The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, has highlighted significant gaps in Nigeria’s basic education sector, stating that the country requires an additional 194,876 qualified teachers.
Dr. Bobboyi also disclosed the need for 907,769 new classrooms at the primary school level and 200,085 new classrooms at the junior secondary school level, totaling 1,107,854 classrooms needed nationwide.
Speaking in Ikeja, Lagos, during a one-day partnership meeting with the organized private sector on the implementation of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) program, he emphasized the acute shortage of qualified teachers in public primary schools. Of the 694,078 teachers required at this level, only 499,202 are currently available, leaving a gap of 194,876.
“Early Childhood Care Education (ECCE) and junior secondary school appear to have more teachers than they require. The problem here lies with their skewed deployment in favor of urban schools. The inadequate supply of qualified teachers at the primary school level is contributing to learning poverty,” Bobboyi said.
He blamed state governments for not prioritizing teachers’ professional development, despite receiving 10% of the UBEC grant for this purpose. “The federal government allocates 2% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for UBEC, and state governments receive 10% of this for Teachers’ Professional Development and 15% for Instructional Materials. However, many states do not use these funds for their intended purposes. Even the Matching Grant of 50% required for other projects is often not faithfully provided,” he explained.
Bobboyi also decried the high deficit in physical infrastructure in schools, noting that 40% of classrooms in the basic education subsector are in bad condition. “As of 2022, 907,769 additional classrooms were required in primary schools, and 200,085 were needed in junior secondary schools. All geo-political zones are above the standard ratios for learner/classroom and learner/teacher as specified by the National Policy on Education. Many learners do not have furniture in both public and private schools, and the percentage of schools without toilets is worse in public schools compared to private ones,” he added.
He reported that 46,920,422 young Nigerians are currently enrolled at the basic education level, with 23,858,390 males and 23,062,032 females. The total number of schools at this level is 171,027, with 91,252 being private and 79,795 public.
Bobboyi attributed the low transition rate from primary to secondary school to the disparity in school growth rates between public and private institutions, noting that while the number of schools grew by 16.9% between 2018 and 2022, mainly due to an increase in private schools, public schools only saw a 3.48% growth.
He called for greater collaboration between the public and private sectors, particularly in funding, stating, “Government cannot do it all alone. Greater determination and collaboration between the Commission and key stakeholders are necessary to address the identified gaps. The private sector should invest more in basic education delivery to complement the efforts of the federal government. Since the government alone cannot meet the huge requirements for quality UBE delivery, private entities should take further responsibility in key aspects of UBE delivery, especially in addressing the out-of-school children phenomenon.”
Dr. Mrs. Folake Olatunji, Director of Basic Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, thanked the organized private sector (OPS) for their support and called for more assistance. Morris Atoki, speaking for the OPS, emphasized the need to harness the power of the OPS to collaborate with UBEC in making education accessible for all.
