By Bilesanmi Abayomi
As students return to classrooms across Kosofe and Lagos State, policymakers at both local and state levels have rolled out warm goodwill messages to pupils, students, teachers, parents, and guardians to mark the start of a new academic session. While these gestures are welcome, many stakeholders insist that Nigeria’s basic education sector needs far more than ceremonial greetings.
Public education, particularly at the foundational level, demands deliberate attention, adequate funding, and sustained reforms. Increasingly, public schools are perceived as institutions meant only for children of security guards, traders, drivers, artisans, and commercial transport operators. This perception, stakeholders argue, reflects years of neglect rather than the true purpose of public education.
Ironically, many of today’s policymakers are themselves products of public schools. Yet, declining standards have pushed several of them to enroll their children in private institutions.
Dilapidated infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms, poor learning materials, and underpaid, demotivated teachers have driven parents away, turning private education into a profit-driven alternative rather than a choice.
In more functional societies, public schools are well-built, properly equipped, and staffed by trained, well-remunerated teachers. Quality education is treated as a public good, accessible to every child regardless of background.
True reform, stakeholders argue, will only be evident when public schools regain public trust, so much so that private school proprietors begin to complain of low patronage, as has happened in some African countries following massive government investment in public education.
Applying the SMART principle, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, education policies must also address the alarming number of out-of-school children. There should be enforceable measures making it an actionable offence for parents or guardians to keep children out of school without valid reasons.
Ultimately, Nigeria’s education sector must move beyond back-to-school messages and symbolic distributions of exercise books or school bags. What is required is genuine political will, strategic investment, and accountability to ensure that every child has access to quality public education.