Tinubu’s frequent education policy changes trouble the system, cause  parents pains

The education policies of the Bola Tinubu administration in Nigeria have  continued to cause pains to parents and students, drawing a chunk of significant public backlash,  the latest being the announcement a fortnight ago of the proposed cancelation of the common entrance examinations.

Recently the Federal Government  announced plans to  abolish  the Junior Secondary School Common Entrance Examination and introduce a Learner Identification Number to track pupils from primary school through their academic journey.

The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, made this known during an interactive session with journalists in Lagos  two Saturdays ago.

The government explanation for this development is that  the proposed reforms  will improve access to education and ensure better tracking of pupils across the country.

He noted that the common entrance examination would be phased out and replaced with a more comprehensive evaluation system.

He noted that, “It will be replaced by Continuous Assessment, CA. The CA will reflect the performance of the pupil from primary one and even if a pupil is transferring from one school to another, he will take it along to his new school.”

The minister added that the new system would help address gaps in the transition from primary to secondary education, particularly the large number of pupils, who fail to progress to the next level.

Supplying more  data to support the reform, Alausa noted that  millions of pupils enrolled in public primary schools do not continue their education at the secondary level.

“We have over 50,000 public primary schools in the country with over 23 million pupils. However, from statistics available to us, only a little over 3 million among those pupils move to the junior secondary school level in our public schools, then the question is, where are the about 20 million not enrolled in our public secondary schools?” he queried.

Chasing A Familiar Shadow

“It is obvious that we cannot say our private schools accommodate all of them. The issue is simply lack of access and we are working on that. There is need to build more schools and I have met the Nigerian Governors’ Forum over that. State governments need to build more schools to accommodate more pupils and students,” he said.

To address tracking challenges, the minister said the government would introduce the Learner Identification Number for pupils from the primary school level.

The minister further explained  that efforts are ongoing to revive the school feeding programme to boost enrolment in public schools, adding that the initiative may be moved to the Federal Ministry of Education for improved monitoring.

The proposed reforms form part of broader efforts by the government to strengthen the education sector, improve retention rates, and ensure that more Nigerian children complete basic education.

But some analysts disagree with the government position, noting that the issues go beyond mere theatrical introduction of new disruptive policies without getting into the roots of the rut in the education sector.

Dr. Bola Akanbi, an early education expert told Business Hallmark that  “Tinubu’s administration is behaving in a way that shows total lack of understanding of the issues around the rut in the education sector. It has come up with a lot of disruptive policies, some of which were reversed after much public backlash.

All over the world, early years students are examined for the next level of education, that’s from primary to secondary on the basis of uniformed examination. When you scrap and say you want to rely on continuous tracking of the pupil’s educational journey, what about the logistics of it? Do we have a neat system to do that in a country that can hardly keep data?

Mrs. Arike Babawale, a retired primary school headmistress in a chat with this medium warned federal government not to tamper with the extant examination for a system that is not sure.

“They should just leave common entrance examinations alone. That has been the standard for decades and is working. You can just wake up one day with another system without due consultations with stakeholders, and you must take their inputs into consideration”, she said.

A staff of Lagos state ministry of education, who craved anonymity, told Business Hallmark that “This proposed policy of scrapping the common entrance examination has no significant inputs of stakeholders, for example, states were not consulted.

This is not the first time, the current administration will elicit serious backlash to its education policies, some have been reversed in the past after much outcry.

The most contentious  education policies of the Tinubu’s administration have largely revolved around restricting access to tertiary education and imposing new age requirements for examinations.

Harvest of Controversies

The most  controversial in the past  include: 18-Year Minimum Age for Admission, which was later reversed. Recall that in July 2024, the Federal Ministry of Education, under former Minister Prof. Tahir Mamman, directed JAMB and tertiary institutions to enforce an 18-year minimum age for admissions, arguing it would curb “underage” students. This move sparked outrage from parents and educators, with critics calling it a “Stone Age” policy that penalized gifted, fast-learning students.

The other being the one on 18-Year Age Limit for WAEC/NECO Examination. This too was reversed after Nigerians protested.

Following intense backlash, including complaints from the National Assembly and educational stakeholders, the new Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, reversed the 18-year admission benchmark, reverting to 16 years and initiating a 12-year basic education model.

Nigerians had scarcely recovered from the shock of the 18 year controversy did the administration come up with a policy that aimed at a nullification of foreign certificates from certain designated universities and tertiary institutions in Togo and Benin Republic. The administration’s decision to void over 22,700 degree certificates obtained from “fake” universities in Togo and Benin Republic  did not go well with hundreds of Nigerian students, who attended the controversial institutions. But ever since government came out with policy, it has been sustained, causing distress to many graduates.

Certificates and Fees

But on the issue of certificates from Togo and Benin Republic, many education experts who spoke with Business Hallmark supported government’s stance.

Professor Adeji Abayomi, an agricultural economist said “What the Tinubu administration did with regard to those mushroom institutions at our backyards in Benin Republic and Togo was the best. Those schools had nothing that qualifies for tertiary institutions and yet they were charging exorbitant fees from innocent Nigerians, who believe any degree outside our borders is the best.

Many students and parents have also decried rising tuition and other fees. Despite the introduction of a Student Loan scheme (NELFUND), critics and student bodies have complained about arbitrary increases in school fees across federal universities, describing them as unaffordable for the average Nigerian.

A parent Alhaji Taoheed Adeyemi, who has two children at the university, said that the tuition fees have not been easy, noting that none of his children has been able to access the loan.

While the government has described these policies as necessary “renewed hope” reforms to improve academic maturity and curriculum quality, they have been met with intense debate over whether they actually improve standards or restrict access to education