Basic education results from a global search for
an answer to the challenges of preparing people for meaningful living in a
learning society (Obanya, 2000). UBE is a close articulation of the formal and
non-formal education. That is, it’s a community based and functional education
programme comprising of a wide variety of education programmes aimed at
promoting reading, writing and numerical skills aimed at individual and natural
development and empowerment (Echebe, 2010).
The
concept of UBE originated from some of the provisions in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The essential deductions of this
declaration, according to Akinkugbe (1994) are:
1. Everyone has right to education;
2. Elementary education should be compulsory while
technical and professional education shall be made generally available;
3. Higher education should be equally accessible to
all on the basis of merit; and
4. Parents have a right to choose the kind of
education that shall be given to their children.
The idea of UBE is contained in some
presentations at World Conference on Education For All. Wokocha and Onwebunwa
(2000) cited WCEFA (1990) thus:
This goal of basic education is to help ensure a
safer, healthier, more prosperous and environmentally sound world. To
accomplish this, every child, youth and adult needs to participate in
educational opportunities design to meet their basic learning needs. They need
the basic skills, values and attitudes required to being able to survive, live
and work in dignity in today’s world. Every person needs the knowledge to
improve the quality of their own life and to continue learning.
UBE therefore is aimed at producing an
individual with a sound mind and body capable of affecting his society in a
meaningful and beneficial way. Education which shall be made compulsory
(Echebe, 2010). According to him, every child must be in school till age of 15.
It is expected that every Nigerian child must get to the level that enables him
to consolidate the gains of literacy, numeracy, life skills, develop acceptable
social and citizenship behaviour and internalize the habit of learning the
actual goal of the UBE programme is to eradicate illiteracy as a basis for
meaningful social, economic and political development as well as scientific and
technological developmental advancement.
The UBE scheme is meant to be
compulsory. This is because of the following provisions in the UBE Act (2004):
1. Every parent shall ensure that his/her child or
ward attends and completes:
a. Primary school education and
b. Junior secondary school education
2. The stakeholders in a local government area shall
ensure that every parent or person who has the care and custody of a child
performs the duty imposed on him/her under the Universal Basic Education Act
(2004);
3. Every parent shall ensure that his/her child
receives full time education suitable to his/her age, ability and aptitude by
regular attendance at school; and
4. A parent who does not enroll or who withdraws
his/her child/ward from school contravenes Section 2(2) of the UBE Act, and
therefore commits an offence and is liable to:
a. On first conviction, to be reprimanded;
b. On second conviction, to a fine of N2,000 or imprisonment for a term of one
month or to both; and
c. On subsequent conviction, to a fine of N5,000 or imprisonment for a term of two
months or both.
Therefore, in scope, the UBE Act (2004) emphasized
that the Federal Government’s intervention shall only be in form of an
assistance to the state and the local governments for the purpose of uniform
and qualitative basic education throughout Nigeria. The Act covers:
1. Early Childhood Care and Education;
2. Six years of primary education;
3. Three years of junior secondary education;
4. Out-of-school, non-formal programmes for updating
the knowledge and skills of persons who left school before acquiring the basic
needed for life-long learning;
5. Special programmes for nomadic populations; and
6. Non-formal skills and apprenticeship training for
adolescents and youth who have not had the benefits of formal education
(Obanya, 2001).
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