ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN NIGERIAN PRIMARY EDUCATION SYSTEM IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Education World over has been recognized as a veritable and an indispensable investment for development. No nation or state can achieve any meaningful development without education. It is education that holds the key to social, economic, political, technological and even human development. The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as cited in Ifelunni (2006), at its 27th session of the General Congress identified education as a tool for the development of all human potentials which is the most powerful lever for shaping the future. The ability of man to live a satisfactory and worthwhile life depends to a large extent on certain factors such as the ability to sustainably explore and functionally derive and utilize the available resources of nature. To achieve this feat, there is an urgent need for a functional education of the members of the society. The functional education here means a practical or pragmatic education system rather than a decorative one. An education that will yield positive result both for the individual that acquired it and the society in which the individual lives. It is that education which is geared towards developing the human resource potentials of the society. The National Policy on Education in Nigeria (2004) defines primary education as education given in an institution for children aged normally 6 – 11 plus. Since the rest of the education system is built upon it, the primary level is the key to the success or failure of the whole system. The Universal Basic Education (UBE) was launched by the then President and commander – in Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on September 30, 1999 at Sokoto. The bill to universalize access to basic primary education was signed into law in 2004. This Act makes it mandatory for every state government to provide free compulsory education for children of primary and junior secondary school age and every parent to ensure that his or her child or ward attends and completes nine years basic education. Penalties are stipulated by the Act for any defaulting party. The details of the UBE programme has three components as follows; Basic Education which is made up of nine years of schooling (primary and junior secondary education) for all children. Nomadic Education for school age children of pastoral nomads and migrant fishermen and literacy and non–formal education for out of school children, youths and illiterate adults. The three components as was listed above are co - ordinate by different bodies. The basic education is co – ordinate by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) of the various states, the Nomadic education (NCNE) and the literacy and non – formal education by the National Mass Education Commission (NMEC). The implementation of UBE requires human resources development intervention programmes to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of all the personnel of UBE in Nigeria. In the views of Aruma (2006) the intervention programmes for professional development, management structure, job security, indeed enhances staff development in an organization. This tends to stress the imperative nature of human resources development and intervention programmes to enhance effective service delivery of UBE in Nigeria. These and other issues and challenges will be the main thrust of this paper.