AN EXAMINATION OF THE PROBLEMS FACING SECONDARY SCHOOL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY: Education is the process of bringing desirable change into the behavior of human beings. It can also be defined as the process of imparting or acquiring knowledge or habits through instruction.

Education, for any nation, whether developed or developing, is to help solve the problems that affect that nation. This is why according, is to National Policy on Education (FRN, 2004:4), “Government has stated that for the benefit of all citizens, the country‟s educational goals shall be clearly set out in terms of their relevance to the needs of their relevance to the needs of the individual and those of the society, in consonance with the realities of our environment and the modern world”.

Therefore, many nations after political independence had to turn their attentions to nations building by looking up to education as the tool to this end hoping that what is did to the “great power” it can also do for them (Williams/1970, in Omede and Omede, 2004). Education is obviously known to be an indispensable tool for national development (FRN, 2004). For education to be potent and useful, it must have to be indigenized that is, designed according to the prevailing needs of that particular society.

This explains why Nigeria educational system had since independence gone through series of reviews to commend it to the prevailing needs of the society. Yusuf and yusuf (2009) noted that the first serious attempt at reforming the educational program of the country took place in 19659 through a curriculum conference that was held in Lagos, and that the conference‟ recommendations led to the first post independent educational policy, tailored to meet the local needs of the nation. From independence till; now, the national policy on education, the documents that serve as the “ten commandments” for the nation’s educational practices had been reviewed for more than three time- 1977 (first draft),then revised in 1981, 1998 and 2004.

The revision is necessary but suggests one thing that our educational system is yet to meet the needs of the society satisfactorily and expected. There are glaring cases of underdevelopment due to lack of technological and industrial advancements, poor and inadequate infrastructural provision, unemployment as well as low and erratic electricity supply.

When the issue of Nigeria educational system today is raised, the first sets of thoughts that comes to mind are: decline in standard, deterioration of facilities, examination malpractices, mass promotion syndrome and the like before any other thing else. This calls for an in-depth study and analysis aimed at tutoring each and every stakeholders in the education system on how their actions and inactions have individually and collectively contributed to the collapsing state of education in Nigeria. In any case, knowledge and skill acquisition which education is all about cannot be over emphasized. According to the World Bank (1999: 25), “successful development entails more than investing in physical capital, or closing the gap in capital. It also entails acquiring and using knowledge as well as closing the gaps in knowledge”. So this study focuses on the problems facing secondary school education in Nigeria, using secondary schools in Agege LGA as a case study.