International Journal of Innovative Education Research 1 (2):55-63, September 2013 SEAHI PUBLICATIONS, 2013 www.seahipub.

org

ANALYSIS ON COST AND FINANCING OF PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA OGUNYINKA, Emmanuel Kayode College of Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China E-mail of corresponding author: kaysmart_89@yahoo.com +86 13264721746 ABSTRACT This paper gives the analysis on cost and financing of pre-school education in Nigeria. The Education for All (EFA) No 1 Goal is the comprehensive early childhood care and education especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. To what extent is the programme receiving government financial support to be able to achieve the policy statement? This study used ex-post facto design, using the existing data on Education Sector Analysis Unit (ESA), Federal Ministry of Education (FME). Miscellaneous items such as school lunch and transportation of the children constitutes 48.30% of the total cost, and are such are the main determinants of unit cost of education. Majority of Nigerians are living on less than N160 ($1) a day. This depicts how the majority are unable to have access to quality pre-school education to lay a solid foundation for life-long learning. The study concludes by recommending cost effective strategies that will guarantee wider access to pre-school education in order to achieve the policy statement. Keywords: Analysis, Cost, Financing, Pre-school Education. INTRODUCTION Early Childhood Care and Development evolved in Nigeria about two decades ago as a special field of focus for developmental intervention. The Government's resolve to pay special attention to this area of human development emanated from the provisions of international instruments and declarations such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the World Summit for Children, the Education for All Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals to which Nigeria was signatory. The aim is to create an enabling environment for the Nigerian child to thrive and develop to his/her fullest potential in line with the national goal and aspiration of building a virile and healthy nation, 'full of bright opportunities for all citizens'. This calls for the collaboration of all sectors to ensure fulfilment of all the rights of the Nigerian children. Unfortunately, sectoral collaboration is yet to be synergistically coordinated to ensure optimal benefits to all children in Nigeria. It is informative to note that only a minority of Nigerian children have received any form of pre-school education before moving to the primary education level. The Federal Ministry of Education (FME) Baseline 2003 reveals that barely 20% of Nigerian children aged 3-5 years were attending some form of organized early childhood education. The major problem which had hindered the development of this sub-sector over the years had been the lack of clearly articulated government policy and action. Of major

55

Ogunyinka, E. K.... Int. J. Innovative Educ. Res. 1 (2):55-63, 2013 concern is the government arrangement of leaving the provision of services in this sub-sector to the private sector without proper monitoring and guidance. Ok Recently, the enactment of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act 2004 seemed to have addressed the problem but still with an unclear loophole on the care and support required for children aged 0-8 years. The recently reviewed Nigerian National Policy on Education similarly did not include the care and support required by this age cohort in section on Pre-primary education. This omission in the National Policy on Education is an aberration which requires urgent rectification if Nigerian children are to be given a healthy head start in life. The integrated approach to Early Childhood Care and Development introduced into the country a couple of years ago through the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, working in collaboration with other key line Ministries (Education, Health, Information, Women Affairs, National Planning Commission, Water Resources etc.) and supported by UNICEF, was to ensure inter-sectoral collaboration, convergence and subsequently integration of all sectoral inputs. The principal aim is to mobilize all sectors to work together, plan together and jointly implement and monitor programmes that will enhance holistic development of the child. For the Nigerian intervention, the age cohorts 0-3 years and 3-5 years are being addressed with a strong focus on promotion of key care practices, parental education, community based low cost care practices and child friendly early learning. The newly enacted UBE law has also provided for the creation of a pre-school linkage to all existing public schools to promote early learning and make children ready for school and schools ready for the children. Brief history of Pre-school (early childhood) education in Nigeria Pre-school education is largely a post-colonial development. The forms of it during the colonial era were the kindergarten and infant classes, which consisted of groups of children considered not yet ready for primary education. As grouping for instruction in schools was not age-based during that period, some children aged six or even more, could be found in some of the infant classes. With the phasing out of infant classes, some parents began to feel the need for nursery schools. The need grew higher as a result of the increase in the number of working class mothers, changes in the economic life that warrant women having jobs in order to improve and support their families. Also, the level of awareness of parents in terms of education gave an insight to most parents to see the need for preschool classes, where their children could be given preparatory lessons before they attain school age. A study of the provision for nursery education in Lagos, by Makinwa Adebusoye in 1981, for instance, showed that only 7.7% out of the 948 parents in her study sent their children to either a nursery school or a group care center. A similar study by Orebanjo in the same year showed that half of the working mothers in Ile-Ife which by then was a semi-urban settlement, preferred keeping their children with members of the extended family for child care, to sending them to day care centers or nursery schools (Orebanjo, 1981). The results of these studies implied that parents did not value pre-school education at that period. Rationale for Pre-school education Underpinning the importance attached to early childhood education which pre-school education is an integral part, the World declaration on the survival, protection and development of children in 1990 undertook a joint commitment to make an urgent universal appeal to give every child a better future. In addition, the World Conference on education for all (EFA) and the United Nations convention on the rights of the child emphasized urgent priority to ensure access to and improve the quality of education for all children. Adenipekun (2004) documented eight reasons given at these fora in support of the provision of affordable quality programmes of early childcare that are community based and which are linked to health care and nutrition as part of an integrated approach to meeting the needs of the young child. 56

Ogunyinka, E. K.... Int. J. Innovative Educ. Res. 1 (2):55-63, 2013 These reasons include: (i) From conception to six years of age, children, according to research findings, undergo rapid mental, Ok social and physical development to the extent that by the age of six, their brains would have developed to almost the size of an adult; (ii) The convention on the rights of the child stipulates that children have a right to live and develop to their full capacity; (iii) Moral and social values postulate that through children, societies pass on values and culture from generation to generation; (iv) Supporting the development of the child physically and mentally leads to increased enrolment, improves performance and the society generally. (v) Provision of early childcare facilities and offer equal opportunities to children from both the privileged and disadvantaged homes. (vi) A programme in early childhood development should be used as an entry point for other developmental activities which will benefit the entire community; (vii) ECC (Early Child Care) projects should be linked with other developmental activities for women, nutrition, health, water and sanitation. (viii) There is a growing demand for better ways of caring for children through an ECC project given the advancement in science and technology which now ensures the survival of many more children, thereby increasing population growth. Also, some writers on early childhood education have asserted that investing in it can yield high returns (Barnett, 2006; Rolnick & Grunewald, 2003 in Ajaniyi, 2004) in terms of human capital development. Highlight of National Policy on Pre-school (early childhood) Education in Nigeria The Nigerian educational administrators, policy makers and the then military government of Nigeria realized its needs for the country and gave it official recognition in the National Policy on Education in 1977. The National Policy on Education (1977, 1981, 1998 and2004) is a document that is intended to guide the Nigeria educational system from Pre-primary, primary, secondary, technical levels and up to the tertiary level. The document presents National objectives which include: a free and democratic society; a just and egalitarian society; a united, strong and self-reliant nation; a great and dynamic economy and a land of bright and full opportunities for all citizens. The objectives for Pre-primary education were derived from these national goals. The policy also stated that the quality of instruction at all levels had to be oriented towards inculcating the values of: respect for the dignity and worth of the individual, faith in man's ability to take rational decisions, moral and spiritual values in inter-personal and human relations, shared responsibility for the common good of society, respect for the dignity of labor, promotion of the emotional, physical and psychological health of all children, and acquisition of competencies necessary for self-reliance (FGN,2004, p.11). In the current National Policy on Education (NPE, 2004), Early childhood education is labeled as Preprimary education and is defined as the education given in an educational institution to children prior to their entering the primary school. As stated in the policy document, the purpose of Pre-school education includes, among others: providing a smooth transition from the home to the school; preparing the child for the primary level of education; providing adequate care and supervision for the children while their parents are at work; Inculcating in the child the spirit of enquiry and creativity through the exploration of nature, and the local environment, playing with toys, artistic and musical activities, etc. teaching the rudiments of numbers, letters, colours, shapes forms, etc. through play, and inculcating social norms. 57

Ogunyinka, E. K.... Int. J. Innovative Educ. Res. 1 (2):55-63, 2013 The document lists a number of measures to be taken by government to ensure the achievement of the objectives of pre-school education. They include: (i) encouraging private efforts in the provision of pre-primary education; Ok (ii) making provision in Teacher Training institutions for production of specialist teachers in pre-primary education; (iii) ensuring that the medium of instruction will be principally the mother-tongue or the language of the local community; (iv) ensuring that the main method of teaching in pre-primary institutions will be play/activity oriented. (v) regulating and controlling the operation of pre-primary education, ensuring adequate training of staff and provision of essential equipment. In addition to these measures, appropriate levels of Government (Federal, State and Local) are required to establish and enforce educational laws that will ensure that established pre-schools are well-run, preprimary teachers well qualified, and other appropriate academic infrastructure provided. Ministries of education are expected to ensure maintenance of high standards. Purpose of the study The purpose of this study is as follows: to remind and open the eye of the government towards the policy statement of EFA No 1 goal, to determine the cost of pre-school education Nigeria to both government and parents to advocate for policy makers intervention in order to reduce cost to parents, Practical Implications The results of this study in addition to several other studies will contribute in persuading government to invest more and to provide more funding for pre-school education to enhance their infrastructure, increase personnel and provide more spaces for ever increasing number of 0-5 year old children in the nation. Findings of this study will be of immense benefit to educational administrators, policy makers and stakeholders in education as it will enable them to see the need for proper and efficient deployment of funds in the face of the dwindling financial resources bedeviling Nigerias early childhood education. They will also realize the need to look inward for strategies to achieve the policy statement of EFA. METHODOLOGY/APPROACH Employing the ex-post facto design, secondary data from the regulatory institution (Education Sector Analysis Unit, Federal Ministry of Education, 2005 report) were used to analyze the challenges posed by these criteria to access to Pre-school education in the country. I decided to use the ESA study on early childhood education in Nigeria because it was an official report and it will alleviate my research work. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS Governments Cost on pre-school education The Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme started in 1999 while UBE act was signed into law in 2004 at the federal level. It has been domesticated in all states of the federation for effective ownership and delivery. In addition, the National Integrated Early Childhood (IECD) policy was approved in 2006 to guide inter-sectoral intervention on children aged 0-5 years. Since then, Local Government and states have assumed more visible roles in driving the UBE process and providing effective partnerships with Federal agencies charged with the Basic Education delivery. The UBE Act provides for the utilization of 2% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) for basic education delivery. 70% of this fund is reserved as a matching grant for the implementation of state level projects, while 5% of the 70% UBE matching Grant is allocated for Early Childhood Education, 60% for primary education and 35% for junior secondary education. These funds are utilized as follows: 70% for infrastructural development, 58

Ogunyinka, E. K.... Int. J. Innovative Educ. Res. 1 (2):55-63, 2013 15% for supply of instructional materials, 15% for care-giver/Teacher professional development. Ok Cost to Parents Table 1: Unit Cost Characteristics in Pre-Schools in Nigeria Items Pre-school (N) N Tuition fees Learning materials Prescribed Textbooks 1,245.90 Notebooks/Drawing Books 528.90 Physical Education Materials 531.40 Pencils 173.90 Other Materials 572.60 Sub-Total Clothing/Accessories School Uniform 828.70 Caps/Beret/Badge 280.30 School Sandals/Socks 593.10 School Blazer/Cardigan 609.70 School Bags 447.90 Under Pants and other 558.90 Underwear Umbrella/Raincoats 478.10 Others 679.00 Sub-Total Miscellaneous Items Lunch in School 2,760.30 Transportation 4,025.20 School Report Card 135.90 PTA Levy per annum 244.30 Development Levy per annum 312.40 Examination Fees 216.50 Sports and Games 279.80 Founder's Day celebration 333.60 End-of-year activities 262.50 Other areas (e.g. health care) 825.50 Sub-Total 2,516.20 USD($) 15.4018 Percentage 12.90%

3,052.60

18.6851

15.70%

4,475.70

27.3959

23.10%

57.5133 9,396.00 48.30% Total 19,440.50 118.996 100% Source: Field Survey, ESA (FME) 2003. USD exchange rate as at 23, August, 2013; $160.205. 59

Ogunyinka, E. K.... Int. J. Innovative Educ. Res. 1 (2):55-63, 2013 Pre-school Ok

12.90% Tuition fees 48.30%

15.70%

Learning Mateials Clothing Materials

Miscellaneous Items
23.10%

Figure 1: Unit Cost Characteristics in Pre-Schools in Percentages Expenditure on pre-school education include tuition fees which varied from N10.00 to N12, 000 per annum; learning materials which range between N69.00 and N8,900.00 per annum per child; clothing materials varied from N32.50 to N8, 441.25 (the mean cost on clothing per child per annum was N559.40) and; cost of miscellaneous items was between N9.85 and N 8,560.00. The details of the study findings by ESA on the unit cost characteristics for pre-primary education in Nigeria are shown in Table 1 below with the corresponding pie chart below in Figure 1. The summary indicates that the total unit cost per child per annum in pre-primary schools in Nigeria is N19, 440.50 as shown in Table 1. Miscellaneous items such as school lunch and transportation of the children which constitutes 48.30% of the total cost are the main determinants of unit cost of education in the pre-primary schools, together with Clothing materials that accounted for 23.10% of the total cost. The unit cost of pre-primary education in rural areas is much lower than that of urban centers as shown in Table 2. In Nigeria today, early child-care is mainly an urban activity very popular with working mothers. The unit cost of pre-school education in the private sector is about 50% higher than the public pre-school schools. In the private sector the unit cost is about N46, 000.00 per annum per child as illustrated in Table 2. Table 2: Mean Unit cost in Pre-School in Nigeria Unit cost (N) USD ($) Unit cost (N) 159.147 Private 26,000:00 Public 15,000:00 29,000:00 177.51 Urban Rural 10,500:00 Source: Balami, 2004 in ESA report, FME, May 2005 USD ($) 91.8156 70.3919

RECOMMENDATIONS The 5% of the UBE Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) for basic education delivery allocated to Early Childhood Education is insufficient. It should be increased to at least 15% - 20% in order to realize policy statement of the EFA No 1 Goal. 60

Ogunyinka, E. K.... Int. J. Innovative Educ. Res. 1 (2):55-63, 2013 Government should broaden access to pre-school education by making budgetary allocation for this sub-sector. Policy makers have for long neglected this level of education leaving it to private Ok initiatives. The consequence of this is that pre-primary education becomes available only to those children whose parents can afford the services. Government at the Federal, State and Local levels should show more interest in early childhood education by providing some of the needed human and materials resources to ensure the effective implementation of the stated objectives. The Federal Government should give official recognition to the pre-school years through policy declaration and encourage states that have not done so to integrate pre-primary education programme into the regular school system. This would involve systematically building early childhood education into the national programme. Such a policy should specifically recognize the important role the local governments, civil societies and NGOs have to play in the implementation of the programme. Government could support research and training and subsequently fabrication of instructional materials for the teaching and learning process by assisting local fabricators and manufacturers to produce many of the instructional materials. This would not only provide jobs for the people but it would ensure high level of local contents in materials used in our schools. The Federal Government should take positive steps to ensure that programs for producing teachers who specialize in early childhood education do not only exist in some of the nations teacher education institutions but are entered into by teacher education candidates. This can be achieved by offering various incentives to such teacher education candidates. Policy makers must also provide specialist training on continual basis (on-the-job training through seminars, workshops, conferences and education exchange programs with developed international communities) for pre-primary teachers such training should focus more on the methodology and skills required for teaching at this level. A Ministerial meeting is required to take decisions on the coordination and implementation of the IECD approach and the Ministry to lead the process. Need for clear guidelines on joint planning, implementation and monitoring by all intervening sectors. Early Years Development Consultative Committees at the national level should be replicated at state levels to coordinate the IECD interventions at state and local government levels. Domestication of the Child Rights Act and the UBE Law at state levels to ensure implementation at the grassroots. Promotion of partnerships with the private sector, International Development Partners and other stakeholders in order to mobilize funds for qualitative IECD programmes. Massive public campaigns and sensitisation are required in making IECD work. Quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation, should become a permanent feature of the IECD. CONCLUSION Available data on cost and financing of pre-school education in Nigeria by ESA 2005 report, Federal Ministry of Education revealed that to achieve EFA-UNESCO 2000, goal No 1, by 2015 is unrealistic because the country is 2 years away from 2015. The policy says by 2015 all Nigeria Children must have been educated. It should be noted that pre-primary education in Nigeria is an urban phenomenon. Also, government had left it in the hands of private owners. Majority of Nigerians are living on less than N160 ($1) a day. The work force per-capital income is insufficient to pay for the outrageous unit cost in both Urban and Rural areas. In a situation where virtually all provision for early childhood or pre-school education is made by private individuals and groups for mainly commercial purposes, there are bound to be some shortcomings in the implementation of the policy on pre-school education and problems in the 61

Ogunyinka, E. K.... Int. J. Innovative Educ. Res. 1 (2):55-63, 2013 realization of the objectives of such a policy. Much of the shortcomings in the implementation of the national policy on pre-primary education are linked to the failure of the Federal Government to put into Ok effect most of the measures it stated in the National Policy on Education aimed at ensuring that the policy objectives are achieved. Available evidence suggests that early childhood education has a positive influence on the educational development of children in later life. The objectives of pre-primary education in the country can only be achieved if the policy is consistently and effectively implemented. For this to happen, government, especially at the local level, should show more interest in early childhood education by providing some of the facilities, funds and must make sure that all those measures stated in the policy document aimed at facilitating the achievement of the objectives are put in place. SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER STUDIES Further studies in this direction of enquiry, with larger sample and wider coverage are eagerly awaited to unravel the anomaly observed in this study and to extend the generalisability of the conclusions. By implication, cautious interpretation of the findings of this study is advocated. REFERENCES Amali, I.O.O. et al (2012). An assessment of pre-primary school programme activities in Kwara State, Nigeria. European Scientific Journal vol. 8, No. 8. Child Rights Act 2003 Early Childcare project in Nigeria: A Training Guide for Lead Trainers Educating Young Children: Active Learning Practices for Preschool and Child Care Programs by Mary Hohmann, David P. Weikart Education Interaction Resolution (1998). Policy Library. Fafunwa, A. Babs. (1974). History of Education in Nigeria, Great Britain, Clarke, Doble & Brendon Ltd Plymouth Fafunwa, A. Babs. (2004). History of Education in Nigeria, Ibadan, NPS Educational Publisher Ltd. Federal Republic of Nigeria (1977). National Policy on Education. Lagos: Federal Ministry of Information. Federal Republic of Nigeria (1998). National Policy on Education (3rd Ed.) Lagos: NERDC Press. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004). National policy on education (4th Ed.) Lagos: NERDC Press. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2001). Address of the Honourable Minister of Education, Prof. A. Babalola Borishade, to the E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting, Beijing, China, August 23. FGN/UNICEF (1995) early child care; A survey of Ten states in Nigeria (A National Report) published by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) Makoju, G.A.E. et al (2005). Nigeria Education Sector Diagnosis, a framework for re- engineering the Education Sector. Education Sector Analysis Unit, Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja, Nigeria. pp.33, 228-230. Micheal, U.C.Ejieh (2006). Pre-primary Education in Nigeria: Policy Implementation and Problems. Online Journal of Elementary Education 5(1), 58-64. Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC): National Minimum Standards for Early Child Care Centers in Nigeria Supported by UNICEF Nigeria. Nigeria Country Report on Integrated Early Childhood Development and Education: Presented at the 3rd African International Conference on Early Childhood Development Accra Ghana, May 30 th to June 3rd 2005. Obielumani Ifakachukwu (2010). Early childhood education: An overview International NGO Journal Vol. 6(1), pp. 030-034 The EFA (2000). Assessment: country report, Nigeria Part II, Analytic section-UNESCO. 62

Ogunyinka, E. K.... Int. J. Innovative Educ. Res. 1 (2):55-63, 2013 The Development of Education National Report of Nigeria (25-28 Nov. 2008). By The Federal Ministry of Education for the Forty-Eighth Session of Ok the International Conference on Education (ICE) Theme: Inclusive Education; The way of the future Geneva, Switzerland p.24. Universal Basic Education (U.B.E. Act 2004). UNESCO-EFA (2000). World Education Forum, Dakar, Senegal. Education for All: meeting our collective commitments. Weikart, D. (2000). Early Childhood Education: Needs and Opportunity. Paris: UNESCO: International Institute for Educational Planning. Emmanuel Kayode Ogunyinka studied at the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria (EKSUA) and was awarded B.Ed. First Class (Hons.) in Educational Management in February 2009. He was awarded the best graduating student, Faculty of Education 2008/09 academic session. In September 2012, he was offered employment as a Graduate Assistant, Department of Educational Foundations and Management, Faculty of Education in the same University. Currently, having been awarded a BEA (Nigeria-China) scholarship (2012-2014) hes pursuing a masters degree in Education Economics and Management, College of Education, Central China (Huazhong) Normal University, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, P.R.C.

63