EXPLOSION OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR QUALITY AND DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Aside its benefits to the individual person, education functions in any nation as a lubricant for the engine of development. It builds up human capital which is a core determinant of a nation’s prosperity. Hence, lacking the necessary means to cater for the tertiary education of her teeming number of youths, Nigeria introduced private higher education bill through an amendment decree in 1993. The bill permitted individuals and private bodies to erect tertiary institutions as supplement to the government’s efforts in the sector. The concomitant of this is the unbridled proliferation of private institutions at the expense of excellence. Thus, the paper aims at investigating the implications of this sacrifice of quality for quantity. Using the method of analysis, it examines critically how these mushroom educational institutions have impacted the quality of education rendered to the students and the overall development of Nigeria. In the light of the purpose of education as a means of preparing and empowering the young for developmental roles, it explores the depressing state of tertiary education in Nigeria. It reveals that the system is rightly a Second Generation Model (GSM) with its products lacking employable skills. This study recommends as following; an abrogation of the bill that enabled such unchecked explosion; proper supervision of primary and secondary schools where occurs the foundational learning which tertiary institutions consolidate; serious punishment for examination malpractice; review of curriculum; and digitalization of learning.