Access and Resource Allocation to Education in Nigeria

The issue of policy implementation specifically on equality of education opportunities on access to university education was seriously neglected in Nigerian higher education research. Hence this study was motivated and intended to investigate the policy implementation on equality of educational opportunities on access to university education in Nigeria. This case study using Usman Danfodio University Sokoto as the context of study investigated the issue regarding to the policy on access to university. Qualitative approach using in-depth interview and documents analysis has been employed to obtain a greater avenue of understanding the issue of equality of opportunity on access to university. From the study, it is evident that the policy content and intentions were clear but they were hampered by weak implementation. This study also indicate that as populous country like Nigeria, while 1,375,653 applied for admission to university, less than 36% or 500,000 are accommodated, which indicate that achieving equal access to university education is a great challenge.

The gap between tradition and modernity in the emerging world order is implicated in the production and transmission of knowledge and values in Africa. Many traditional African beliefs are despised and constmed as archaic, barbaric, or demonic; hence, deserving no patronage in the affairs of contemporary African life. African folklore is a corpus of ideas, knowledge and values cut-up in this web of unjustified dichotomy between tradition and modernity in contemporary African society. I examine in this paper, the fundamental pedagogic challenges of teaching indigenous moral instructions to pupils at the pre-tertiary level in contemporary education system in Nigeria. Using the Yorùbá as my folklore cue, I provide the justification for an inclusion of the ethical aspects of Ọrúnmìlà's historico-philosophical thoughts in the curriculum of pre-tertiary education of South-West Nigeria. Through a heuristic analysis, I argue the need for Ọrúnmìlàgogy, a new instructional model of teaching moral education at pre-tertiary level in Nigeria, using two classroom instances. I provide some suggestions on the most plausible ways of addressing the identified challenges of instmcting salient moral principles in Yorùbá folklore at the pre-tertiary level of education in South-West Nigeria.

Those who talk about equal opportunity in education mean many different things. This chapter considers several possible interpretations, moving from the relatively less demanding to the relatively more demanding. More demanding interpretations have often been criticized for being too demanding. While different defenses against these demandingness challenges have been offered, this chapter focuses on the strategy of defending demanding standards of equal educational opportunity by clarifying the metric – that is, by answering the question: opportunity for what? While there is no consensus in the literature about precisely which opportunities should be equal for equal educational opportunity to obtain, the reasons we have for caring about equal educational opportunity narrow the pool considerably. Once we align our metric of equal educational opportunity with our reasons for caring about it to begin with, we can see that proponents of demanding interpretations of equal educational opportunity have a compelling response to objections that they are too demanding. The thrust of the discussion is to shift from thinking about equal educational opportunity as equal opportunity for education to thinking about equal educational opportunity as equal opportunity through education.

For over four decades, archaeological education in Nigeria has been confined to university education curricula with little or no attention paid to teaching the subject at primary and secondary school levels. This paper puts forward some viable concepts and methods needed for the introduction and teaching of archaeology at these levels in Nigeria. These include both formal and informal teaching methods. This paper highlights some problems or challenges that may arise during the implementation process and gives some recommendations. The paper concludes that archaeological education should not be for adults alone. It should also be made available to the young ones.

The focus of this study was to ascertain if the integration of STEAM education in Nigeria's basic education curriculum might enhance technological advancement as well as socially just economic empowerment. The research design for this study is descriptive survey. The population of the study was all teachers at the basic education level in Nigeria. Three hundred teachers were randomly selected from six states to constitute the sample of the study. Four-point rating scale was used to illicit information from teachers to ascertain if integration of STEAM education in the curriculum might lead to technological advancement as well as socially just economic empowerment to the students on graduation. The reliability index of the research instrument was 0.79. The statistical tool adopted for the study was mean and standard deviation. The findings revealed that integration of STEAM will lead to significant technological advancement and economic empowerment. Recommendations were made to the Nigerian government and Nigerian Research and Development Council to increase funding to education.

Weed Science is a discipline in that it deals with the study of vegetation management in agriculture, horticulture, aquatics, right-of-way, estates or amenities, essentially anywhere plants need to be managed. It involves the study of all the tools available for this purpose. In comparison with other plant protection disciplines, it has not enjoyed being a distinct discipline. Its study has in most cases been aligned with degrees in Agriculture and Agricultural related discipline. It has always been a component of degrees in Agricultural Science or Crop Science in Nigerian universities. This paper reviews the current status of Weed Science education in Nigeria. In Nigerian universities courses on weed control is part of degree programmes in Agriculture, Horticulture and/or Biological/Plant Sciences, where only aspects of weed characteristics and their control with herbicides, are taught in the third or final years. At the Masters or graduate levels it is taught where there is a Resident Weed Scientist. Because of government’s insensitivity the growth and development of professionalism is stifled. To date, of 149 universities in the country, only 58 of them offer one form of a course or the other that is related to weed science, constituting 44.8%. There were no Weed Scientists present in all the categories of Polytechnics, hence limiting per capita availability of Weed Scientists in the country. This situation does not engender participation or entrant of new members into the discipline. Inadequate funding of the education and agricultural sectors has been the bane of developing adequate manpower and expertise needed in the area. For instance the Weed Science Society of Nigeria has been in existence since 1971, but their presence has not adequately influenced professionalism due to lack of appropriate policy environment. Weed Science education in Nigeria has not found its rightful space in the national polity. If national agricultural development is to remain afloat, Weed Science education should be properly appropriated through adequate budgetary allocation to the Agriculture and Education sectors. This will enhance the quality of teaching and recruitment of Weed Scientist.

The importance of positive home-school relationships and shared decision making for children’s well-being and achievement at school is well documented. Based on this, our action-research project was designed to enable parents to recognize and demand their children’s rights. The primary goal was to improve the well-being and performance of children with disabilities in a Lyceum in Cyprus. To this end, we approached eight parents of four children with disabilities, aged 15 to 17. Through attentive listening, explanation of the legislation, support, encouragement and meetings with the special education stakeholders we tried to encourage parents demand their children’s right to equal opportunities in quality education in a positive learning environment. In order to assess the intervention, the parents, the children and their teachers were interviewed. We found that the children were satisfied because they had significantly improved their grades, their self-confidence and their relationships with the teachers, albeit the children had not the same performance. The teachers were pleased because of the children’s increased participation in the classroom, even though some of them had reservations regarding power issues. The parents were also happy with both their children’s improved well-being and performance and the teachers’ efforts to respond to the children’s needs. In conclusion, co-operating with parents and developing working partnerships may increase the likelihood for equal opportunities in education, while learning at school may become a more joyful and fruitful experience.

The principle of equal opportunities in education aims to eliminate the social and economic privileges that young people face in acquiring their social status and roles. In this way, everyone, regardless of their social and economic status, will have the opportunity to take their place in society according to their wishes and abilities, and to fully realize their personalities and aspirations. Education, besides being a fundamental right, plays a crucial role in reducing societal inequalities, preventing detrimental factors, and fostering economic and human development. Education represents an enduring benefit for all of humanity, underscoring the importance of preventing factors that lead to disparities in educational access. This study aims to assess the significance of inclusion in higher education and equal educational opportunities in the context of sustainability. It will also evaluate factors related to economics, social dynamics, regional disparities, biology, and management that contribute to inequality of opportunity.

Although equality of opportunity in education is a current and important issue, most of the studies on this subject are based on theoretical studies rather than empirical studies. The main reason for this can be said to be the lack of a valid and reliable measurement tool in this field. For this reason, this study aims to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool for determining pre-service teachers' perceptions of equality of opportunity in education. For this purpose, data were collected from four different samples using a simple random sampling technique. First, a literature review was conducted, and qualitative interviews were conducted with the first sample on equal opportunities in qualitative education. After the item pool was created, the first application was made in order to determine the factor structure of the measurement tool. Data were collected from a separate sample to test the resulting structure and perform confirmatory factor analysis. Then, in the context of reliability studies of the measurement tool, calculation of the internal consistency coefficient, extracted mean variance, composite reliability and test-retest processes were used. As a result, a valid and reliable scale for determining the perception of equality of opportunity in education consisting of three factors and 23 items has been brought to the education literature. Keywords: equal opportunity in education, factor analysis, validity and reliability, scale development

Insufficient allocation of resources and infrastructure remains two daunting challenges of human capital development in Nigeria despite government policy measures to efficiency of resources and infrastructure development. This paper examined the effect of tax revenue proxy by value added tax and infrastructure on composite health and education in Nigeria from the period 1980- 2021. This paper utilized the simulation approach in forecasting performance of the macroeconometric model. From the results, the following were observed: First, value added tax has positive and statiscally significan effect on government expenditure on education and health. This implies that an increase in tax revenue causes increase in government’s spending on education and health in Nigeria. Second, health is not a good channel through which tax revenue can be used to influence economic growth, relative to education. Education impacts more on human capital in Nigeria than health. Three, higher investment in infrastructure or higher infrastructure will increase economic growth and human capital development. Four, positive and significant relationship exist between value added tax revenue and government expenditure on education and health. This implies that increase in tax revenue causes increase in government spending on social and community services including health and education. Five, to increase human capital development in Nigeria, temporary tax revenue shock is sufficient. This implies that the growth reducing effect of government tax via permanent increase in value added tax revenue. Six, to increase human capital development in Nigeria, permanent infrastructure development and investment is required. From the results, the following were observed: First, value added tax has positive and statiscally significan effect on government expenditure on education and health. This implies that an increase in tax revenue causes increase in government’s spending on education and health in Nigeria. Second, health is not a good channel through which tax revenue can be used to influence economic growth, relative to education. Education impacts more on human capital in Nigeria than health. Three, higher investment in infrastructure or higher infrastructure will increase economic growth and human capital development. Four, positive and significant relationship exist between value added tax revenue and government expenditureon education and health. This implies that increase in tax revenue causes increase in government spending on social and community services including health and education. Five, to increase human capital development in Nigeria, temporary tax revenue shock is sufficient. This implies the growth reducing effect of government tax via permanent increase in value added tax revenue. Six, to increase human capital development in Nigeria, permanent infrastructure development and investment is required. The study recommended that: (i) The government should increase its investment on critical infrastructure to further bolster human capital development and by extension accelerate the rate of economic growth, (ii) The government should diversify its revenue base and expend more on health and education in addition to building a strong institutional framework to ensure the efficacy of government spending on both health and education. Keywords: Tax revenue, infrastructure, composite health, education, simulation , Nigeria JEL Codes: H24, I10, E27 DOI: 10.7176/JESD/14-6-04 Publication date: March 31 st 2023

Education is a global human right phenomenon. An evaluation of the concept of education would show that development would not be possible without actual education. It is a factor that will help one reach his full potential and become the best version of himself, a series of steps to improve natural talent, gain knowledge in new areas, and impart knowledge to other people. Therefore, girls should have equal access and opportunities for education without discrimination due to their gender. This paper discusses the challenges of effective participation and equal opportunities for girls, with an emphasis on their right to education in terms of policy and practice. Using qualitative doctrinal research methodology, the researcher explores literatures on the obstacles to girl child education alongside existing regulations; hence, the researcher discovers that harmful traditional practices, lack of quality sanitation and hygiene, discriminatory government policies, and incessant insecurity are key challenges to the girl child regarding education. Therefore, the researcher recommends that society fosters girls' active participation, equal opportunities, and long-term success by prioritising inclusive education, empowering girls, engaging communities, and advocating policy reforms.

This paper reveals how equal educational opportunities, equal job opportunities and equality of opportunity for welfare are related to each other, and how they are related to other demands for justice. There are several important objections to the emphasis on equal educational opportunities. Nevertheless, this paper shows that demanding equal educational opportunities is unavoidable when advocating greater educational justice. Neither demands for equal educational resources nor demands for equal educational outcomes can adequately replace the demand for equal educational opportunities. For this reason, equality of opportunity in education remains an important ideal, even though it has the potential to cause damage and should therefore be taken with great caution. First, the demand for equal educational opportunities can lead to prematurely attributing unequal educational outcomes, which could have been avoided, to unequal talent and effort. Second, this demand creates the tendency to justify social inequalities by saying that, after all, measures were taken to realize equal educational opportunities. Third, it can lead to limiting all efforts in the educational system to merely realize equal educational opportunities. This demand, however, is incomplete, since those who have difficulties in learning should receive more attention and more resources for their education than others. A stronger focus on educational outcomes instead of equal educational opportunities would counter these dangers. Nevertheless, it is implausible to fully replace the demand for equal educational opportunities with the demand for equal educational outcomes.

This chapter draws from the experience of the Israeli kibbutz to address the question of why middle-class students are more successful in the competition to enter higher education. The chapter provides a conceptual framework for measuring equal opportunity in education. It then describes the problem of equal opportunity in access to higher education in Israel. It also provides some background on the organization of the kibbutz and its education system. The last section of the chapter presents the data and the findings of statistical analysis.

Equality of opportunity in education refers to the right of students to access compulsory education and to have equal opportunities in the process of education. In addition to offering many solutions to ensure equality of opportunity in education, there are also many obstacles. As a matter of fact, educational technologies are considered as an option in terms of having an effect on individuals having equal opportunities in the education process. Educational technologies can be seen as a solution to existing inequalities in order to provide equality of opportunity in education. From this point of view, in this study, it is aimed to determine the thoughts on the use of educational technologies in the education-teaching process in the context of social inequalities. In the study, the qualitative research design of phenomenology was used and ten teachers working in different branches in private and public schools were interviewed. Semi-structured interview technique was used as the data collection method and the interviews were conducted online with the teachers. Deductive analysis method was used to analyze the data. In the study, first of all, literature review was made in the context of social inequalities and themes were determined within the framework of the literature. The themes revealed were discussed as gender, socioeconomic level, parental education level, technology use proficiency of teachers and students with special needs. Within the scope of the themes obtained, teachers’ opinions and suggestions regarding the impact of educational technologies within the framework of the concept of equality of opportunity in education were included.

One of the most longstanding debates in educational policy pits the goal of equality against the goal of adequacy: Should we aim to guarantee that all children receive an equal education? Or simply that they all receive an adequate education? The general equality-versus adequacy debate replicates itself at a more specific level when we focus on the educational services provided to students with disabilities. When Congress adopted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975 (the statute now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), it estimated that a million disabled children “were ‘excluded entirely from the public school system’” with millions more “receiving an inappropriate education.” The EAHCA required that every child with a disability receive a “free appropriate public education.” That mandate plainly barred schools from excluding disabled children, but what kind of education was required? What was “appropriate”? In its earliest case under the EACHA — the Rowley case, decided in 1982 — the Court refused to read the requirement of an “appropriate” education for children with disabilities as guaranteeing that they receive “‘equal’ educational opportunities.” It instead adopted a variant of an adequacy standard. This past Term, the Court revisited Rowley for the first time since that case was decided 35 years earlier. In Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District RE-1, the Court rejected the “merely more than de minimis” test that the Tenth Circuit had applied to determine what educational benefit was sufficient for a free appropriate public education. But it specifically rejected the Petitioner’s argument that the IDEA required schools to aim to provide an equal educational opportunity. By rejecting an equal-opportunity standard for determining compliance with the free appropriate public education requirement, Endrew F., like Rowley before it, responded to the difficulty in specifying equal opportunity in a way that courts can implement. In some respects, that decision was understandable and perhaps sensible. But equal opportunity concerns still lie below the surface of the Court’s opinion in Endrew F., and they remain a crucial foundation of the IDEA’s requirements. And, exactly one month before it decided Endrew F., the Court made clear that children with disabilities are entitled to an equal educational opportunity. That entitlement rests, not on the IDEA, but on the ADA. In Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools, the Court held that a disabled child could enforce the ADA’s requirements of equal participation in education independently of the IDEA — and could do so without first going through the IDEA’s complex administrative procedures so long as she was not seeking relief for the denial of a free appropriate public education. When Fry and Endrew F. are read together, they establish that children with disabilities do have federal rights to equal opportunity in education — but that the ADA, not the IDEA, is the key vehicle for enforcing those rights. The equality right under the ADA is different in important ways from the one that the Endrew F. petitioner asked the Court to read into the IDEA, though.