Can the private sector deliver quality public education in Nigeria?
Nigeria is a fresh target of Bridge International, a global chain, whose schools have been shut down in Kenya and Uganda for violating their national laws.
Image: Wasi Daniju (via Flickr)
The greatest challenge facing Nigeria is rebuilding high-quality education for a future with jobs and opportunities for all its citizens. In 1973, a National Pledge guaranteed every child born from the end of the country’s civil war, compulsory free, quality primary education. It was later extended to encompass nine years basic schooling.
However, these promises have repeatedly been broken. In response, the private sector now promotes fee charging schools for elites, middle classes and the poor throughout Nigeria. The United Nations’ “Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 on Quality Education” sets a target for free quality schooling for all children by 2030. Will the private sector support Nigeria’s historic promises?
Currently, about 18,000 private schools operate in Lagos, a 50% increase since 2011. This expansion of private schools has been supported by aid money. In 2014 the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom paid £3.45 million to Bridge International Academies (BIA), a global chain of private education facilities which aims to deliver education services for the poor, facilitating their entry into Lagos.
