Introduction

Inequality in education involves unequal allocation and distribution of the resources required in education like teachers, books, laboratory tools among others mostly to some excluded communities. It means that some children are unable to get the standard education and sometimes do not access education at all. It occurs to communities which are poor that they cannot afford private school prices. The government is the leading cause of the inequalities when it fails to fund public schools and create policies to alleviate inequalities like ensuring that all children get access to school. However, even in private schools there exists inequality when the schools employ unqualified teachers and favor some students. Education in Nigeria has had several challenges leading to inequality one of them being weak government policies. This study will focus on the circumstance leading to education inequality in Nigeria and offer a solution to the challenges.

Background of the Nigerian educational system

Nigeria being a federation, the ministers of education at federal and state levels oversees education in all schools. The minister at state level manages the general affairs of the teaching and nonteaching staffs in the schools. The federal minister of education implements education policies in the state-owned schools. The education system follows a 6-3-3-4 system. Pupils attend six years in primary school. At the end of the six years, pupils are tested using the Common Entrance Examination which qualifies them for secondary school. Students go through three years in junior and another three years in senior secondary school. Students have a choice of sitting for the senior secondary certificate examination in the second or third year. In addition to the exam, students must also pass a West Africa Examinations Council (WEAC) test after which they qualify to join the university for at least four years. As per the guidelines of Universal Basic Education (UBE) in Nigeria, students have a right to free education from start to junior secondary school.

Challenges facing the education system in Nigeria

One of the challenges facing the Nigerian education system is poor control and responsibility from the government. Due to the two control ministries from the federal and state government, there lacks a clear cutline on who is supposed to carry which responsibility. Primary education just as an example is not clear where it lies between the federal and the state government. With such a situation, it is hard to identify whom to ask for funds or lay claims on education support. The schools, therefore, remain underdeveloped with poor and insufficient infrastructures, few teachers as well as few learning resources. Indiscipline from both the students and the parents is also facing the education system. Parents are buying exams for their children to qualify for the next class. Also, students are engaging in behaviors like cults which are diverting their attention from academics.

Education in Nigeria is also facing politicization and corruption. The federal governments have been competing with each other to run as many schools as possible. They open schools without preparation failing below the standard level of a school. The existing schools are also experiencing pressure on funds whereby the new and current schools are sharing the same budget. The governments are private accrediting schools to earn more revenue even without looking at the standard of education they are offering. In Lagos only there are over 11,895 private schools registered illegally. As a result, pupils are getting low standard education. The school heads and other officials are vandalizing most of the funds released for the education programs in the ministries. Also, school heads and lectures are receiving bribes from pupils to admit them with unqualified grades and also give them better grades in exams.

Inequality in education as a contemporary issue

Difference in Nigerian education is a present issue because of the increase in the number of private schools the country is experiencing today. Despite the general decline in services public schools are offering, private schools continue to grow and increase in enrollment. The private school sector is accounting for over 40% in enrolment. In 2014, Abuja accounted for over 247% increase in the number of private schools. Most students prefer private schools due to the standard of education they offer and an opportunity to grow their talents. As a result, students left in public schools are getting low-quality education due to neglect from the government. Also, private school students are getting substandard education as a result of the employment of untrained teachers and discrimination.

Inequality issue is also contemporary because of the increased population being experienced in Nigeria creating pressure on schools. Nigerian population stands at 184 million and is expected to grow even more to make the country the third most populated by the year 2050 according to UN projections. With the increased population, the government is distributing the budget for education among a large number of students. The numbers of teachers are no longer enough for the students and neither the schools sufficient for the students. In 2017, it was estimated that a total of 10.7 million were not attending schools due to lack of positions in both primary and secondary schools. Those students who cannot access private schools are being forced to study in private schools which are unable to offer standard education and opportunities to develop talents.

Circumstances causing education inequality and their results

POOR GOVERNMENT FUNDING

The Nigerian government has not provided enough funds for development of public schools education. In 2016, the amount allocated for education by the federal and state governments was 8.44% of the total budget. The amount is far below the 26% of the nation budgeted recommended by the United Nations Education, Science, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The low funding has affected several activities which run in public schools leading to a low standard of education on those students learning in public schools.

Results of inadequate government funding in education

As a result of low funding for education, the salaries for teachers have remained low. Teachers have started to engage in other businesses to complement their low wages. The situation has affected commitment for teachers in school. Most teachers are missing school days to attend to their activities while others lack morale to teach the pupils passionately. Students in public schools who cannot afford to shift to private schools are receiving inadequate training as their counterpart in private school receives full teacher’s attention.

Inadequate funding has also led to few teachers in schools. In 2014 one teacher was serving 40 students while in 2017, one teacher was serving over 300 pupils in primary school. Also, the trained teachers accounted for only 66.2 %. As a result, public school children are receiving limited attention from teachers leading to low quality of education. Public schools are also experiencing a shortage of teaching and learning resources. The libraries and laboratories are understocked making teachers fail in their deliveries.

Low funding of public schools has also led to the shifting of students to private schools where they have been affected by favoritism, nepotism, and substandard education. Most private schools are offering jobs to untrained teachers who are presenting substandard education to students. Private schools are favoring some students due to cultural differences and other factors where they are given higher grades than they deserve. The favoritism is making them receive low-quality skills as they are being made to believe that they have passed and therefore fail to work hard. Most of the private schools are after money and thus are using any flawed means to attract clients at the expense of the pupil’s education.

GENDER FAVOURITISM

Both male and female are experiencing gender favoritism in Nigeria. The significant causes of gender favoritism in Nigeria include parental preference, cultural and social considerations as well as stereotypes. It has led to the provision of unequal opportunities in education. Girl-child education has been affected more than that of boys. In 2007, the number of boys in school was more than that of girls.  Gender favoritism in Nigeria is being perpetuated by religions, societal beliefs as well as economic factors. Either boys or girls have been stereotyped to be unable to perform in schools or not allowed to advance in academics by the society without considering their abilities.

Due to the variance in gender favoritism in Nigeria, inequality in education has developed in different states. Some states are preferring to educate certain gender associating it with particular advantages. In the northern part of Nigeria for example, literacy level has been high in males as compared to females. The  by favoritism of boys in academics has caused the inequality as girls get married at an early age. The Muslim religion has not favored girl child education contributing to their low literacy. Most parents have preferred to send girls to work in the market due to the lower social status of women. Also, the community has preferred not to educate girls because the bride price will not be affected by the level of education. However, the situation has been different in the states which speak Igbo. In those states, girl child has dominated education because of the social, economic advantages associated with females.

PARENTS BACKGROUND/OCCUPATION

Parent’s background has been a determinant of whether a child will attend and which school to attend in Nigeria and therefore, education inequality. Due to corruption in the education system, admissions to certain schools is based on whom parents know or what they can do for the school head. Wealthy parents have had more significant influence to get good schools for their children leaving the under-resourced schools for the children from humble backgrounds.  According to Onwuameze(2013), children whose parent’s background is not well off in Nigeria are malnourished leading to different disease. The children are not able to attend schools due to hunger and diseases leading to education inequality when compared with children from better backgrounds.  Even when the students go to school, they hardly participate in classes due to low self-esteem and stress. Most of the children from low-income families are forced to repeat different classes, and finally, they end up dropping out of school. With the situation, the education gap between the children from a wealthy background and those from poor backgrounds has continued to become broad.

Nigeria has set higher pay and profile on some occupations considering others to be low. Teaching, farming, and carpentry jobs have been associated with a low profile and pay. The three occupations being major in most of the Nigerian population, their profiles and wages have affected education for the children. Most of the children with parents whose occupation is considered low level are low motivated, and in most cases, they drop out of school. Also, parents with low-level jobs have been unable to take their children to private schools where they can have access to better education. Children whose parents have better occupations continue to excel in private schools as others suffer in public schools which the government has neglected. The level of parent’s occupation in Nigeria, therefore, has also led to inequality in education.

Consequences of education inequality in Nigeria

Social gap

As a result of education inequality in Nigeria, the social gap between students as well as the society has continued to increase. Students from private schools are highly valued because they have gone through the required standard of education. They become the agenda setters among other children in the community and the students from public schools respect them. In the society, those students who went through the standard education system can showcase and use their talents something which makes the parents and children who went to public schools to fear them. The gap between the two groups of students widens even before they start employing what they learned in school. Social mobility has become low because of ideological differences between the two groups of children.

Challenges in identifying interest and talents

Education inequality is making some children unable to recognize their interest and abilities. The effect is in both public and private schools in Nigeria. In public schools, teachers do not have the commitment and enough time to concentrate on pupils abilities. They do not have morale, and they are busy thinking about their alternative businesses because of the low salaries. The schools have limited facilities to showcase abilities and talents which the government does not even support. Also, pupils from deprived backgrounds go to school while hungry and therefore do not have the morale to participate in activities which would enable them to discover their talents. In private schools, Favoritism of students from teachers and school owners gives the chance to explore talents to few students. Other pupils in private schools are not taken care of as expected to be in a private school.

Loss of self-confidence

Children who become less privileged in education lose -confidence when they compare their abilities with those who were able to have reasonable access to education. They think that their capabilities are limited and fail to realize and understand that the difference is not in abilities but how the teachers explored their talents. Most of the underprivileged children in education hate themselves because they cannot perform and reason like the children who went through a comprehensive system of education. They conclude that their abilities are limited and therefore do not try to explore more not even solve a small mind engaging issue.

Loss of interest to further education

Students who went through a substandard education system do not have an interest in continuing with either secondary or higher education because of the previous experience. They think that even when they advance, they will find no enough teachers in the next level of education. Also, they believe that the facilities will not yet be enough and therefore think that it will be a waste of time. Most of them are preferring to work with their parents at least make a living with and for their families. Those who have experienced favoritism against them in private schools believe that the same will happen when they advance and therefore lose the interest to proceed.

Suggestion to help reduce education inequality

Review and reinforcement of education policies

Although the Nigerian government has created good policies in education, it is not implementing them. Also, the policies are not enough to ensure equity in education. The government of Nigeria has provided free education for all children up to junior secondary school. However, the policy has not been accompanied by other policies which would ensure that the children receive the right education after enrolling in the state and private schools. First, there is low funding to the free education. The teachers also are not enough, and there are no teaching and learning facilities. The government should put in place policies to monitor the kind of education teachers are offering. It should also ensure proper funding for the schools. A clear distinction between the responsibilities of the state and the federal government of schools should be created to avoid neglected duties to fund and control the schools.

Reducing socioeconomic gap

Social, economic factors are the primary cause of education inequality in Nigeria. It is through the conditions that some students can access private schools while others are not. Also, through the economic gap, favoritism is developing in private schools extending the inequality even to those unexpected places. Nigerian government should take the responsibility of creating policies which would better the conditions of all families. Once society breaks the poverty cycle, it will be easy to standardize education being offered to all children by enabling all students to access good schools and avoiding favoritism in those private schools.

Eliminate gender inequality

The government needs to sensitize the society about the need for education to both male and female to end the stereotypes. The community and the government should take the responsibility of ensuring equal treatment of either gender and end social injustices. Once the Nigerian society stops to favor either side of the gender, all children will have equal opportunity to access education, and there will be no states with more educated boys than girls. The government should come up with policies to ensure that all children attend school without favoritism.

Conclusion

Education inequality involves unequal access to education due to differences in learning and teaching facilities as well as teachers. It is what Nigeria has experienced. The government has created policies on education which it is not enforcing, and neither is it funding the schools to the minimum amount. With that, the students who cannot access private schools because of the socioeconomic factors are getting low standard education in state schools. Also, favoritism has affected private schools leading to inequality in education. The situation has had effects on students like low self-confidence, increased social gap and lack of interest to further education. The government needs to restructure its policies and funding on schools to alleviate the problem. Also, society should ensure gender equality to allow equal access to education.

 
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