Every Educational System has its own problems. Some of the issues/problems confronting the school system in Nigeria at present include:
1. DRUG ABUSE
Drug abuse is the abnormal use of drugs using drugs in excess and out of the prescription of the physician. Young people get involved and indulge in drugs and alcohol mostly in our institutions of higher learning for certain reasons.
Causes of Drug Abuse
Some students think that taking drugs will enable them to excel in classroom activities. Some students do take drugs due to curiosity.
They want to experiment and see how it makes them feel when they take drugs. Others do get involved in drug taking through the influence of peer groups.
Besides, some students having domestic or academic problems resort to drugs as a temporary relief from the problem. Such students are always very active during student rioting.
The Solution to the Drug Abuse
First and foremost the school should have a programme for the students on the evil effects of drug abuse.
The Ministry of Health has a programme on AIDS, so the Ministries of Education both Federal and State should try to include such a programme in the curriculum.
The government has taken a great step along this line. The students should be educated on the evil effects of drug abuse e.g. insanity, mental retardation, poverty, loss of life, and ejection from peer groups and from college. Such authority should try to create avenues for students to discuss problems concerning both their private and academic lives.
Hence, a Department of Guidance and Counselling with full-time Guidance Counsellors is very necessary in our institutions.
Parents too should be given orientation or seminars by the school authority to educate them on their responsibilities towards their children. The solution to drug abuse rests on both the school and the parents.
2. STUDENT UNREST
Another social pathology in the Nigerian education or school system is student unrest. Student unrest used to be limited to higher institutions. But today it is all over the school system. Primary schools are no longer spared.
Causes of Student Unrest
Lack of communication between the school authority and the students and students’ unrealistic demands from the authority are the major causes. It is more or less conventional for students to riot sometimes about the month of May when the final examination is at hand.
Experience and observation have revealed that the major causes of riots at such a time are students’ unpreparedness for the examinations and therefore clamoring for a postponement.
Also, students react to political and economic issues which they perceive are not in their favour by embarking on demonstrations and riots.
The Solution to Student Unrest
School/College authorities should make sure there is open communication between them and the students. Students too should be rational in their demands from the school authority. Parents should educate their children as to the dangerous consequences of riots.
Students should be taught to resist the few students who may want to cause a riot. School authorities should be sensitive to students’ problems.
Student unrest should never be allowed to happen. Both student and school authorities should dialogue until a compromise is reached. Authority should prevent a breakdown in communication with students’ representatives. Students should included in the school or college administration, to enable them to have a say in matters that concern their welfare.
3. DELINQUENT BEHAVIOUR
Delinquent behaviour embraces such behaviours as stealing, truancy, fighting, disobedience, lying, and other anti-social behaviours.
Causes of Delinquent Behaviour
There are many causes for the different anti-social behaviours of students. But one thing that is common among all these causes is that the individual who is misbehaving is immature and also ill-informed as suggested by Resis (1972).
The solution to the Delinquent Behaviour
Each case of delinquency should be studied and appropriate solutions proffered. The college/school should try as much as possible to give students lectures on morals.
Teachers should be good role models. The students should be educated on the consequences of their behaviours.
4. SECRET CULTS
A secret cult is a socially constructed thing. It is defined as relative to time and
place, This depends on the definition and the statement of the problem. The matter lies where experts have differing views on the subject matter. Or other rituals, oaths, grips (or hand-claps), or signs of recognition between members.
Causes of Secret Cults
The formation of secret cults is a reflection of the secret cults in society. Some students have been introduced to secret cults through their friends and parents. Such students come to school to open a chapter in the school.
The solution to the Secret Cults
School authorities should be vigilant. Students should be warned against joining secret cults. Healthy and responsible societies and clubs should be allowed to function in schools. Both parents and teachers should join hands to stamp out secret cults.
5. EDUCATIONAL FINANCES
Causes of Education Finances
Educational finance is another problem facing education in Nigeria. Many schools in Nigeria lack many of the basic amenities which is supposed to be found in normal schools. This creates the problem of a lack of chairs, desks, laboratory equipment, lack of teachers, etc.
Governments, both Federal, State, and local find it difficult to pay teachers’ salaries due to lack of finance, teachers most of the time are out of work.
Almost 70% of the School Calendar is sometimes wasted because of incessant strike actions by all categories of teachers. In fact, lack of finance has made the objectives of the school system to be far from being achieved.
The solution to Educational Finances
It is high time the government realized that the idea of free education is a ruse and that parents should play a greater role in the funding of the education of their children.
There should also be other sources of funding for education. For example, the idea of an Education Tax initiated recently by the Federal Government is a laudable idea.
adminate
Editors
