EDUCATION IN CHINA VERSUS EDUCATION IN NIGERIA : AN INSIGHT INTO WHAT NIGERIA NEEDS TO DO AS WE APPROACH 2019 ELECTIONS

CHINA

There are 2,914 colleges and universities, with over 20 million students enrolled in mainland China

Over  6 million Chinese students graduated from university in  2008.

In China, every year, over 11 million students enroll into technical and vocational schools or institutes.

There are over 1,100 technical/vocational institutes at tertiary level and almost 15,000 technical/vocational schools at secondary levels.

There are about 85. 4 million junior and senior secondary students.

Education in China is a state-run system of public education controlled by the Ministry of Education.

9 years elementary school is compulsory and tuition free,  but a token fee is paid at the secondary level. . 

NIGERIA

There are 165 Universities in Nigeria ( 75 Private,  43 Federal and 47 states)

There are 161 Vocational and Technical schools in Nigeria (This includes polytechnics)

Nigeria has a total of 30,615,000 pupils enrolled in primary and secondary education. About 70%  of the pupils,  that is 21,558,000  are enrolled in primary education. The Nigerian  laws make primary education  compulsory  and free.

By looking at the two countries and trying to understand the issues,  one will see that the laws,  intents and purposes are quite similar.

Unfortunately,  where most public servants children attend public schools in China,  the Nigerian public servant keep their wards in private schools.

Until 1949 when chairman Mao led communist movement took over China, the country didn't have public schools.

Chinese education wasn't a schooling system but an examination system that allowed people acquire education through private arrangements but must pass public examination to get into public service.

Then chairman Mao took over the system and fashioned it in line with the vision for a United,  indivisible and powerful china where orientation will be uniform and singular.  Then private schools were wiped out until as recently as about 10 years ago.

With great wealth and global leadership,  China opened it's private schooling system to cater for it's elite citizens who have expanded their tentacles into all corners of the world.

You have Canadian,  British,  American and French curriculum  run schools in Beijing and other parts of the country.

While most public schools in China can compete favourably,  in terms of content with the Private ones,  in Nigeria the public schools are a far and horrible cry from the private ones.

Ofcourse,  there are international schools in Nigeria from Turkey,  France,  America,  Britain and the rest,  their fees are absolutely killing even to some of the Nigerian 'rich and famous'

While the Chinese education is highly team centred,  the Nigerian educational system is tied around the individual performance.  A few years ago,  the IBB government even created a special school for brilliant children known as GIFTED SCHOOLS (what a tragedy)

While most Chinese public servants are systematically obligated to experience the consequences of their leadership actions,  their Nigerian counterparts are under no obligation to partake or experience the consequences of their leadership and service actions.

As at 2017, there about 776 million well trained qualified and ready to work citizens in China.  In that same year,  76 % of the entire Chines citizens were employed.  In China,  only 4% of the citizens are unemployed. This figure has been consistently managed for about a decade.

In Nigeria, the labour force stands at 85.7 million in 2017. In that same year,  4.5 mlion Nigerians lost their jobs.  As at today, about 19-20 million Nigerians do not have jobs.

With about 500,000 students graduating every year in Nigeria,  the employment situation is not likely to get better so quick in the face of no strategic effort by government.

While we agree that corruption remains a problem in China and Nigeria,  what the Chinese government did to battle corruption is clear.

1. They paid attention to education
2. They got the entire adult population working.  
3. They then put in place a serious punishment in place for people who are caught to be corrupt.  Most cases of financial corruption and bribery often end in long jail terms  or death.

It is not uncommon to see people commit suicide when they are caught stealing public funds in China.

From the above information,  it is clear that as we approach 2019, the issues should be about job creation and the candidate that can deliver the needed results.

While the candidate of the PDP can lay claims to his business saviness and job creaction capacity in the private sector as well as experience as Vice President from 1999-2007, the candidate of the APC must  be able to explain the loss of 4.5 million jobs on 2017, and the rising levels of unemployment in 2018 and how he hopes to solve the problem if given a second chance.

My dear reader,  I have given you information.  How you chose to interpret it and use it is entirely your prerogative.

I thank you for reading.

©Ogedengbe Ayo Moses
IG: @ayoozovehe 
Credits:

China Ministry of Education. 
Nigerian Ministry of Education
National Universities Commission
National Bureau  of Statistics