NUC wants more attention on primary education in Nigeria

The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Rasheed, said the future of education in Nigeria lies in the quality of primary school education.

According to to Daily Trust, Rasheed urged stakeholders to come together and join the government to address the crisis facing primary school education, especially in public schools to ensure qualitative education is obtained for Nigerian children.

Professor Rasheed disclosed this in his speech at the 100 years Celebration of LEA Primary School Makarfi Central, established in 1922 with 14 pupils organized by the old boys Association in Kaduna.

He lauded the efforts made by the federal and state governments to improve primary and junior secondary school education through the Implementation of the Universal Basic Education program, stressing that challenges are limiting the impact of the efforts and the urgent need to address them.

He said even though he is not underrating the contributions of private schools to the development of education in Nigeria, they are filling gaps in the provision of education at all levels.

“It must, however, be stated that most pupils attend public rather than private schools. The report of the 2018 National Personnel Audit Conducted in all basic education Institutions in the country shows that of the 113,460 primary schools in Nigeria, private schools accounted for 50,036 or 44 percent,” he said.

In terms of pupil enrollment, Professor Rasheed stated that the private schools account for 5,504, 632 or 20 percent of the total primary school enrollment of 27,889,387, saying that it shows that the public schools cater for a greater number of pupils and there is an urgent need to revive or revitalise them.

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