Bridging Policy Implementation Gaps in Nigerian Education System: A Case Study of Universal Basic Education Programme in Cross River State, Nigeria

This research focuses on identifying policy gaps in the implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme in Nigeria, with Cross River State being the study area. The three research questions used for the research center on the extent of the freeness of the UBE, the extent to which the programme has stimulated educational consciousness among the population and the extent of the impactation of literacy, numeracy and communication skills in its products. The study surveyed the opinion of 200 Head teachers from the three education zones of the state. The instrument used for the study was a 21 item researcher-made questionnaire on UBE policy implementation gaps in Nigeria. Mean and standard deviation was used to analyze the data. The findings reveal that the UBE programme has made modest achievements in reducing illiteracy, stimulated educational consciousness in the population, reduced financial burden on parents, reduced drop-out rate and increased transition rate to junior secondary school. But the gaps still left in the programme implementation include pupils being asked to pay for examination and handicraft. Uniform and mid-day meals are also not provided for. UBE products are still lacking in written communication and numerical competency. It was recommended that the funding of UBE should be the responsibility of all stakeholders and that special language and mathematics teachers should be provided to enhance the achievement of set objectives. Bridging Policy Implementation Gaps in Nigeria Education System: A case study of Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme in Cross River State Policy has been defined by Anderson in Ogbonnaya (2010) as a purposeful course of action in dealing with a matter of concern. Policy is also defined by Dror in Ogbonnaya (2003) as a major guideline for action. On his part, Haddad (1995) defines policy from public perspective as “what government wants to achieve and how she intends to achieve it”. Honig (2006) gives a more comprehensive definition of policy as a set of inter-related decision by a political actor or group of actors concerning the selection of goals and the means for achieving them within a specific situation, where those decisions would in principle be within the powers of these actors. In a related study on administrative behaviour, Jacobson & Young (2013) see policy as any general rule that has been laid down by an organization to limit the discretion of subordinates or as rules promulgated by top management in an organization. Often times the line between policy and practice is not sharp unless the organization follow the practice of putting all its policies into writing. No organized sector, public or private, can do without a policy framework to guide the activities or behaviour of actors in the system. This is because policy gives a sense of direction which determines the activities and action of the actors. It is for this reason that Nigeria, like other countries, has several national policies which are domiciled in government ministries or departments. Hence, there are the national policies on health, environment, agriculture, industry defence and education, among others. The attempt to develop a national policy on education for Nigeria dates back to the 1969 Curriculum conference (Osam, 2013) in which a cross-section of Nigerians from various walks of life met for the first time after political independence in 1960 to thinker a way forward for the Nigerian education system which had hitherto been influenced by colonial education policy. The landmark-decisions reached in that conference, coupled with the presentation made by various states and interest groups thereafter gave rise to the first National Policy for Education in Nigeria in 1977 (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1977). The policy has since then been very dynamic as it has been revised many times. The current (2008) being the 5 th edition. A retrospective view shows that there has been a number of policy attempts towards mass education in Nigeria. For example in 1955 the Western Region introduced free primary education, the Eastern Region followed suit in 1957. The Federal Government introduced the Universal Free Primary Education (UPE) in 1976 and in 1999 introduced the Universal Basic Education (UBE), which provides for nine years of free basic education for Nigeria (Ugwoke, Okpe, Agwara and Uzodimma (2012). The UBE programme is Nigeria’s version of Education for All (EFA) which UNESCO (2005) sees as the responsibility of a regular system for its children. The aim of EFA is to offer every individual a relevant education and an optimal opportunity for development. The concept of education for all or UBE is based on the fact that all children, and young people, despite their socio-economic and cultural background should have equal educational opportunities (UNESCO, 2009). Education for all or Universal Basic Education can be useful in guiding the development of policies and strategies that address the causes and consequences of discrimination, inequality and exclusion within the holistic framework of education for all (Mwangi & Orodho, 2014).