) 7,848,576 (44)

2,625,139 1,645,660 2,190,877 1,551,084 1,606,711 1,125,657 10,745,128

Male 2001

1,398,670 (35) 1,311,918 (44) 1,423,002 (39) 1,585,721 (51) 1,580,627 (50) 1,113,373 (50) 8,413,311 (45)

2,633,666 1,606,316 2,501,140 1,421,266 1,638,758 1,130,896 10,932,042

Female (%) 2001 1,416,318 (35) 1,299,326 (45) 1,518,955 (38) 1,455,031 (51) 1,28,751 (50) 1,134,481 (50) 8,452,862 (44)

Male

Female (%) 2002

2002 2,916,191

1,589,279 (48.7) 1,461,428 (44.4) 1,010,849 (48.5) 1,645,309 (50.4) 1,707,972 (50.2) 1,148,908 (49.8) 8,563,745 (44.3)

1,824,801 1,561,507 1,615,532 1,696,863 1,158,020 10,772,914

Source: Based on data from FME and the National Population Commission

Table 2 : Primary School Gender Gap Year

Total GER Males

Total GER Females

Gender Gap

2000

105.3%

85.2%

20.1%

2001

103.0%

82.6%

17.8%

2002

100.4%

91.4%

9.0%

Source: Based on data from FME and the National Population Commission

Table 3: Apparent Completion Rates of Public Primary Education by Gender, 1993 – 2002 Gender P1

1992/93

1997/98

Apparent Completion

1996/97

2001/2002

Apparent Completion

Female

1,430,890

868,698

61%

1,321,142

1,065,794

80.6%

Male

1,932,919

1,287,254

67%

1,672,778

1,319,384

78.9%

Total

3,363,809

2,155,952

64%

2,993,920

2,385,178

79.7%

Source: Education Data Bank and FME

57

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization

Table 4: Transition Rate from P6 to JS1, 1990, 1997 & 2002 (Public Sector) Year of Transition

Primary 6

JS1

Transition Rate

1990

1,606,299 (1989/90)

747,419 (1990/91)

48%

1997

2,042,819 (1996/97)

769,289 (1997/98)

38%

2002

2,385,178 (2000/01)

941,884 (2001/02)

39.5%

Source: EDB data and FME Baseline 2001

Table 5: COEs by State, by NCE PES Specialist Output by State new Primary Teacher Requirement 2001/2000 State

% NCE Primary Specialist

Total State enrolment in NCE Primary Specialist Course

State primary-teacher demand

Kaduna

14

950

1,349

Imo

28

363

3,500

Taraba

33

992

2,246

Adamawa

24

333

1,000

Taraba has a very large number of religious instruction teachers; this figure is based on current teacher numbers in primary schools exclusive of RI teachers. Figures for Adamawa could not be verified, but the demand is well over 1,000 additional teachers. Source: FME - ESA, 2003:34, 36, 77).

Table 6 : Allocations of the Education Tax Fund, 1999 - 2002 (in millions of Naira) Education Sub-Sector

1999

2000

001

2002

Total

Primary

3,117.5

1,117.0

2,167.2

2,604.0

9,005.8

Secondary

657.0

744.8

1,460.0

1,642.5

4,504.2

Tertiary

4,489.3

2,147.0

4,127.5

5,551.0

16,314.8

Other Agencies

518.4

747.8

846.4

6,759.9

8,972.4

Total

8,882.4

4,756.6

8,601.0

16,557.4

38,797.3

Source: Federal Ministry of Education 2003 p 98 and ETF 2002 Annual Report

Table 7: Distribution of Total Educational Funding by Educational Level, 1998 (%) SubSector Primary Secondary Tertiary University

Borno

Oyo

Rivers

Enugu

Benue

Ekiti

Niger

Jigawa

23.4 47.1 13.8 15.7

43.1 15.8 16.0 25.1

30.4 28.4 16.3 24.9

33.8 16.2 8.7 41.3

60.9 14.8 5.0 19.3

41.0 31.4 23.6 4.9

37.2 36.7 14.0 12.0

48.4 45.4 6.2 0.0

Source: ESA (2003), p. 99 quoting Hinchliffe (2002).

58

Annexes

Table 8: Federal Government Expenditure Shares by level of Education (1997 - 2002) % Sub-sector

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

Tertiary

79.9

68.4

69.0

75.8

68.1

79.9

Universities

44.6

39.4

39.9

49.2

39.6

51.2

Polytechnics

23.2

17.0

18.5

17.0

16.6

16.0

Colleges of Education

11.1

12.0

0.6

9.0

11.9

9.7

Secondary

11.3

14.6

18.7

15.3

15.5

15.6

9.8

16.9

12.2

8.9

16.4

7.5

Primary

Source: Federal Government of Nigeria, Annual Budgets Reported in Herbert (2002)

Table 9: Percentage Shares of Education Expenditure by Level in Selected States, 1998 States

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

University

Benue

11.9

50.2

13.0

Borno

5.0

69.1

25.8

10.4 0.0

Ekiti

10.4

66.2

13.0

10.4

Enugu

17.0

52.7

30.3

0.0

Kano

9.2

66.3

24.5

0.0

Niger

13.8

65.8

16.6

3.8

Oyo

23.1

37.6

27.5

11.8

Plateau

3.3

83.9

12.8

0.0

Rivers

9.7

0.6

21.4

18.3

11.4

60.3

20.8

7.4

Average

Source: Case Studies by Hinchcliffe (2003), p.10

Table 10: Responsibilities for Teacher Recruitment and Remuneration

Federal Govt. State Govt. Local Govt.

Primary School

The JSS

Adult Literacy

FTC Scheme to arrest shortfall All Pub. Schools

Fed. Government Colleges State Govt. Schools -

Through NMEC

Nomadic Education Through NCNE

State Schemes LG Schemes

-

Table 11: Responsibilities for Provision of Infrastructure Federal Govt. State Govt. Local Govt.

Primary School 75% 25% -

The JSS 50% 50% -

59

Adult Literacy 25% 50% 25%

Nomadic Education 100% -

Teacher and Resource Management in the Context of Decentralization

Table 12: Responsibilities for Providing Instructional and Learning Materials Federal Govt. State Govt. Local Govt.

Primary School 100% -

The JSS 50% 50% -

Adult Literacy 25% 50% 25%

Source: FME (2002): Education Sector Analysis

60

Nomadic Education 80% 20% -