review-of-the-literature-on-basic-education-in-nigeria-june-2014-3-1

Review <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>literature</strong> on basic education in NigeriaBox 9.2 Being over-ageI want to be a medical doctor when I finish school. The only problem is that I will be old. I am notashamed, because I am looking for knowledge. I did not start school early because I attended villageschool where <strong>the</strong>y don’t teach, until <strong>the</strong> school collapsed. We stayed without going to school for nineyears before being enrolled here. I came third in <strong>the</strong> class last term. Now I want to be first or second.My fa<strong>the</strong>r tells me to read at home. He checks my books very well for <strong>the</strong> nine years I was doing pettytrading with my fa<strong>the</strong>r.Source: Extract from an interview with a 20-year-old man in Primary 6 (Dunne et al. 2013: 230)9.3.2 Opportunity costsOne estimate claims that 50 million children aged between 5 and 17 in Nigeria are believed to beworking, which is about 20% <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> estimated total for all SSA (Diallo et al. 2010). In practice, <strong>the</strong> actualscale <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> issue is hard to determine given <strong>the</strong> widely differing interpretations <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> terms ‘child work’and ‘child labour’ that surveys use to estimate numbers. Importantly, <strong>the</strong> two main surveys referred tobelow used differing definitions <strong>of</strong> child labour, and for <strong>the</strong> most part adults responded on behalf <strong>of</strong>children or children responded in <strong>the</strong> presence <strong>of</strong> adults, which is likely to have resulted in anunderreporting <strong>of</strong> activities that could be viewed as child labour.The only national child labour survey to have been conducted so far in Nigeria was back in 2001(FOS/ILO, 2001), for which <strong>the</strong> definitions <strong>of</strong> child labour and work did not actually specify numbers <strong>of</strong>hours. The survey found that 15 million 5–17-year-olds, who made up almost 40% <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> country’spopulation at <strong>the</strong> time, were found to be working (7.2 million girls and 7.8 million boys); over 6 million<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m were not in school, with almost 1 million having dropped out <strong>of</strong> school. Two million <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>seworking children, half <strong>of</strong> whom were in school, were working very long hours. Unsurprisingly, workaffected attendance in school; over a third <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> children admitted to missing <strong>the</strong> entire week prior to<strong>the</strong> survey, although over 80% <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> children did not think that work affected <strong>the</strong>ir performance. Given<strong>the</strong> high reported level <strong>of</strong> absenteeism, this ei<strong>the</strong>r suggests that <strong>the</strong> children were not aware <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>detrimental effect <strong>of</strong> absenteeism on <strong>the</strong>ir learning, as <strong>the</strong> report itself speculated, or perhaps that <strong>the</strong>quality <strong>of</strong> schooling was so poor that it made little difference whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong>y attended or not.The FOS/ILO (2001) survey fur<strong>the</strong>r reported that just under 40% <strong>of</strong> children were involved in economicactivity as well as housekeeping or domestic work, about a tenth were involved only in economic activityand just over a quarter were engaged in non-economic activities (although it should be noted that <strong>the</strong>rewere considerable regional variations). A study on <strong>the</strong> status <strong>of</strong> school-age children in <strong>the</strong> South Eastand South South zones plus Benue State also identified engagement <strong>of</strong> children as house helps as one <strong>of</strong><strong>the</strong> major access issues in basic education in those areas (Okeke et al. 2008).The more recent MICS national survey on <strong>the</strong> welfare <strong>of</strong> children and women (NBS 2013) also included asection on child labour, albeit using differing definitions <strong>of</strong> what it constituted. Among children aged fiveto 14, around 47% were found to be engaged in child labour, although with great variation among states(Lagos had 31% while Bauchi and Zamfara had figures closer to 60%). However, with a definition for 5–11-year-olds that only necessitated at least one hour <strong>of</strong> paid economic activity per week (or 28 hoursplus <strong>of</strong> household chores) it is hard to gauge <strong>the</strong> percentage <strong>of</strong> pupils whose schooling would beadversely affected. More useful perhaps is to consider <strong>the</strong> percentages for 12–14-year-olds, for whom<strong>the</strong> definition is 14 hours or more <strong>of</strong> economic activity or 28 hours <strong>of</strong> household chores, and whosehours are more likely to have an impact on schooling. The average is 16.5%, with <strong>the</strong> highest figures for<strong>the</strong> North West, where just over a fifth are engaged in child labour as opposed to under a tenth in <strong>the</strong>South West. Aggregated figures for 5–14-year-olds indicate that this affects children in rural areas morethan urban areas and girls slightly more than boys; unsurprisingly, <strong>the</strong> poorer <strong>the</strong> household <strong>the</strong> greater<strong>the</strong> percentage <strong>of</strong> children involved in child labour. In terms <strong>of</strong> paid or unpaid employment mostEDOREN – Education Data, Research and Evaluation in Nigeria 103