Day of the African Child by James Ibor
On 16 June 1976 In Soweto, South Africa, thousands of black school children took to the streets of South Africa to protest against substandard education and to demand their right to be educated in their native language. Hundreds of them were killed by security agents; and in 14days of protest that followed, more than a hundred people were killed and more than a thousand injured.
To honour their courage, in 1991 the Organisation of African Unity (now the African Union) established the Day of the African Child.
Today, June 16, and the 2021 theme is: “30 years after the adoption of the Charter: accelerate the implementation of Agenda 2040 for an Africa fit for children”
KEY ISSUES FOR US AT BASIC RIGHTS COUNSEL INITIATIVE AS WE MARK THIS DAY IS THE COMPULSORY, FREE UNIVERSAL BASIC EDUCATION ACT 2004, THE JOURNEY SO FAR.
The law guarantees as follows:
1. The Federal Government’s intervention shall provide assistance to the States and Local Governments in Nigeria for the purposes of uniform and qualitative basic education throughout Nigeria.
2. Every Government in Nigeria shall provide free, compulsory and universal basic education for every child of primary and junior secondary school age.
3. Every parent shall ensure that his/her child or ward attends and completes
(a) primary school education; and (b) junior secondary school education.
4. The stakeholders in education 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.
5. Transition from Primary to Junior Secondary School (JSS) should be automatic; as basic education terminates at the Junior Secondary School level thus entrance examination may no longer be necessary. Emphasis will be placed on effective continuous assessment, while final examination and certification will now be done at the end of the nine-year basic education programme.
6. The Secondary School system should be restructured so as to ensure that the JSS component is disarticulated from the SSS as stipulated in the National Policy on Education (NPE)
7. It is a crime to charge ANY FEES
WHAT IS THE LEVEL OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS LAW:
According to UNICEF “One in every five of the world’s out-of-school children is in Nigeria” The Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education March 22, 2021 corroborated Unicef’s report and further noted that “out-of-school children in Nigeria stands at 10.1 million, an increase of more than 3 million from last year”
The above notwithstanding, the 2021 education budget is the lowest in 10years.
Many Children still learn sitting under trees with very deplorable sanitary conditions; Kidnapping, Child trafficking and child stealing is a huge concern; corporal punishment and neglect is also a push factor. At the risk of sounding pessimistic, the future of the Nigeria future is bleak and unless the government fully implements the Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act, 2004, Nigeria’s agenda 2040 for an Africa fit for children will not be realised.
By James Ibor
Principal Counsel
Basic Rights Counsel Initiative