Government has often viewed education as an instrument of national development. The need for national policy on education became necessary, especially the need to invest on education that would impact on the citizens and the society. Hence, after the National Curriculum Conference, a seminar of experts drawn from a wide range of interest groups within Nigeria was convened in 1973.
The seminar, which included voluntary agencies and external bodies, deliberated on what a national policy on education for an independent and sovereign Nigeria should be. The outcome of the seminar was a draft document after due comments were received from the states and other interest groups, led to the final document, the National Policy on Education, first Published in 1977 and revised in 1981, 1998 and 2004, keep with the dynamics of social change and demands on educational policy innovations.
3.1.1 ANALYSING THE EXISTING SITUATION
Several efforts have been made from colonial times to structure the course of education in Nigeria. However, Nigeria waited till 1977 to introduce its own policy. This policy remains fussy and largely abandoned because of several socio-economic and political crises which have crippled the educational system in Nigeria.
3.1.2 GENERATING NEW POLICY OPTION
The desire to diversify and restructure the education system from those inherited fro m the British colonial regime 6+5+2+3 model (six years in primary school, five years in secondary schools, two years in high school and three years in universities) led to the introduction in Nigeria of the 6+3+3+4 model (six years in primary school, three years in junior secondary school, another three years in senior secondary schools and four years in the university of formal education. This new system was designed to provide compulsory pre-vocational core subjects at the junior secondary school level along with technology instead of importing or depending on its transfer.
3.1.3 EVALUATING THE POLICY OPTIONS
It could be observed that this policy actually covers almost all the possible foci of an education policy, ranging from its philosophy through pre-primary education, primary education, secondary education, higher education, including: professional education, technical education, adult and non-formal education, special education teacher education, educational services, administration and planning of education to financing of education.
3.1.4 RATIFYING THE POLICY OPTION
In 1977, the Federal Government formulated a New National Policy on Education, which ushered in the 6-3-3-4 system of formal education. The educational policy was based on the five main national objectives of Nigeria as contained in the second National Development plan (1970-1974) which include the achievement of;
(i) A free and democratic society;
(ii) A just and egalitarian society;
(iii) A united, strong and self-reliant nation (v) A great and dynamic economy;
(vi) A land of bright and full opportunities for all citizens
3.1.5 IMPLEMENTING THE POLICY OPTION
The 6+3+3+4 system formal education was actually designed to remove the imbalance in the 6+5+2+3 and to introduce compulsory pre-vocational core subjects at the junior secondary school along with Arts and Science subjects. The aim of t he early introduction of the child into pre-vocational education is to arouse the interest of the child in science and technology. It was believed that with this early introduction to science and technology, the system will help to bring about vocational skills acquisition and technological advancement which are necessary ingredients for social, economic and political development.
3.1.6 ASSESSMENT OF POLICY OPTION
The federal and state governments are responsible for higher education. However, the performances of the federal and state governments on education are poor. There has not been enough interest on the part of various governments - federal and states in the provision of the most valuable aspect of education pre-primary education.
Infrastructural facilities are lacking in most primary school. Instructional facilities are in short supply. Adequately trained teachers are not enough and those available are not enough and those available are not motivated enough to improve their job performance. The results are frequent strikes, disrupting the system and the increase in the number of private schools being established.
The performances of the tertiary institutions have also not been encouraging.
Industrial strikes by the three unions in the universities, polytechnics and colleges o f education are rife. These strikes have affected the quality of teaching and learning.
The poor funding of the tertiary institutions have made private tertiary institutions to get more attentions among the prospective students. The primary and secondary educations are not effectively maintained as private primary and secondary schools have overshadowed the public schools. This remains the fear of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) that the poor funding of the Nigeria‟s public tertiary institutions might result to partial collapse of higher education as obtainable in the primary and secondary levels.
Infrastructural facilities, instructional materials, library facilities, laboratories and workshop equipment are grossly inadequate for effective academic work. The leaders do not show enough concern over the shortage of instructional facilities in the universities, many of which are nothing but glorified secondary schools. Adult and non-formal educations have been relegated to the background. Pitiable revenue is allocated to adult and non-formal education annually. For example, between1970 to 1996, adult literacy increased from 25% to 56% (Human Development Report, 1997). The neglect of adult and non-formal education has affected adults who missed the opportunity of having formal education.
3.1.7 REDESIGNING POLICY: WAY FORWARD
The assessment of the performance of national policy on education over the years show that, there is need for our leaders to have a rethink on the attitude towards education, especially in the following area,
1. Budgetary allocation to education should be improved tremendously to meet UNESCO‟s benchmark of minimum of 26 percent. This will enhance improvement in Nigeria‟s educational sector.
2. There is need to step up the funding and management of adult and non-formal education, in order to provide opportunities for adults, who had earlier missed their opportunities to acquire formal education or those who had some education but would want to improve on the level of educational
attainment. Adult and non-formal education programmes help in giving equal education opportunities to every citizen, irrespective of age, sex, religion or social economic or political status in the society. The work and study technique adopted by the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) needs more backing from the government. This is an avenue to ensure adult education is sustained in the country.
3. Nigerian leaders should encourage research designed to improve the quality of education. This they can do by sponsoring and utilizing the result of research.
4. Government should provide the enabling environment to encourage teaching and learning, Teachers or lecturers should be given good working conditions. Salaries and allowances paid to teachers or lecturers should be motivating enough to boost effective performance.
5. The grossly ill-equipped laboratories and educational infrastructural facilities should be addressed. Laboratory spaces need massive expansion to cope with the demands of Nigeria students. Equipment must be provided and improved if possible.