NIGERIAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM: IN THE PURSUIT OF RIGHT PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT FOR LEARNING

The right physical environment of learning is a sine qua non for the realization of positive outcomes in any country’s educational programme. Right environment in this work will include the combination of physical structures, right timing of teaching and learning, seating arrangement, level of sanitation and pollution of the environment, climate conditions within the environment and closeness of the learning environment to varied noise effects. According to Nigeria’s National policy on education, one of the five sets of beliefs of the policy is that education in the country should be qualitative, comprehensive, functional and relevant to the needs of the society. The thrust of this paper is to assess the present status of the physical environment of institutions of learning, government policy directions and the philosophical orientation of the educational system. The method employed is a combination of descriptive and philosophical analysis of the physical environment and government policies and issues. The pathway to standard quality education for nation building, the paper suggests, is found in the right combination of effective resource management, adequate educational infrastructural development and appropriate governance structure that will drive all the other factors in the quest for attaining Nigeria educational goal. The paper concludes that there exists a wide infrastructure deficit in spite of government intervention mainly due to lack of political will and mismanagement of scarce resources while a marked improvement is manifested with the intervention of the private sector. The paper recommends among others, a purposeful synergy between parents and government for an improved physical learning environment.