This web page analyses the
creation of the Kano State Science Secondary Schools as an educational change
strategy aimed at the more effective production of scientific and technical
manpower. The analysis is guided by the research question whose focus is: What
are the factors that led to the establishment of the Science Schools? What
objectives were they meant to serve? What are their most fundamental
characteristics?
The analysis is divided into four
sections. Section I analyses the social and economic background of Kano State
as prelude to the origin of the Science Secondary Schools Project. Section II
analyses the structure and constitution of the Science and Technical Schools
Board, which is the agency responsible for the development and implementation
of the Project. Section III analyses the Science Schools in terms of their most
fundamental characteristics, paying particular attention to the students, the
teachers and the instructional facilities. Section IV concludes and outlines
the major findings of the analysis.
Kano State was created out of the
then Northern Region of Nigeria in 1968. The emergence of the new state was not
without some problems for the State administration because Kano State lacked
indigenous (i.e. of Kano State origin) expert scientific and technical manpower
considered essential for social development.
This situation arose because
schooling, as the main agency of manpower training in Kano, was still to gain
wide acceptance among the populace. It was still viewed with suspicion as a
forum for conversion to Christianity. And through the decade from 1968 to 1978,
two successive Kano State governments had tried all sorts of strategies to
ameliorate the situation.
This was the situation in Kano
when the oil boom era exploded in Nigeria in the early 1970s, and which saw the
initiation of many developmental projects all over Nigeria aimed at bringing
about rapid social transformation. As a result, the Kano State government
launched a very ambitious developmental programme in 1971.
The strongest feature of this
plan was its attention to agriculture and industrial development. As the
introduction to the Plan stated,
But agriculture and industry were
not only areas of social development which received attention. Other basic
social infrastructures such as transport, telecommunication, electricity
generation and distribution and health development, which all require heavy
investment, received the appropriate commitment from the Kano State government
in the Plan.
These commitments manifested
themselves in the establishment of many government parastatal agencies charged
with implementing the Development Plan, as well as with continuously carrying
out activities that will bring about rapid social progress in Kano State. These
included the creation of Health Services Management Board, Urban Development
Board, Rural Electrification Board, Water Resources Engineering and
Construction Agency, and the Hadejia-Jama’are River Basin Development
Authority, which, between them covered the vital social concerns of food,
health, environment and general social welfare. These agencies were all in
addition to existing various Ministries (such as Health, Agriculture and
Natural Resources, Works and Housing).
The tasks of co-ordinating and
seeing to the implementation of the various developmental projects in Kano were
given to the Ministry of Economic Planning. As stated in the Plan,
The only major obstacle to these
ambitious plans - or, as the Plan identifies, “bottlenecks” - was the expert
manpower in science and technological fields. While with a vibrant Nigerian
economy the Kano State civil service could afford facilities where the required
manpower was recruited from overseas, the government gradually realized such
manpower could not be relied on to remain for a long period.
To confound the situation, local
substitutes (i.e. those from Kano State) that can be relied to stay on a
permanent basis were not available in the quantity or in the disciplines
required. This is reflected in the overall manpower situation in Kano in the
period in Table 5.1, which reveals a shortage of indigenous manpower in all
fields of social and economic development at the creation of Kano State.
The gravity of the Kano State
manpower strength reflected in Table 5.1 is emphasized when it is considered
the total estimated population of Kano State at the time was over 6 million,
indicating, for instance, in the case of doctors, the patient-doctor rate was
far from adequate for the population of Kano State. Further, it is significant
to note in every manpower discipline, there are more expatriates than
Nigerians. And even then, the number of Kano State indigenes was not much more than
‘other’ Nigerians.
What was politically disturbing
to the policy makers was the awareness of the vulnerability of the various
development projects in Kano should all the expatriates and other Nigerians
decide to withdraw their services for whatever reason - as indeed did happened
during the Nigerian Civil War (1966-1970).
This situation was complemented
by the general feeling among government officials in Kano that schooling was
not functioning in a way which identifies with social and economic development.
As a government document stated in retrospect,
This trend has disturbing effects
on the overall economy of the Kano State government, not only in terms of
contribution towards implementation of social projects, but also in its effects
on the general welfare of the society where highly trained scientific and
technical manpower is needed for social advancement. These thoughts were
further reflected again by the Kano State government where it observed,
It was under these circumstances
that a new Military government came to power in Nigeria in 1975. One of the
first acts of the newly appointed governor of Kano State was the reorganization
of the Kano State Civil Service. But because of the importance of the Ministry
of Economic Planning in the implementation of the various projects in the
State, its functions were further widened to include a ministerial committee
called the Manpower Development Committee.
The Committee was made up 18
members, each representing a Ministry or department in the Kano State civil
service. These included the State’s Chief Agricultural Officer, Chief Medical
Officer, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Works and Chief Education Officer, as
well as the Secretary of the Kano State Scholarships Board, then Alhaji Ado
Gwaram who was later to play a very central role in the establishment of the
Science Secondary Schools in Kano. The Commissioner for Economic Planning, then
Dr Ibrahim Ayagi was the Chairman of the Committee. The functions of the
Committee included
In the few months immediately
after its establishment, the Committee concentrated on trying to determine the
best ways the various development projects started could be provided with
proper technical guidance. The powers to do so were already mandated to the
main Ministry of Economic Planning in the development Plan which stated,
But during the meetings of the
Committee in late 1975, it eventually emerged that in every project, there was
a conspicuous lack of scientific and technical manpower, especially from Kano
State as reflected in Table 5.1, and the agenda of the Committee began to focus
on the most viable strategy for producing more technical manpower from Kano on
a long term basis to enable implementation of the projects initiated, as well
as provide expert leadership to the maintenance of these projects in the
future. And as Dr Ibrahim Ayagi, the Chairman of the Committee recalled,
“A member of the
Committee just suggested that one of the best ways of dealing with this kind of
situation potentially is to set up a Science Secondary School which will be a
specialist school with nothing concentration in science training...so that
instead of dissipating all resources in all the secondary schools, we would
have a concentration of science students. We wanted Kano State to concentrate
on the production of science students who would now go to the universities and
various institutes of technology and do engineering, medicine, do all kinds of
science related subjects which we were lacking at that time. We had to go
abroad and recruit the people needed. We therefore saw the need for constant
and regular supply of science related disciplined students. So therefore we
said let us look at this idea of Science Secondary Schools.” (CTV 27/2/1986,
and Interview 7/1/1987; see Appendix 5 for further information on the CTV
interviews)
But the precise way in which this
strategy emerged was quite spontaneous rather than structured. As recalled by
Alhaji Ado Gwaram, a member of the Committee
“Problems were identified. There was this problem
of manpower shortage, problem of science based subjects, and that something had
to be done about it. So ideas were floating about. We used the principle of
radiation effect in education. That is from the nucleus of whatever you are
doing, you can assort a group of people, say ten of them. They graduate as best
as they can graduate, and then you spread them around. Now the ten will become
40, 80, 120 and anything else. So there was this idea of saying you select the
best students you can, put them in one place and train them and you put a few
in Medicine, a few in Agriculture, few in Vet and allied fields. And as you go
along the thing is becoming bigger and bigger and over a period of 30-50 years
you are likely to make a very serious impact.” (Interview 22/2/1987)
Using the argument forwarded by
this principle, the Committee arrived at the tentative conclusion that
extensive and specialist schooling which has to be different structurally from
the existing conventional schooling in Kano State was the most viable solution,
although the Committee was not exactly sure of what form it will eventually
take.
But it was clear to the Committee
the then existing system of schooling in Kano State was not adequate in the
production of the quantity, at least, if not quality of the scientific and
technical manpower required for social advancement. As Dr Ayagi further
recalled,
“We thought: what were we aiming at? We wanted
Kano State to concentrate on the production of science students who would now
go to the universities and various institutes of technology and do engineering,
medicine, do all kinds of science related subjects which we were lacking at that
time. We had to go abroad and recruit the people needed. We therefore saw the
need for constant and regular supply of science related disciplined students.
So therefore we said let us look at this idea of Science Secondary Schools.”
(Interview 7/1/1987)
These observations were further
rationalized by Gwaram who also recalled that as a whole, the Committee decided
“the best thing will be to do something about
science in secondary schools. And obviously you cannot do the best in every
place in all the schools we had at that time. The issue is doing something at a
particular central point.” (Interview 22/2/1987)
The suggestion of the Science
Secondary Schools as that particular central point which will eventually emerge
as strategies for long term manpower development in Kano could only have been
possible if there was some basis, no matter how slim, in believing such
strategy would yield the desired outcomes, or that Kano State - an
educationally disadvantaged State in Nigeria - could handle such organizational
concept. Certainly, the evidence strongly indicates the Science Schools project
was an original idea, and not borrowed from somewhere else; its spontaneous
emergence during the meeting of the Manpower Development Committee alone
attests to this.
But at that time in Kano, there
was a more organizational basis for building up on the Science Schools. In
1969, a regional primary science (and other subjects) teacher training project
was established at the Institute of Education, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria
with the assistance of UNESCO/UNICEF. This was the Primary Education
Improvement Project (PEIP).
The PEIP (science) was started in
1970 following the recommendations of the Nigerian Educational Research Council
which suggested the production of science materials using the “process
approach” originally proposed by the American Association for the Advancement
of Science (AAAS), and recurrent as a basic theme of the science curricular
reform. The materials were written and tested in project schools in many parts
of Northern Nigeria from 1971-1974 (Brown and Reed 1982).
The science component of the PEIP
aimed at developing scientific thinking among primary school children using the
inquiry approach of teaching, as advocated by the African Primary Science Programme,
which was launched in Kano in 1965 (Lockard 1967); but using different
strategies. As Young (1973) commenting on the PEIP stressed,
In their structured nature, the
lessons differ considerably from the units developed for the African Primary
Science Programme (APSP). The APSP units provide ideas for the teachers, but
leave them free to interpret these ideas as they please. Most teachers here are
unwilling or unable to make such interpretation. We feel therefore that such
detailed guidance is essential if the teacher is to make any progress in the
handling of a subject like this.” (Young 1973 p.19; see also Kolawole (1978),
and Oyebanji (1975).
One of the main features of the
PEIP in Kano was the production of mobile science teacher trainers who supervised
the project in various primary schools around Kano on motorcycles. By 1976,
many such mobile teacher trainers were in operation in over 50 trial schools in
Kano which, because of their emphasis on teaching science were seen as science
primary schools by the Kano State government.
The overall responsibility for
the PEIP in Kano was given to the In-Service Training Centre, later the Kano
Educational Resource Centre. The Director of the In-service Centre at the time
of the PEIP was Alhaji Ado Gwaram who was later made the Secretary of the Kano
State Scholarship Board - and subsequently a member of the Manpower Development
Committee in 1975. As he recalled,
“When we were thinking of doing this (suggesting
the creation of Science Secondary Schools at the Committee), we said something
has to be done in the area of science right from the primary up to secondary
and then of course on to the universities. And because of the commitment of the
Kano State government in allowing the Ministry of Education and the In-service
Centre to experiment on this science project (PEIP), we made very very serious
inroads in Primary Science. Between 1972 and 1975, there is no state in the
North that was doing better than Kano in the area of primary science. And
through the PEIP, between 1971 to about 1975/76 we were able to establish very
good science programmes in about 50 primary schools in Kano State. And I made
sure that they were staffed with Grade II teachers who could handle science,
they had facilities, good supervision, mobile teachers - graduates from British
Universities (members of the Voluntary Services Overseas) who go on motorbikes
to supervise them. We had that kind of stage to begin from.” (Interview
22/2/87)
Thus the existence of this,
though little known, project has provided a stimulus for considering the
possibility of expanding its strategic features as basis for the production of
future scientific manpower in Kano State, and interestingly enough for the
change analyst, has provided an answer to the issue of carrying out trials for
the new project. As Gwaram further recalled,
“So then the thing came from the Ministry of
Economic Planning saying we should do something on the base of what we (in
Education) were doing on primary science. The strategy was the graduands of of
these science primary schools have to be gotten some place to continue with
science. So you select from the very good science primary schools already
established under the UNESCO/UNICEF project. You select them, put them in
special science secondary schools where they continue.” (Interview 22/2/87)
But I must state here any
possible links between the PEIP and the suggestions by the Manpower Development
Committee to start a Science Secondary Schools Project was made only by Gwaram
whose unique position made it possible for him to make such links. The links
were not made by the Manpower Development Committee. Eventually, however the
PEIP stuttered and fizzled out until it finally disappeared. As Bray explained,
“The PEIP programme could and should have been a
vehicle for considerable improvement. Unfortunately, limits were imposed on its
impact by the same political and manpower constraints that caused problems
elsewhere.” (Bray 1981 p.110).
But it was also likely the demise
of PEIP was accelerated by the appearance the Universal Primary Education (UPE)
project in 1976 which, being a federal concern, overshadowed and finally
stifled the more regional, but potentially powerful PEIP.
But the decision to initiate a
system of schooling in Kano separate from the main conventional process with a
specific focus was made possible by non-conservative membership of the Manpower
Development Committee who were aware for schooling to be more productive, it
has to be given a different emphasis from the conventional system.
But although the Manpower
Development Committee has arrived at the conclusion that specialist training
facilities were needed in Kano to produce the quantity and quality of
scientific manpower needed, the Ministry of Economic Planning was not
responsible for education or training. That was the responsibility of the Kano
State Ministry of Education.
In the next step the Ministry of
Economic Planning sent a memoranda to the Ministry of Education in early 1976
stating the observations and recommendations of the Manpower Development
Committee concerning scientific manpower training and production in Kano,
through as it proposed, the establishment of Science Secondary Schools with the
detailed plans for such project. The memoranda was discussed at the
professional level by the Ministry of Education, and according to Ayagi,
“they came back and said they were not interested.
In fact they were kind of saying well this is not your business: this is our
business and we know what we are doing. So in fact the idea almost died at that
time.” (CTV 27/2/1986; also Interview 7/1/1987).
And because the Ministry of
Education has indicated non-willingness to consider the proposals establishing
the Science Schools, and since there was no other mechanism for crystallizing
the idea, that, effectively would have been the end of the project in Kano.
It was at this point other, more
arcane and little understood facets of educational innovations not often
considered or explained by theoretical models of educational reform, began to
have their influence on the development of the Science Schools, providing
further insights into the mechanism of policy evolution in Nigeria.
This was because in April 1976,
the Commissioner for Education in Kano resigned. The Military Governor of the
State then appointed the Commissioner for the Ministry of Economic Planning, Dr
Ibrahim Ayagi who was also the Chairman of the Manpower Planning Committee as
the new, albeit acting, Commissioner for Education. As Dr Ayagi recalled,
“So from April/May 1976 I was holding these two
responsibilities, and of course the initial memo that I sent to the Ministry of
Education (about the Science Secondary Schools) which was almost dead, was
resuscitated at that time for me. But I discovered at that time there was a lot
of opposition, both in the Ministry (of Education) and in the Executive Council
because people were arguing that that kind of idea was not for us here. Why do
you want to set up a special secondary school to cater for special students?
They said it was an elitist kind of thing. What we needed to do, they said, was
was actually to improve science in all the secondary schools. So that instead
of having one or two science secondary schools, you will have all of them to
improve.” (CTV 21/2/1986)
But Dr Ayagi and others in the
Executive Council who supported the idea of the Science Secondary Schools
Project did not accept the rationale of this argument because as he further
explained,
“The argument of course was weak. I said things
were extremely limited, the science teachers that you can find now are of
course not available. They are not easy to get. It would be impossible for us
to man all the secondary schools, provide excellent equipment in science,
excellent teachers, and upgrade all of them. But we have seen now that
education, perhaps, has to be elitist in nature because we cannot provide
everybody. We don’t have the resources. And therefore we have to establish
specialist schools to concentrate on what you need to develop immediately.”
(CTV 21/2/1986)
But now having total executive
control over the Ministry of Education, it became possible for Dr Ayagi to
present his proposals for the establishment of the Science Secondary Schools at
the Kano State Executive Council Meeting. Before presenting the idea, however,
he wrote to the major universities in Nigeria with the proposal for their
assessment and comments. And as he recalled,
“We had to go to Universities, get professors to
examine it and tell us what they thought about the system. They were in favour
of it. That was part of the arming we had to do to get the government and to
get it accepted, because with the civil service bureaucracy, the civil servants
will fight anything outside it.” (CTV 21/2/1986)
And even though the proposal was
now firmly a Ministry of Education concern, this remained the only time an
attempt to gain an academic assessment of the project was attempted. And when
all the necessary, and favourable comments were received, the proposal was
placed on the agenda of the Kano State Executive Council in late 1976. But it
was not easy to get it accepted because of strong, and anticipated oppositions
from the Executive Council generally and the Ministry of Education in
particular. This was more so because of the nature of the proposal presented
concerning the Science Secondary Schools.
There were four main points of
the proposal. First a new body called the Science Secondary Schools Management
Board should be created to implement the project, and it should be totally independent
of the Ministry of Education in all aspects of its operations. As Dr Ayagi
explained,
“In order to avoid the problems of the Ministry of
Education, the government bureaucracy, and to give the scheme the best chance
of success, we said the best way is to take it out of the system. Not to
operate it within the Ministry of Education, but to create a parastatal that
would be independent of the civil service and the bureaucracy of the Ministry
of Education. So that it would be on its own. It would have its own rules and
regulations, about employment, about conditions of service, completely apart
from the normal civil service or the Ministry of Education. We realized we
couldn’t get the best teachers, the best equipment under those conditions of
the Ministry of Education. We therefore got it through with the normal
conditions we expected to make it a success.” (Interview 7/1/1987)
However, financial control of the
Board will be under the Commissioner for Education (who at that time was Dr
Ayagi), who has to approve its estimates before submitting to the Ministry of
Finance. To provide a legal backing to this Board, a Science Secondary Schools
Management Board Edict was promulgated with effect from 1 January 1977.
Secondly, the Ministry of
Education should provide three secondary schools which will be converted into
Science Schools. Two of these schools will be for boys and one for girls. All
the schools should have Boarding facilities. This was to provide the students
with full opportunities of concentrating on academic work under structured
supervision. The Ministry of Education should also, in future, release any
school the Science Board may wish to take over for the purposes of conversion
into a Science School as part of their expansion. This was easier and more
cost-effective than building completely new Science Schools.
Thirdly, the Science School
students will be drawn from academically excellent students selected from Form
II cohort of all secondary schools in Kano. This will be after a selection
examination. This would mean the Science Schools, starting with Form III, will
be Senior Secondary Schools under the newly envisaged National Policy on
Education (although only implemented in 1982) which splits secondary education
in two tiers of junior and senior of three years duration. At the end of the
Senior year, the students will take the General Certificate of Education
ordinary level examinations.
In the initial stage, each of the
Science Schools was expected to have 720 students when fully operational at the
rate of 240 students per year. The proposal further stipulated the
teacher-student ratio should be 1 teacher per 20 students (instead of 1 teacher
per 35 students obtained in conventional schools). And subsequently, each of
the Science Schools should have eight laboratories (instead of the three for
the main science subjects available in conventional secondary schools), two
each for Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, and in the boys school Technical
Drawing Studio and a Geography Room.
Finally, each student must offer
the following subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, English,
Geography, Hausa Language or Islamic Religious Knowledge, and for girls, Food
and Nutrition. Boys will not offer Food and Nutrition, but an elective of one
from Technical Drawing, Further Mathematics, or Agricultural Science.
The Kano State Executive Council
accepted this proposal with all its attendant conditions, but persistent
opposition was quite strong, mainly from the Ministry of Education, which saw
its power being eroded by the Science Board over which it had no immediate
control. The First Executive Secretary of the Science Board (1976-1978), Alhaji
Ado Gwaram, analysed the nature of these oppositions,
“All the opposition we had in the Ministry of
Education at that time - and there were very very strong oppositions - was
surprisingly from people who should not oppose the idea of Science Secondary
Schools at all. Their oppositions, I am sure, had nothing to do with science
being anti-Islamic. I think the opposition was primarily for two reasons. One
was the fact that they think we were trying to hijack some bright students from
their schools and putting them in these prestigious schools - schools that one
of us called elitist because he said we were only going to put the sons of who
and who in the schools. That is from a fathers’ point of view. From the
intellectual point of view, it was only students who scored IQs this much you
are putting in the schools, therefore from this level it is elitist, and they
will have none of this. This, when I know very well they themselves represent
elitism in this country! So the opposition was primary because of the fear of
the unknown, coupled with the feeling that, and I don’t like to say this, that
I (Ado Gwaram) was personally associated with the project.” (Interview
22/2/1987)
And to confound the situation,
another dimension of oppositions emerged. This was because views started to
emerge that the very concept of the Science Schools was an attempt to de-emphasize
the Islamic nature of Kano State. As D S Ibrahim, the second Executive
Secretary of the Science Board recalls,
“Part of our problem was that when it was started,
there were really some moves by some people who felt very strongly against the
sciences; rightly or wrongly, we don’t know. There were very very powerful
religious groups who felt that having a school called Science School is
becoming un-Islamic. That was at the early stages of the Science Schools. Their
influence was through their positions in the society. Some of them are even
placed in our Ministry of Education. Some of them are Commissioners elsewhere
who have this myopic attitude. But we were really lucky to have Members of the
Board who really tried as much as possible to liquidate this anti-Islamic
feeling about science.” (Interview 29/9/1986)
And the opposition to the project
became such that Ayagi and Gwaram decided to hold a meeting in December 1977 to
sell the project to the opposition. Gwaram further recalls,
“All the Principals of the schools in Kano were
called to that meeting. All the top brass of the Ministry of Education were
also called. They were asking questions. I was replying. Not many people will
recall the meeting, but I still recall it because it was a meeting which if you
were to mention names, some of us (there) will feel ashamed of themselves,
because they were really opposing. They made it personal, this terrible man Ado
Gwaram is associated with this thing. If somebody else was the Secretary (of
the Science Board), they would have allowed it to pass. I said look, no matter
the way you churn this thing over, Kano is being served. And Kano is being
served in Kano. And Kano is not only served in Kano but the over-riding future
interest of Kano is being safeguarded by what we are doing. And if you don’t
understand now, for goodness sake just come along, and time will come when you
will understand.” (Interview 22/2/1987)
However, by then the Military
Governor of Kano State had already accepted the proposals for the establishment
of the Schools. Indeed the schools had already started functioning. As the
governor announced in April 1977 during a policy broadcast to Kano State,
“Two existing secondary schools have already been
converted to schools of science. These schools will emphasize science in their
curriculum so as to enable us compete favourably in gaining university places
in the field of science in which were very deficient” (Kano State 1977b p.4;
See Appendix 5 for the education component of the policy statement)
The establishment of the Science
Schools marked the beginning of a vendetta between the newly established
Science Board and the Ministry of Education, even though under the original
blue-print of the idea, the Board was answerable to the Governor of Kano State
through the Commissioner for Education. The oppositions to the Science Board
were carried further with an attempt to make the Military Governor scrap the
Science Board. As recounted by Gwaram,
“After we had been in operation for about one and
half years, the Kano State government decided to rationalize government
departments and a Committee was set up. This was asked to examine government
ministries, departments and parastatals and rationalize them so that where
identical services are provided organizations will be merged together, to save
costs in terms of manpower and finance. So this rationalization committee of
course requested for list of parastatals, and the list was given to them
including a new arrival called the Science Board. And they heard of the so
called in-fighting in the Ministry of Education. Principals don’t like the
Science Board, very many people don’t like the Science Board. And the fact was
the Science Board was not known, the law was not established - because all this
time we were working exactly from the Council Memoranda submitted by Ayagi. So
it became an easy target to scrap. Too many people were opposed to it, you see.
It was providing science programme and everybody believed any secondary school
can provide a science programme, therefore one of the things you can
rationalize is definitely this Science Board.” (Interview 22/2/1987)
That this did not happen was
partly due to the influence of the then Commissioner for Education, Dr Aminu
Dorayi - the only member of the Kano State Executive Council at the time with
science education background (Chemistry Education) - who immediately succeeded
Ayagi. As Gwaram further recalled,
“Aminu Dorayi was a scientist. He supported the
idea of the science schools right from the word go. And I am telling you
support was crucial at that time. So anybody who was supporting us was like a
convert to Islam! So the fact that Dorayi was supportive was itself a very
helpful thing to have. One, he was a science man, two, he was Commissioner (of
Trade and Industries then, but immediately succeeded Ayagi in Education). So in
the Council Meeting Ayagi had the support of Dorayi, because if Dorayi did not
like the idea, Ayagi will have tougher time to get it through the council.”
(Interview 22/2/1987)
And with his new post as the
Commissioner for Education, Dorayi continued supporting the idea of the project
long after Ayagi has even left the Kano State civil service. The stage was then
prepared for the operation of the Science Schools.
Section II: The Science Schools
Board
Based on the recommendations of
the Kano State Executive Council, the Science Secondary Schools Management
Board was established in March 1977 by the Kano State government. The first
appointment made was that of the Executive Secretary who, as I indicated
earlier, was Gwaram and personally recommended for the post by Ayagi, who
recalled the initial start as being quite difficult,
“There was no office, there was nothing! And there
was no place to go, and bang, we started! And what happened was, in our first
month we were operating from the Conference Room of the Ministry of Education.
I had no office. I went to Ayagi and told him we needed money to get started. A
cheque was prepared and issued to me in my name - Ado Gwaram - for something no
one could understand, for something called Science Secondary Schools Board.
Nobody knew what the Science Secondary Schools Board was up to. Very few people
knew about it - the Council and myself. That had to be done that way because
the moment you leave things within the civil service, they end up there. So I
opened the account in my name. It was government money, but I opened the
account in my name.” (Interview 22/2/1987)
This was naturally without some
form of resistance from the Ministry of Finance which had to approve the
release of the funds. But because of the fellowship network that existed within
the establishment - the then Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance,
Alhaji Isa Dutse, who had to finally approve the release of the funds was a
personal friend to Gwaram - the new Executive Secretary was able to get the
funds released. Eventually various administrative staff were either recruited
or mostly enticed from other places by the Executive Secretary.
A Science Secondary Schools
Management Board Edict by the Government was published and made retroactive
from January 1977, although the schools were expected to start off in September
1977. The Edict formally listed the objectives and working mechanism of the
Science Board as follows:
a) To provide Science Education
at Secondary level
b) to set up and manage special
Science Schools where the Science Education is to be provided
c) to ensure that course of
instruction given in the Science Secondary Schools conform to the broad policy
of Secondary education and satisfy the heads of other institutions where the
students are likely to go after the completion of their studies
d) to appoint, promote, dismiss
and exercise disciplinary control over its staff
e) to determine and approve
schemes of service for all categories of staff and their emoluments
f) subject to the approval of
the Governor, to preserve and implement conditions of service for all
categories of the staff
g) to acquire any equipment,
materials, furniture and other properties required for the purpose of the Board
h) to maintain premises forming
part, or used in, connection with the Board
i) to prepare and submit to the
Commissioner for Education an annual report on the administration and
activities of the Board, and
j) to carry on all such
activities and do all such things as are necessary for the good government,
control and administration of the Board and the management of the assets of the
Board” (Kano State 1977a p.4)
Once the Science Board was
established as an administrative organization, its objectives became much more
clearly formed. According to an internal communication dated 5th April 1984
which gives the details of the organizational structure of the Science Board
(see Appendix 5 for a copy), the Board is vested with
“the
responsibility for providing science education at secondary level, with the
following hopes and aspirations in mind:
1. that more
Secondary School leavers with Science background will eventually be produced
2. that the
majority of those so produced will proceed to higher institutions of learning
3. that in the
long run, a crop of high level manpower (doctors and engineers) will be
available
4. that the
expected insignificant few that might not necessarily be doctors and engineers
might find themselves in the Polytechnics for HND/OND courses in:
i. Engineering (civil and mechanical)
ii.
Agro-allied, food
technology, lab technology fields, Health and Nursing care Health and Nursing
care.”
It is significant to note the
nature of expectations placed on the Science Schools by the government, which
should provide a source of reference when discussing the extent to which the
Science Schools attain their objectives.
Because of the powerful
sentiments the Science Schools project generated in Kano, the choice of
membership was at the discretion of the Kano State government and those
directly in charge of the project. It was absolutely necessary to survival of
the project to pick only those who clearly sympathized with the rationale of
the project both in its initial conception and its subsequent existence. In
addition, it was decided some of them should also have scientific background,
although it was never made clear (both from the documents and my interviews
with the key informants) how such background is expected to contribute to the
Science Schools.
Because Ayagi was the
Commissioner for Education then, and in keeping with the tactic of selecting
only those sympathetic to the project, appointment to the Membership was at his
own recommendation. He did not, however, forsee that when he eventually leaves
the post of the Commissioner for Education, not all his successors will share
the same degree of enthusiasm towards the Science Schools. Certainly, under the
set of circumstances the Science Schools project emerged, placing the schools
under the final control of the Ministry of Education (through the Commissioner
for Education) has high element of risk to the future survival of the project.
Also in the directives for the
membership, there were no representations from the very large Industrial sector
of Kano State, any of the higher institutions of learning in the State, or,
interestingly enough, the Manpower Development Committee of the Ministry of
Economic Development which was the main force behind establishment of the
project. These representations should help co-ordinate the output of the
Science Schools with the Kano State economy, to ensure the outcomes of the
project are consistent with the developmental aspirations of Kano State
government.
An analysis of the first
membership of the Science Schools Board for 1977-1979 shows the distribution
and background of the members. The full membership was as follows:
1. Dr Sadiq
Wali, Chairman (Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital)
2. Dr A T
Abdullahi, Member (Principal, Kano Polytechnic)
3. Alhaji Ali
Mukhtar, Member (Chief Pharmacist, Murtala Muhammad Hospital, Kano)
4. Alhaji Imam
Wali, Member (Director of Education, Ministry of Education, Kano)
5. Alhaji Adamu
Ilyasu, Member (Principal, Government Secondary School, Birnin Kudu
6. Alhaji
Dahiru Ibrahim, Member (General Manager, Nigerian Television Authority, Kano)
7. Alhaji Ado
Gwaram, Executive Secretary
Thus in the first Membership of
the Science Board, three members had scientific training. First was the
Chairman, Dr Sadiq Wali who was at the time a lecturer in the Faculty of
Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (and, importantly, became the Kano
State Commissioner for Health in 1979). Then Dr A T Abdullahi, a Mechanical
Engineer who was the Principal of Kano Polytechnic (who also became a
Commissioner for Works and Housing in 1979, and Commissioner for Education in
1983), while Alhaji Ali Mukhtar was at that time the Chief Pharmacist of the
Murtala Muhammad Hospital in Kano City. Alhaji Imam Wali, the then Director of
Education, later became the Commissioner for Education in 1984.
The rapid mobility of this
initial membership up the ranks of the Kano State civil service was the major
factor that kept the flame of the Science Schools project going, because as
Ayagi recalled,
“The first Chairman was Dr Sadiq Wali, a science
person, Dr Abdullahi who was a Commissioner later was also a member, and that
had good repercussions later, because during the political days (1979-1983) the
idea would have been killed again, if not for the fact that we had these people
who had become Commissioners in the State.” (CTV 22/2/1986)
Another, very significant feature
of the Membership of the Science Board at this time was its fellowship linkage.
As Gwaram explained,
“It was a collection of committed Kano indigenes,
working as a team because we all knew ourselves and everybody knew who was on
the Board of Members. There was no question of suspicion. For example the
Ministry of Education representative was Alhaji Imam Wali (who was the then
Director of Education). He knew me right from infancy. And the Chairman, Dr
Sadiq Wali was not only a personal friend, but also someone who knew what I
could do, and he knew I had confidence in him, absolutely that much.”
(Interview 22/2/1987)
Thus negotiating from their
status as powerful members of the Kano State civil service, as well as being
close friends, the first Members of the Science Secondary Schools Management
Board were finally in a position to start off the Science Secondary Schools
Project in September 1977.
Autonomy and control
From the way the Science Board
eventually evolved, an uneasy relationship was established between the Science
Board and the Ministry of Education. The Board had autonomy in virtually all
aspects of its activities except the most crucial - financing. Although it was
deemed an independent parastatal of Kano State government, subsequently after
its establishment the Board had to request for funds from the Ministry of
Finance through the Ministry of Education, and this, naturally, was not without
consequences.
For instance, on 17th November
1978, the Board sent to the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education for the
attention of the Ministry of Finance, its advanced proposals Recurrent
Estimates for 1979/80 in accordance with the stipulation of its charter. The
Board insisted
“the estimates have been worked out to the barest
minimum needs of the Science Secondary Schools Management Board, bearing in
mind the financial position of the State Government. The Board’s request of
N1,428,810 was slashed down to N750,000!” (Kano State 1979b p. 150)
And as the student numbers in the
science schools increased,
along with the number of
teachers, demands for facilities to cater for them also increased - putting
financial strains on the already existing resources.
But the subsequent funding of the
Science Board, despite increase in the student population over the years did
not increase; if anything, it significantly decreased, as seen in Table 5.2
which shows the financial expenditure to the Science Schools by the Board based
on the overall funds the Board received from the Kano State government.
|
Year
|
Amount (N)
|
|
1977
|
400,000
|
|
1978
|
370,860
|
|
1979
|
355,554
|
|
1980
|
398,613
|
|
1981
|
509,258
|
|
1982
|
637,590
|
|
1983
|
379,350
|
|
1984
|
509,850
|
|
1985
|
679,488
|
|
1986
|
626,265
|
(Source: Kano State 1979b, 1986b and the Science Board
1987)
As the allocations show, over the
years since the establishment of the Science Board, it has not been possible to
maintain fixed subvention for the Science Schools. However, the sharp down turn
of the Nigerian economy, and the depreciating Naira value has made later
financial allocations less substantial in real terms, than at the initial stage
of the project. This has consequences in the ways the project is implemented.
Membership of the Board, 1979-1983
In February 1982 during the
civilian administration in Kano, the structure of the Board was significantly
altered when the then Kano State House of Assembly converted the Science Board
edict into a Law, creating a Science and Technical Schools Board (Kano State
1982; a full copy of the Law is reproduced in Appendix 5). But the relationship
between the Science Board and the Ministry of Education was taken to new
heights with this development. The Ministry was asked to transfer all Technical
and Vocational Schools under its control to the now Science and Technical
Schools Board; but the Ministry of Education was also given the responsibility
of carrying out all Capital expenditure projects from the Science Board.
But the most interesting
development of the Science Board at this stage was there were no Board Members.
The first Board membership lasted for three years (from 1977) till 1979 when
the Civilian administration took over in Kano. Although the Board membership
was dissolved, no new members were appointed by the new civilian
administration. The Board, controlled locally by the Executive Secretary,
decided to create Committees to enable it to make decisions concerning its
administration. The decisions of the Committees were sent to the Commissioner
for Education for ratification and approval. As the minutes of the inaugural
meeting of a new Board on 23 January 1985 stated,
“Committees were set up to tackle various aspects
of the Board, to advise and recommend appropriate decisions. In the absence of
the Board members, the Hon. Commissioner and Permanent Secretary Ministry of
Education usually ratify the committees recommendations/decisions.”
This turn of events put the
Science Schools effectively under the control of the Ministry of Education,
although the Director of Education at the time (1984) was Alhaji Imam Wali - a
first generation member of the Science Board, and very sympathetic to the
project from accounts of key informants, especially Alhaji Ado Gwaram.
There were five of these
committees, including the Staff Development and Training Committee, Senior
Staff Establishment Committee, and the Academic Committee the latter of which
is more relevant to understanding the dynamics of the Science Schools project
in its academic dimensions.
The Academic Committee was
responsible for monitoring the performance of institutions under the Board,
standardization of textbooks and other teaching equipment. It was also
responsible for the selection of candidates into the Science Schools. It is the
only committee whose functions are geared towards the provision of any
professional services for the Science Schools.
These Committees run the affairs
of the Board under the control of the Executive Secretary. By then Gwaram had
already left the Science Board and another Executive Secretary, D S Ibrahim was
appointed. Commenting on the survival of the Board at this time (1979-1984),
Ibrahim attributed this to the strength of the composition of the first Board
membership. As he explained,
“We withstood the test of time. When we started we
had people like Dr Sadiq Wali, Dr A T Abdullahi, and Alhaji Imam Wali. All
later became commissioners in Kano State. When the PRP (Peoples Redemption
Party, the main, but not only, political party in Kano) came, with two young
commissioners in the person of Dr Wali who was made the Commissioner for
Health, and Dr A T Abdullahi who was made Commissioner for Works and Housing,
you see we were in business. We had at least two big or very good Members (of
the Board) who would do anything to ensure that the Board, or the nobel idea
(Science Schools Project) continues. Now when PRP came there was all sort of
oppositions and problems. But these people (Wali and Abdullahi) were able to
convince the Governor that this idea should not be dropped for whatever
reason.” (Interview 29/9/1986)
And when Dr Ayagi left as the
Commissioner for Education, his immediate successor in 1978, Dr Aminu Dorayi,
was also sympathetic to the project. Dorayi’s support has already been outlined
by Gwaram earlier. Ibrahim places the situation in a context:
“I wouldn’t call the relationship between the
Ministry of Education and us very cordial, although it depends on the specific
time you were talking about. When Dr Ayagi was the Commissioner for Education
(1976-1978) it was fantastic, because he was one of the policy initiators of
the Science Board. When he left, came Alhaji Abdulhamid Hassan who was a strong
opponent of this Board. He felt, as he felt strongly then, that it was a
useless project. He was a personal friend of mine. He was my Commissioner. He
called me. He said look I am taking you away from the Science Board. You are just
wasting our resources. I am going to give you another job in which I think you
will contribute much more to Kano State than just wasting time on the Science
Schools!” (Interview 29/9/1986)
But after Hassan, Dr A T
Abdullahi - a former member of the Board - was made a Commissioner for
Education in 1983,
“...So we were back in business! And by time Dr
Abdullahi exited in 1983, we had already made our mark. So you can’t just do
anything to the Science Board now! If not for him we would have been scraped.
Oh yes, I know for sure that we were up against a herculean task against people
who felt that we were just wasting public funds on a useless venture.”
(Interview 29/9/1986)
Thus power struggles, fellowship
network interactions and personal interests all emerged as the vital
ingredients that ensured the survival of the Science Secondary Schools Project
in its infancy. The intellectual validity of the project was never made a focus
of attention by either proponents or antagonists of the project. Nor were concerns
expressed about the academic emphases of the Science Schools.
The various Committees
established within the Science Board, in the absence of the full Board
Membership, run the affairs of the Board until December 1983 when there was
another, Military, change of government in Nigeria (the third since the
establishment of the Science Board; and since the proposal for the Science
Schools from the Manpower Development Committee in late 1975, five
Commissioners of Education had been appointed at various times in Kano to
1984).
But it was only a year later, in
December 1984, when the new military governor of Kano State appointed new
members to the Science Board and control of the science schools returned firmly
to the Board. The new Board membership had the following composition:
1. Dr. Yahaya
Mohammed, Chairman (Chief Medical Officer, Murtala Muhammad Hospital, Kano)
2. Engineer
Ibrahim K Inuwa, Member (National Truck Manufacturers Company, Kano
3. Alhaji Umaru
Abdulkadir, Member (Pharmacist)
4. Alhaji
Abdullahi Getso, Member (Businessman)
5. Alhaji Usman
S Dare, Member (Retired Headmaster, Gumel)
6. Alhaji
Abdullahi Umar, Member (Centre for the Study of Nigerian Languages, Bayero
University, Kano)
7. CIE TSS/Tech
Representative Member (Ministry of Education)
8. Alhaji Aminu
G. Bichi, Executive Secretary
By this period membership has
ceased to be based on evaluation of a potential members’ sympathy towards the
Science Schools. Other, quite vague and little defined criteria for membership
became established. Thus this membership, evolving out of a totally different
political climate, did not share the same camaraderie as the first, but it is
included here to point to the general trend of membership of the Board which
was to become a pattern in the future. But significantly, the new Commissioner
for Education in Kano (sixth since initiation of the project) after Dr A T
Abdullahi in 1984 was Alhaji Imam Wali - a founding Member of the Science
Board. Thus the interests of the Science Schools were protected under whatever
system of government operated in Kano State for the first ten years of its life
through fellowship network system that operated especially among the first
generation Board members [1].
An interesting development of the
Board Membership since inception was the marked absence of women as members. I
raised this issue with the policy initiator of the Science Schools Project, Dr
Ayagi who admitted he was aware of the situation, and added
“...but you know we were concerned with practical
problems, not political. I mean considerations about women and so on is
political.” (Interview 7/1/1987)
No further explanations could be
given as the emergent view clearly was women have no significant role to play
in dealing with “practical problems” such as science education change
strategies. With this attitude, it becomes therefore difficult to present the
case for women science education effectively in this context.[2]
This membership of the Board
(1984-1986) did not remain for long, however. In August 1985, there was yet
another military coup in the country (the fourth change of government since
initiation of the project in 1975). Some six months later, on 24th January
l986, the new military governor of the State dissolved the Science Schools Board.
And since the Science Board has
various committees as part of its permanent structure it simply reverts to
these Committees in the absence of Board Members. The third (and current during
this research) Executive Secretary of the Board, Alhaji Aminu Bichi attributed
the longevity of the Board in the face of constant changes in leadership in
Kano quite simply to luck. As he explained,
“I think luckily enough we are the least affected
by changes in government. In every government in every where in the world, you
cannot dissociate politics and education. New rulers come in with new
philosophies and new ideas. Every government has its own ideas and policies on
education and they keep changing. I mean if another government had come in and
said okay Kano State is no more interested in placing high premium on science
and technical education, then this Board may not be favoured. And one thing why
I said we are lucky is we had had very little interference from government; in
particular if you look at me sitting here: I have been sitting here for six
years (1980-1986) which is very abnormal in government - any form of
government.” (Interview 23/9/1986)
Thus economic and political
priorities emerged as the main factors in the genesis of the Science Schools
project. In all the policy process, the academic priorities of the Schools was
never made part of the agenda.
Section III: The Science Secondary Schools
Initial preparations
The schools selected for
conversion into Science Schools were the secondary schools at Dawakin Kudu
(originally established in 1975), and Dawakin Tofa (1972). Each of these
schools was well built and located in a pleasant rural pasture land. The
Dawakin Kudu School was also relatively new at the time (1977) and built with
financial assistance from the United Nations Development Project. But most
significantly, both were exactly the same short distance away from Kano
metropolitan (32 kilometres). This was important to the planners of the Science
Schools project because they do not want to locate the schools too far from
Kano which will make them unattractive places to work for teachers, especially
expatriate staff. As the First Executive Secretary of the Science Board
explained,
“The two schools (Dawakin Kudu and Dawakin Tofa)
were selected because we wanted schools that were very close to Kano, where we
can literally leave office now and get there within the next twenty minutes.
And we needed centres where you can put international staff without them having
to worry about coming to Kano. We also needed easy access to Kano because we
thought if our laboratories could not operate we bring our staff and students
to laboratories in Bayero University (in Kano) - because we were not prepared
to allow anything to stop us from operating.” (Interview 22/2/1987)
This statement underscores the
sheer determination behind the efforts to see the Science Schools have started
functioning, despite all the opposition provided to the project by the Ministry
of Education.
Fundamental characteristics I: The
students
There was no area in the
establishment of the Science Schools in Kano that has created more controversy
with both Principals and civil servants than in the selection of the students
for the Science Schools. This stemmed principally because, as one expatriate
former teacher in a Science School puts it, “the Science Schools poach students
from other schools.” Under the standard procedure, students considered
academically good in Form II in all secondary schools in Kano (owned by the
Ministry of Education) were given a selection examination and those who passed
taken to the Science Schools where they continue with Form III.
The decision of the Science Board
not to use the Kano Educational Resource Centre, which is the main professional
and advisory unit for educational affairs in Kano State, to design its
selection examinations for it, even though KERC was represented in the
selection committee (see below) did not help matters much. As the Executive
Secretary explained in an internal communication dated 23rd March 1977,
“The two Science Secondary Schools at Dawakin Tofa
and Dawakin Kudu are supposed to start operating as Science-Oriented by
September 1977. It is agreed that the students to be admitted will be selected
from Form II of all the existing secondary schools in the State.
“The selection exercise is central to both the
success of the end-products and the image of the Management Board. Needless to
say, the selection techniques/procedures must be scientific and comprehensive.
Tests/exams/interviews should be carefully planned and well-executed so that
the outcome ca be a professional foundation for successful training edifice.”
To ensure the selection of the
students is carried out along the lines envisaged by the Board, a sub-committee
was set up called Tests Committee which will work on the selection process for
the two schools. This Committee gradually metamorphosed into the Academic
Committee (in 1979). The Selection Committee was composed of the following,
each represented by a Member:
a) The Science Secondary
Schools Management Board
b) The Ministry
of Education/In-Service Centre (which later became the Kano Educational
Resource Centre)
c) The local
branch of the Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN)
d) Any other
body/person the Committee may wish to invite to join.
The main tasks of the committee
will be to:
a) examine
contents and format of the selection procedure
b) the time
(month/date) the selection is to be made
c) examine
related problems of the selection, including marking of tests, etc.
The attempts to include the
Science Teachers’ Association of Nigeria in some activities of the Board would
seem to indicate the latters’ commitment to ensuring full professional
participation of the science teachers in the affairs of the schools, although
this remained the only time the STAN was consulted in any subsequent affairs of
the Science Board.
In the end, the Board also used
the WAEC to conduct selection examinations for the schools until when the Board
itself could do such task. As the Kano State government explained in 1979,
“The Science Secondary Schools Management Board
has for the past three years (i.e. since 1977) been using the services of the
West African Examinations Council for conducting aptitude tests for entrants
into the Science Schools” (Kano State 1979b p.161)
The Student Selection Process
Despite being established under
an atmosphere of constant opposition, high expectations about the number of
students who will eventually benefit from the establishment of the Science
Schools in Kano were maintained by the Science Board. As a Kano State
government document explains,
“Each Science Secondary School is expected to have
720 students when it is fully operational...The five year objective (from 1980
when the students in the schools take the WASC examinations for the first time)
of the Science Secondary Schools Management Board is to produce the following
number of WASC boy students with all the required science subjects for direct
entry into University or Polytechnic for professional courses in the sciences:
|
June 1980
|
217 students
|
|
|
|
|
June 1982
|
360 “
|
|
June 1983
|
480 “
|
|
June 1984
|
480 “
|
|
Total
|
1791
|
“It is also envisaged, that funds being available,
the Board will produce by June 1984, 624 WASC girl students with all the required
Science subjects for direct entry into University, ATC, Polytechnic or School
of Nursing” (Kano State 1979b p. 162).
However, in the subsequent years,
the population of examination entrants from the science schools turned out to
be less than the projections of the government due to natural waste and
incidences where students were dismissed for various (but mainly disciplinary)
reasons, as shown in Table 5.3 which indicates the number of West African
School Certificate Examination entrants from the three science schools from
1980 to 1985. The figures are placed along side the projections made by the
government.
|
Year
|
Projected
|
Actual
|
|
1980
|
217
|
183
|
|
1981
|
254
|
226
|
|
1982
|
360
|
316
|
|
1983
|
480
|
296
|
|
1984
|
1104
|
439
|
|
1985
|
2000
|
514
|
|
Totals
|
4415
|
1974
|
(Source: Kano State 1979b; the Science and Technical
Schools Board, 1987)
The system of selection - which
was crucial to the Science Schools - was not without its problems and issues;
and a detailed analysis of its initial mechanism revealed insights about its
nature and enables further understanding of the reception of the Science
Secondary Schools project in Kano State.
On 20th December 1978, the then
expatriate Principal of the Dawakin Tofa Science Secondary School, Mike Douse
sent a memo to the Board providing what were the first clear guidelines
concerning the method of selecting students subsequently for the science
schools. The first strategy advocated was publicity. In this, it was suggested,
“We should design a poster, two or three copies of
which should be displayed at all post-primary schools in the State. It should
state clearly the purpose and nature of the Science Secondary Schools,
correcting current misconceptions. There should be a couple of good photographs
and the presentation should be attractive. Similar information and images
should be made available through newspapers, radio and television. Every
prospective student should know of and be excited by the possibility of being
selected to attend a Science Secondary School.”
Some students who have already
heard of the Science Schools apparently applied to them directly for admission,
since the memo stated
“Already we have written suitable letters to a
dozen or so boys who have ‘applied’ to us: such correspondence should not be
ignored. And all of our boys have volunteered to urge intelligent relatives and
friends (in Form 2) to aim at joining us. Our present students are our best
ambassadors.”
It is significant to note only
boys have shown interest in getting into the science schools. However,
preparation for girls science schools were already being considered at time,
and will be eventually discussed in the next sub-section.
The memo also indicated its
awareness of the possible problems the selection process was likely to face,
especially from the Principals of the feeder schools, by stating
“Apart from endeavouring to ensure that
Post-Primary Principals display the proposed posters, we need to think hard and
how best to persuade them to endeavour to send us their top pupils: some task!”
The persuasive strategy suggested
was to draw attention of the government involvement in the establishment of the
Science Schools, thus emphasizing its legislative nature. For instance,
concerning the ways of convincing the Principals of the feeder schools, the
memo added
“However, it is (a) government policy and (b) in
the students’ own best interest for them to lose their ablest and these points
should be made unequivocally. In addition, we should think of ways of bestowing
public praise on schools succeeding in getting several students through our
selection: a good post-Primary schools is one that manages to get several
students into Science School! If we cannot meet with all Principals before
hand, we should at least ensure that all correspondence with them enhances our
chances of getting co-operation. Otherwise the whole entire exercise will
fail.”
And due to the legislative nature
of the project (which reflected government machinery at the time), Principals
were not consulted at any stage of the development of the Science Schools in
Kano. This lack of consultation might have further contributed to the
reluctance of some Principals to co-operate with the Science Schools Board.
This situation was not improved for the Principals, especially with the further
suggestion of the memo
“...So I strongly urge that ‘someone’ visit all of
the feeder schools in January, doing the necessary public relations, but also,
with the Principal, choosing the boys to be considered. There must be access to
examination records and an opportunity to talk to teachers. This would take
place before the initial tests and we would be greatly suspicious - and do
something about it - if either (a) top students did badly in the tests, or (b)
a school failed to get anywhere near its quota.”
This quota referred to the
minimum number of students required and the emphasis was “the vital thing is
that we get the ‘best’ 48 or 55 or whatever.”
The memo expressed
dissatisfaction about the outcomes of using the services of the WAEC which were
used for the first set of students (1977)
“The overall process has certainly provided this
school with a number of duds and I am afraid WAEC sees us as an interesting
little experiment and pays little attention to our actual needs or to the
non-academic potentialities of the situation.”
It is significant here to note an
expectation by the Principal that not all students who came to science schools
would proceed to an academic future. These observations led to a suggestion for
a more school based test which the Board can design to suit its specific needs
as far as the science students are concerned. As suggested in the memo,
“If I was devising an initial test from scratch, I
would include two 1 hour papers:
a) A very stiff and practically non-verbal
mathematics test; and b) A written comprehension test based upon passages
dealing with scienceconcepts; simple, non-specialist vocabulary, objective
questions.
I do not think that the multiple-choice science
tests used thus far are of any value. At best they test how well a boy has been
taught - and we are after potential. And the test is dependent upon specific
vocabulary (habitat, aquatic, convection etc). What we want to assess is a
boy’s interest in, and capacity to grapple with, scientific ideas.”
And in order to ensure only the
selected students did eventually get into the science schools, a rigorous
system of identification of students was suggested. This was that
“Candidates must be told to retain precisely the
same names throughout the selection procedure. They must sign each examination
paper and give key personal details. At interviews, they must sign again and
the interviewers must check the personal details (e.g. mother’s name, primary
school attended). On gaining admission the students must sign and submit to
checks one more. This rigorous procedure is advocated because of my suspicion
that several of our present students are here under false pretenses: about six
of them cannot yet write sentences in English and could never have passed any
kind of ability or content test in their lives.”
The Board responded to these
suggestions immediately. On 24th January 1979, a form letter was sent to all
the Principals in Kano State secondary schools reminding them of the existence
of the science schools as well as summarizing the objectives of the schools. At
beginning of the letter, the Board tactically pointed out
“The Science Secondary Schools Management Board
was created by the (Kano) State Government to provide Science Education at
Secondary level...”
This information, coming as it
did - during one of the more remarkable Military regimes in Nigeria - could not
fail to yield some measure of co-operation from the Principals. The information
also ensures the Board absolves itself of any blame of the effects of the
selection procedure since it is set up to carry out the directives of the
Government of Kano State. The letter added,
“It is hoped that all deserving Kano State pupils
in Class II with an aptitude and ambitions in the Sciences be given these
opportunities, and your co-operation is requested to publish the attached
Information Sheet on your students’ Notice Board”
However, the way the information
was communicated, especially to the students also must have left the Principals
of the feeder schools a trifle uneasy. The information sheet was done in the
form of a questionnaire.
The selection process is crucial
to the entire Science Secondary Schools project for a number of other reasons.
When the science schools were established, it was envisaged they will fit in
with the new National Policy on Education (which was expected to be implemented
in 1977) making them senior secondary schools.
Under this original conception,
the students were to have been graduates of the junior schools and thus the
issue of “skimming” students would not have arisen as they would have finished
junior schools anyway, and are ready to go to senior schools. If the new
education policy had been implemented at the time it should have been, which
was 1977, or at worst, 1982, many of the problems of the science schools which
surfaced later in the selection process would have been eliminated.
However, the policy was delayed
for various reasons until September 1982; this meant students from the Science
Schools from inception of the project came from the Form II population of the
nonscience schools - and the system of selection ensured only those considered
the best were accepted for the science schools. This was a situation that left
many of the schools uncomfortable. As the Principal of a feeder school
explained,
“Believe me, not me alone but many people, the
teachers, you see are grumbling that the best students have been taken away and
as such nobody should blame us for having very bad students, because the best
ones who could help the remaining who are not as good as these ones have been
taken away. There is nothing we can about this. This is a government project
and they can do whatever they want.” (Interview 30/9/1986)
The possibility that the
selection process could be influenced in favour of certain socio-politically
powerful groups in Kano was raised with the officials of the Science Board. It
was made clear that selection of students to the schools was based purely on
merit and passing the examination. As a former Executive Secretary of the Board
elaborated,
“No, No way. Okay there may be one or two cases,
but the majority had to go through the grind. If a child cannot make it, he
will be the first ask his parents to remove him, because he will be the
laughing stock of these geniuses; you know how they are. Children will always
be children and if you don’t make up you are in trouble with your colleagues.
So we are very lucky in that aspect in that even the people who think that
coming to the Science schools meant a lot to their children later change their
minds because of what they heard (about the demands in the Science Schools).”
(Interview 29/9/1986)
After the initial selection
exercise in 1977, the first set of 240 students was selected from 22 secondary
schools in Kano. A total of 120 students were sent to each of the then two
Science Schools in September 1977. Subsequently, however, some of the
Principals in the feeder schools responded to the situation by substituting
their best students for the less than average which were requested to sit for
the selection examination. The Science Board discovered this quickly, though,
because as a Principal said,
“We cannot even substitute good students for bad
students during the selection. These people come from the Science Board and
they try to examine the files of my students and they may like to see my
students physically. We have to be honest in this. The question of my opinion
(as a Principal) does not arise because nobody will ask for my opinion: do I
like it or not? No, nobody will ask me. This is an annual event, you know.
Every year there will be a letter from the Science Board telling us that there
is going to be a selection exercise. And then there are many students who would
like to go to these schools because they feel that the science secondary school
is better than any school in which they are.” (Interview 30/9/1986)
In their objections, the
Principals of the feeder schools provided two arguments to support their case.
First, if their best students were taken away from them, then only the worst
students were left behind. And if the GCE ordinary level examinations were bad,
the schools will be blamed; and this is more since the some states in Nigeria
started grading Principals according to the GCE results. If this practice
spreads to Kano, it is likely to have some unpleasant consequences for the
Principals.
Secondly, some Principals argue
if it is true the Science Schools are special in the sense of having better
equipment and teachers and other facilities, then in makes more sense to select
not the best students from the feeder schools who, if they are good anyway
would succeed no matter where they are. It therefore makes more sense,
according to this argument, to take students who are less than average, but
very likely with latent abilities in science and allow the good environment of
the Science Schools to develop it. In this way, the conventional schools will
develop their good students, and the Science Schools will enable students with
latent abilities in science to manifest themselves to the benefit of everyone.
But Ayagi discounts these arguments by pointing out,
“The system was not supposed to drain the schools
of the best students. We are concerned with the students with a natural
endowment in science. The teachers should not be feeling they have lost their
best students unless you are saying only science students are the best. But of
course that is not so.” (Interview 7/1/1987)
A possible solution to problems
associated with the selection procedure may be found with the implementation of
the new senior secondary school segment of the National Policy of Education in
September 1985, but only in schools that were distinctly separated as Junior
and Senior Secondary Schools. This is because from 1985, students for the
Science Schools (which are Senior Schools right from the beginning) will be
coming from the Junior Schools. But if the Junior School is still part of a
comprehensive school which includes a senior section, as many of the Schools
still are, then the problems posed by the selection exercise may remain for
quite a while.
This is because some Principals
of the Science Schools argue because of the pioneer status of the Junior
Schools, most of them were no better off than primary schools (actually a lot
were converted primary schools) and as such quite inadequate for providing the
full range of instructions, especially in Integrated Science. This will mean
such schools will not be considered suitable for selection exercise by the
Science Board. The Board would rather get its students from established
schools. And unless the situation resolves itself, such schools will continue
resisting the selection procedures.
Thus the lack of thought-out
working link between the Science Schools project and other educational services
and contexts in Kano, have further contributed to a considerable amount of
difficulty in stabilizing the project, especially after a shaky start.
In subsequent years, the overall
method of selecting the students for the Science Schools was modified and the
Academic Committee took over the process of admission. And because over the
years when the project was just getting started the presence of many students
who the Board felt could not have been the best ones from their schools became
evident, the Science Board adopted a policy of returning students who did not
make it in the Science Schools to their former schools to study arts. This
decision was communicated to the Principals of the Science Schools by the Science
Board on 29th September 1983 where it stated,
“In pursuance of the objectives for which it was
established, the Science and Technical Schools Board decided, that with effect
from the 1983/84 school year, any student who is identified to be academically
unable to pursue the three year GCE O level programme in any of the Science
Secondary Schools will be transferred back to the school from which he was
selected. This decision should be communicated to all students and parents
concerned. Copies of this circular will be sent to other bodies and
Institutions concerned.”
And by then some form of
arrangement has been worked out with the Ministry of Education which will
enable the Principals of the its schools to accept, as it were, the rejects of
the Science Schools.
But in order to give the students
who were selected to the Science Schools, a chance at surviving the Science
Schools experience, the Science Board adopted a strategy of differential
criteria in admission based on the students’ residential background
(urban/rural axis). The Academic Committee at a Board Meeting held on 24th July
1985 reported that the following criteria were used in its final selections for
the 1984/85 intake into the Schools:
“1) Male candidates in schools outside Municipal Kano
were selected on the basis of gaining 40% and above in the entrance examination
plus interviewers recommendations. 2) Male candidates from schools within the
Municipal were selected to go into the Science Schools on the basis of gaining
53% and above in the entrance examinations plus interviewers recommendations.
3) All female candidates were selected on the basis of gaining 30% and above in
the entrance examinations plus interviewers recommendations.”
It is interesting to note the
special preference given to girls in the admission criteria - which
substantially lowers their admission grade as against the boys. This provides a
basis for considering the girls science school.
The Girls Science Secondary School
In the initial preparations and
selection of students, the decision taken by the Board and contained in an
internal memo dated 23rd March 1977 was “for the time being, attention should
be directed to selection from Secondary (Grammar) Schools and amongst boys
only.” This is not to indicate although women were not part of the policy
decision to set up the project, the science education opportunities made
available to the boys will not be made possible to girls. Certainly, the
radical forces that made the very concept of the Science Schools possible in an
orthodox culture such as Kano, could also precipitate the conception of a girls
science school. However, there was a delay in starting the Girls Science School
because although,
“The Science Secondary School Management Board has
plans to open a Science Secondary School for Girls...due to financial
constraints and the inability of the Ministry of Education to hand over one of
its schools (this was not possible)” (Kano State 1979b p. 161)
But during the civilian
administration (1979-1984) the Board was allowed to start Science School for
girls which was initially planned in Bunkure, but later changed to Taura. The
Board had wanted to take over Girls Secondary School Kura for conversion to the
Science School for Girls, but this was resisted successfully by the Ministry of
Education. The eventual acquisition of a site at Taura to build the new Science
School, indeed reflected a further example of the fellowship network that
ensured the survival of the Science Schools project. This is because when the Ministry
of Education refused to allow Kura to be converted to a Science School, the
then Commissioner for Education (1982/83), Dr. A T Abdullahi, a first
generation member of the Science Board intervened and made the establishment of
the Girls Science School possible. As the Technical Adviser of the Science
Board recalled,
“We felt all along that we should have started a
girls and two boys Science Schools. But we had trouble with the Ministry of
Education. We wanted to take Kura girls secondary school; they refused. So we
had a lot of problems. In fact it is through the Commissioner for Education, Dr
A T Abdullahi that we acquired the site at Taura for the girls Science School,
otherwise it would have been impossible.” (Interview 29/9/1986)
The Girls Science Secondary
School was officially started in September 1981. It was, like the overall
concept of the Science Schools, the first of its kind in Nigeria. It was
supposed to be located at Taura, in Ringim local government, some 93 kilometres
from Kano. But because at that time the school was still being built, the
science students were temporarily placed in spare classroom in Government Girls
Secondary School Kura, and treated separately from other students.
They stayed there up to the end
of 1984 when they moved to their own school at Taura in January 1985. During
their stay in Kura, two sets of students were presented for the GCE ordinary
level examination. A total number of 129 students have taken the GCE
examination since 1984, which is a shortfall from the 624 students projected by
the Science Board.
The science school for girls
appears to be unique because it was the first time the Kano State government
(or any other arm of the Nigerian government) has made such explicit statement
about the science education of girls. The school therefore appeared
revolutionary arising out of social context where general modern schooling for
girls was not openly encouraged.
But the most surprising
development about the girls Science School was some Principals of some girls
schools were against it; and registered their feelings, like their male
counterparts, by first of all not allowing their own students to take the
selection examination of the Science Board, and secondly, in cases where the
students were allowed to take the selection examination, by not releasing the
girls to attend the Science School. Matters reached a head when the Science
Board complained to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education Kano on 4th
February 1985 in a communication where the Board stated
“....three weeks after the opening of science
Secondary School, Taura, some principals of girls institutions are yet to
release their students to report to the school. This shows that some principals
are not cooperating with the Board on science schools programme. (The Principal
of....) is particularly noted for this, for she even refused to allow her
students to sit for the science secondary schools entrance examinations. It has
come to the Board’s notice that the Principals of...(5 schools)....are yet to
release the students who were selected for Government Girls (Science) Secondary
School, Taura. The Principals of......(3 other schools)... are yet to release
one or two of their students to report to Taura.”
What is surprising about this is
the Principals’ unwillingness to participate in the scheme, the argument being
they should be the first to demand equal opportunities for girls in science -
especially in a place such as Kano where very few girls are encouraged to
attend modern schools. It should have been expected those few who do show
inclinations towards science (certainly an unusual occurrance for girls from
Kano) would be encouraged by their own Principals. The fundamental principle
behind the science schools is the belief that the Science Schools, being
specialist, may cater for the needs of the students in science more than in
normal schools. Consequently, the chances of those students in pursuing
scientific careers are thought to be higher in the Science Schools.
A further observation is women
such as the Principals of the schools who refused to allow their students to go
to the Science School, being educated in the modern sense, are expected to be
more liberal in their attitudes to female schooling. Thus their opposition, as
in the case of their male counterparts, underscored their uncertainties about
how the girls Science School will affect them personally, rather than a
reflection of their professional concern about the quality of education in
their schools.
But not all Principals opposed
the girls Science School. As a female Principal in a (prestigious girls)
nonscience school rationalized,
“I know quite a number of Principals do not like
the idea of the Science Board selecting their best students. But as far as I am
concerned it boils down to the same thing. You are educating these students for
the state and the country at large. So it doesn’t matter whether they are here
(in a nonscience school) or at Taura. It is the same thing. Moreover, I feel
with the Science Board, the girls have a better chance at science education.”
(Interview 15/10/1986)
Right from the time the science
school for girls was established, the Board made it clear that provision in the
school would be along the same line as in the boys schools. The only
discrimination - it may be labelled that in another perspective - was in the
range of subjects offered to the girls. They have all the subjects offered to
the boys except Further Mathematics, Agricultural Science and Technical
Drawing; although Food and Nutrition is compulsory for the girls, and it is not
taught to the boys.
Fundamental characteristics II: The
teachers
In the initial stages of the
project - with a buoyant economy - the Science Board recruited its science
teachers from US and UK. Alhaji Ado Gwaram, the first Executive Secretary
headed the recruitment team. As he explained, there was a definite strategy in
the choice of main officers of the schools which was based on his own
specifications. For instance, the Principals for the Science Schools
“...must be Americans. Oh yes, because my own
feeling was we were talking about science education. America at that time had
gone to the moon. Their science matched even the Soviet Unions’. So if you are
talking about modern science, the pragmatic way you can approach it is you go
to America. So we said there will be two principals and they have got to be
Americans. And I made up my mind they have got to be Americans.” (Interview
22/2/1987)
This rationale is the nearest the
Science Schools came to being identified as part of the science curriculum
reform movement by those who initiated the project (it may be seen as that),
even though no awareness of the reform movements was acknowledged by the
officials. It is therefore interesting although the Science Schools project was
entirely a local concept, it was only when it came to being operationalized
that outside expert assistance in science education was sought. Curiously
enough, the Science Board wanted the British as the Heads of Departments. As
Gwaram further explained,
“Then I said these schools are going to have heads
of departments. So what we should do is, the Heads of Departments for Physics,
Chemistry, Biology and Technical Drawing have to be British. This was my own
idea in my own law. And I said they got to be British because I know British.
If they make up their minds they want to do something, they will commit
themselves to forget even their families their wives until the thing is
successful. This was true of the British I knew; I don’t know of the younger generation
of Britons today. But certainly from my generation up I can tell you if they
say they can take on a job, they will do it. So I said the Heads of Departments
have to be British.” (Interview 22/2/1987)
The Vice-Principals and the
Assistant Head of Departments will come from Kano, the idea being the indigenes
will eventually take over the main responsibilities of the schools and the
departments from the expatriate leaders of the Science Schools.
The first teacher recruitment
tour was to England. In its 1st July 1977 edition, The Times Educational
Supplement carried an advertisement (p.64) issued by the Nigerian High
Commission in the United Kingdom which invites interested British science and
technical teachers to apply for teaching appointments with the Science Board in
all science subjects including and Mathematics, Technical Drawing and English
Language, and in all posts. According to one of the British teachers (Technical
Drawing) recruited at the time (and being British, was made a Head of Department),
“Twelve British expatriates were recruited, none
with less than eight years overseas experience. Six were to go to each
(science) school. We were all informed that we were recruited for our known
expertise. We were informed at the time of recruitment that the State (Kano)
was faced with low levels of expertise in all fields of science and technology.
All were told that they were taking part in an experiment that would have
far-reaching consequences in Kano State. All were told that it was their expertise
that the Board was looking up to. All were told that they were expected to be
as innovative as possible.”
Here it is significant to note
although expertise was a much desired property of the teachers recruited, the
issue of the nature of the curriculum they will handle was never communicated
to them. Yet this is important, because as explained by Driscoll,
“It is (in) the recruitment of teachers who have
been trained in the techniques of Nuffield Science, team teaching and discovery
learning that (one) finds (his) role requirement entirely different to what is
expected of him. He would have been told that Nigerian children are eager to
learn (very true), but he would not have been told that Muslim children expect
the same teaching styles as they found in the Quranic schools. Children see
secondary school as an extension of the Quranic school and expect the teacher
to think like-wise. It is the greatest source of European teacher frustration
and therefore a source of conflict that I am aware of in classroom teaching
situations in the Northern States.” (Driscoll 1980 p.15)
Thus the expatriates recruited,
especially the British, and possibly the Americans - even though many may have
had experiences teaching in similar cultural contexts to Kano - came to the
Science Schools with a fixed expectation of the sort of curriculum they are
expected to teach (e.g. ‘Nuffield Science’).
But although the expatriate
teachers, especially those from U.S. and U.K. were considered the best by the
Science Board because of their relatively wider exposure to events and
developments in science education, they are also very expensive. And the
economic atmosphere that saw the creation of the Science Secondary Schools with
attendant overseas tours to recruit highly qualified expatriate staff had, by
early 1980s changed into an ugly weather pattern. As a Kano State government
report stated,
“It should be noted that two thirds of the Senior
Staff are expatriate recruited from U.K. About N40,000.00 will be required to
pay them their 15% contract addition and another N15,000.00 will be needed to
pay some of them who will be due for their 15% contract gratuity (during the
current financial year). The total cost of passages to Nigeria of the 18
recently recruited expatriate will be about N8,000.00.” (Kano State 1979a
p.153)
Moreover, the continuously
depressing economic situation of Nigeria forced the federal government to
introduce stringent measures of foreign exchange control from 1982.
Subsequently, this led to a reduction of expatriate home remittance allowed by
the government to about 25% and a further restriction of expatriate recruitment
facilities by the various state governments in Nigeria. This, inevitably, has
to force the Science Board to increase its recruitment drive of local (i.e.
Nigerian) teachers, and although it would have preferred indigineous teachers
(i.e. from Kano State since they are not employed on contract basis). But
graduate teachers from Kano rarely apply to teach science in Kano, not even in
the Science Schools, as Table 5.4 shows.
|
Subject
|
All
|
Kano
|
Others
|
Grad. Kano
|
Grad. Others
|
|
Biology
|
86
|
13
|
73
|
3
|
51
|
|
Chemistry
|
57
|
8
|
47
|
5
|
20
|
|
Physics
|
34
|
9
|
25
|
1
|
11
|
|
Maths
|
49
|
17
|
31
|
5
|
7
|
|
English
|
69
|
11
|
54
|
1
|
17
|
|
Totals
|
295
|
58
|
230
|
15
|
106
|
(Source: Science Schools Board, 1987)
The scarcity of Kano graduates
applying to teach in the Science Schools as reflected in Table 5.4 was
attributed to two direct reasons, and were made clear to the Science Board by
various teachers during the formers’ familiarization tour of the various
institutions under the Board between January to March 1985.
First was general welfare.
Despite being established since 1977, the Science Board has not yet worked out
conditions and schemes of service for its employees - and that included the
teachers. As the Report of the Familiarization tour tabled before the Board on
17 April 1985 recorded,
“Staff employed by the Board on Permanent
appointment (from Kano) expressed fear and uncertainty on their future,
considering that the Board is yet to have conditions and Schemes of Service
from which they can assess their future prospects and benefits on retirement or
death.”
The second reason was a direct
outcome of the Nigerian economic prosperity. In past it become an established
service norm for university graduates to expect to have a car when they start
their jobs through a car loan facility. And due to the inefficient nature of
the transport system any where in Nigeria, the desire for the car becomes
necessary for young university graduates both as social symbols and as the only
practical means of movement. This has reached a point where the issue of a car
loan becomes a determining factor on whether to stay or not in an organization.
As the report of the tour of the Board further recorded,
“The staff also vehemently complained of lack of
Car loan facilities in the Board for the past four years and urged the Board to
consider as a matter of urgency providing car loan facilities to alleviate the
sufferings of staff, especially those stationed outside Kano municipal.”
These two issues - conditions of
service and car loan facilities - were mainly responsible for lack of teachers
in some disciplines, especially those from Kano. As the Principal of a Science
School observed,
“When I came here I don’t think we had more than
four Kano State teachers. When you recruit, they leave soon after. And the main
thing here is car loan. So when he finds anywhere he can get car loan, he just
quits and goes. So obviously we are losing most teachers who don’t care about
other incentives, but the car loan. Give him the car loan and possibly pay his
salary after forty days, he won’t mind.” (CTV 27/2/1986)
And since the conditions of
service in the industrial establishments for young university science graduates
are far more attractive than what the Science Board could offer, it became a
pattern over the years for teachers to use the Science Board as a basis for
moving to lucrative careers - a situation not favoured by the Board. As the
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board held on 20th November 1985 observed and
recommended,
“The Board is fully aware that in the past,
officers have used the Board as stepping stone to bargain for higher salaries
with other employers. The Board will therefore consider the following:
henceforth all Senior Staff employed by the Board on first appointment be
employed on one year Provisional appointment. Salary scale to be offered to
such officers should be the same as for officers with similar qualifications
and experience joining the civil service. On satisfactory completion of one
year provisional appointment, the officers should be converted to permanent and
pensionable or contract officers.”
But during my field work, this
recommendation became a focus of my discussion with many teachers who pointed
out although they have been on provisional appointments for over a year, the
Board still has not upgraded them. And since they are convinced they can earn
better salaries - and some put it, better job satisfaction - in industries,
some had already started negotiating for alternative appointments. It would
seem that by 1986 the very essence of the Science Secondary Schools Project had
undergone some form of transformation, and the zeal with which the projected
was initiated, sapped away by evolutionary factors, none of which was
anticipated and therefore planned for, by the initiators of the project.
Fundamental characteristics III: The
pedagogic context
Getting the science schools properly
equipped became the next priority of the Science Board during the intial start
of the project. In an internal communication dated 25 March 1977, the Board
noted
“since the appointment of the Science Board,
discussions have been going on on the need to equip the Science Secondary
Schools with up-to-date instructional materials/equipment whenever they
(schools) are officially opened. The educational/pedagogical reason for this is
simple. Students to be admitted will, in the main, come to the Science Schools
deficient in vital areas, Maths and English. In order to remedy this and also
lay solid foundations, conscious efforts must be made to ensure that both the
teaching techniques and the learning styles applied are relevant and
result-oriented. Once course contents take cognizance of
interest/relevance/meaning and use of instructional technology, results are
bound to be improved positively and speedily. In this regard, the following
suggestions are put forward:
a) that
publishers, as many as possible, be requested to supply the Board with
catalogues and specimen copies of modern instructional materials for inspection
b) such request
should cover the following areas: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Technical
Drawing, Maths and English language.
c) that
standard equipment for Physics, Chemistry and Biology labs be obtained from
Ministry of Education. (List of technical drawing room equipment should also be
obtained).”
Here is is possible to see the
Science Board does not seem aware of the current trends in science education
reform, otherwise a more structured view of the curriculum materials - rather
than the random process adopted - would have emerged. It was aware science
needs to be taught in the Science Schools, but not aware of how it should be
done. I raised this issue with Ayagi who admitted
“Many of us in the (Manpower Development
Committee) were not science graduates. We were simple teachers of Arts and so
on. Our main interest was to provide a situation where you give yourself the
chance to select the best students that are endowed in science and develop that
so that they could now perform better than they used to. The idea of being
dissatisfied with the teaching of science at that time was not in anybody’s
mind. Not as a concept. We were only dissatisfied with the performance, and
therefore indirectly with the teaching of that science to our pupils at that
time. Okay may be there were deficiencies in the teaching method. May be. But
the only way out is to get excellent teachers, and get excellent equipment. We
had no quarrel with the equipment as we didn’t even know the equipment. We knew
there were equipments and there were syllabuses and so on. But we didn’t bother
ourselves even to look at them because we were not experts. Our expertise is
only in provisions.” (Interview 7/1/1987)
This lack of expertise, plus
opposition to the project made initial equipping of the schools, and subsequent
maintenance quite difficult, although those charged with the project
implementation have their own ways of solving some of such problems. As the
second Executive Secretary to the Science Board, Mallam D S Ibrahim remembered
the situation in 1978,
“I found myself trying to equip the two Science
Schools with virtually nothing. Now what happened was at that time we had problems
in getting science equipment. But then we found that there were quite a number,
in fact more than we can use, stashed in various Teachers’ Colleges as science
equipment meant for the UPE teachers colleges which I thought at that time will
never be used. So what I did was I went to some of these teachers colleges and
cart them out and distributed them to these two science schools! And that
nearly cost me my job because I did it in the most, well, I know the Principals
and I went and took it from them and I made a list of all I took, and I dumped
them to these two science schools. And having done that , I then notified the
Ministry of Education, because I knew I told them before I will never get it. I
had some queries, but by then it was too late.” (Interview 29/9/1986)
Again here personal commitment
coupled with fellowship linkages emerge as significant factors in the project,
even though there was a financial vote for it. And the problem was not
restricted to the initial stages only. During the inaugural Familiarization
Tour of the newly appointed Science Boardin March 1985,
“...complaints were made to the Board in all
schools visited on inadequate allocation of funds made to schools for purchase
of instructional materials necessary for quality teaching and learning. The
allocations made to the schools on teaching equipment were far too inadequate
as against actual requirement.” (Minutes of the Board, 17 April 1985)
But the reason for this was
attributed by the Science Board to insufficient funding. And although the
fellowship network that ensured the survival of the Science Schools project in
its infancy have ceased to be very important now the infant has become a child,
the problems of lack of support from other arms of the civil service were still
persistent. The Minutes of the Board further explained,
“The Board is requested to note that for two years
running (1983 and 1984), the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has been
under-paying the Board its approved budgetary subventions by amounts ranging
from over three hundred thousand naira (N300,000) in 1983 to over four hundred
and fifty thousand naira (N450,000) in 1984. In the first three months of 1985,
the Ministry underpaid the Board four hundred and fifty six thousand naira
(N456,000) through unexplained cuts from monthly subventions due to the Board.
Since payment of salaries (and related allowances), students feeding and
passages are basic, it is evident that these cuts adversely affect funds
earmarked for purchase of teaching materials.”
But the issue of the science
teaching emphasis in the schools still remained not addressed by the Science
Board. However, two attempts were made to to make the Science Board provide
framework around which a recognizable policy of science education can be used
as a basis for teaching and learning in the Schools.
The first attempt came from the
Comparative Education Study and Adaptation Centre (CESAC) of the University of
Lagos which has developed a new science programme called the Nigerian Secondary
Schools Science Project (this was adopted in all Nigerian schools in 1985 as a
new science curriculum). This was in 1979 and was the result of visits by the
CESAC team to Kano and especially to the Science Secondary School Dawakin Tofa.
From the visits and discussions with some of the officials of the Science
Board, the team leader, Dr U M O Ivowi later sent a communication on 25th May
1979 to the Executive Secretary in which he said the team was
“convinced of the existence of adequate facilities
and resources for an effective execution of our science project. With good
laboratories and equipment, your experienced staff should have no difficulty in
teaching science through the discovery approach which our project
advocates...We assume that one of the major aims of establishing the special
schools for science education is to accelerate the rate of production of
scientifically competent boys and girls for science and technology activities
in our higher institutions and in the economy. This is the underlying objective
of our science project in our school system. We present science in a practical
way; we encourage pupils to ‘do’ science and not ‘read’ science; we work
towards the development of scientific skills and attitudes in pupils. If we
have correctly read your motive of establishing science secondary schools, it
appears that we have a basis for a cooperative effort at achieving our science
and technology goals.”
There does not seem to be any
acknowledgement to CESAC by the Science Board about these proposals. This is
because on 20th August 1979, CESAC sent a reminder to the Science Board adding,
“We are particularly interested in playing a part
in your science endeavours at the secondary school level in the State. You may
wish to suggest a meeting in Kano with your officials to discuss our proposals.
In that care, we shall be very pleased to be in Kano at your own convenience”
There was no further
communication after this. The interest of the CESAC in the Science Schools of
Kano is justified by the innovatory nature of the schools, as well the science
education activities of CESAC itself. Both were new ventures in science
education. And with the full adoption of the CESAC developed science curriculum
in all Nigerian schools in 1985, the Science Schools have the unique property
of combining two science curriculum reform strategies. But because the CESAC
and the initiators of the Science Schools Project were motivated by different
reasons, as well as different priorities for engaging in the science education
reform, break down in communication between the two was a natural consequence.
The second attempt to get a
clearer idea of the level of expectations of the science teaching and learning
dynamics from the Science Board was from an internal source. On 24th June 1981,
a group of teachers (most of them expatriates) from the Dawakin Kudu Science
School wrote a communique to the Science Board expressing their concern about
the curriculum of the Science Schools by stating,
“In the past four years of existence of the
science schools, it is evident that there has been a clear lack of academic and
professional leadership conducive to better teaching and learning in these
schools. The major reason for this is the fact that the science schools are
dependent on Kano Educational Resource Centre for these services. The decisions
made by the KERC on most academic and professional matters are often against
the best interest of these schools. The science schools depend on the KERC for
professional advice and help, Common Mock Examinations, and organization of
various academic competitions”
The teachers’ communique
requested the Board to set up a professional service unit within the Science
Secondary Schools Management Board. In the analysis of their reasons for this
(and thus independence from the KERC), they argued
“Since the inception of the Science Schools in
1977, the professional association of the KERC with these schools has been
limited to one inspection for the purpose of recognizing the schools for the
West African School Certificate Examinations. In addition to this, the
inspectors in KERC have provided the schools with schemes of work in various
subjects. In most subject areas, these schemes are totally irrelevant to the
needs of the schools, and they seem to defeat the whole purpose for which the
science schools are established. These schemes are just a collection of topics
without any central theme, nor are they designed to cater for the particular
needs of the science schools. The very fact that the students in these schools
are selected to do science courses in an atmosphere different from that of the
conventional secondary schools, calls for the need for special teaching
programmes and schemes in these schools. The KERC has made no effort to come
forward with any constructive programme to be implemented in the science
schools.”
It is thus interesting that in
all the preparations for the establishment of the Science Schools there were no
professional services, until much later when as a result of lack of Membership to
the Board, the Science Board set up various committees to handle its
administration, and which included the Academic Committee.
But the Academic Committee does
not provide for the services required by the teachers. If anything, the
Academic Committee was mainly concerned with admission of the students to the
Science Schools. It offers no professional guidance both on the teaching
processes or on selection of books and equipment to the Science Schools, even
though its functions were formally listed to include such services. This was
because the Science Board itself was not clear on how to go about this. I asked
a high official of the Science Board the criteria, for instance, used in
selecting books for the Science Schools. They have none, because
“The KERC studies all the textbooks currently in
the market, and then they recommend suitable textbooks for each subject. Based
on this recommendation, then we buy whatever textbooks are in the market for
particular subjects.” (Interview 23/9/1986)
This was almost ten years after
the establishment of the Science Schools. The selection of equipment was
carried out by a similar method. As the interview further recorded,
“Selecting laboratory materials is a simple thing,
because all you need to do is look through the syllabuses sent in by WAEC,
CESAC or whoever was developing the syllabus. From there you will see the kind
of things you need.” (Interview 23/9/1986)
Therefore although the Science
Schools project was conceived as a radical strategy aimed at eventual social
transformation through science education, its political and economic priorities
overshadowed its academic priorities.
The schools were therefore as
successful, despite massive educational and policy flaws in the beginning. The
initial success can be attributed to purposeful teaching and learning and a
solid foundation established by the pioneer teachers. However, the period from
1987 to 1997 was characterized by a progressive decline in the percentage
number of students qualified for university entry. Many reasons were
responsible for this. I will look at them in same pattern that I looked at the
first stage of the project.
The Science Schools Board was
changed to Science and Technical Schools Board in 1982 during the then brief
civilian era. It was with the view that science and technology are related,
therefore they should be under the same control. This was clearly a naïve view
of science as well as technology. These two are not related, even in
universities — Faculties of Technology exist separately from Faculties of
Science, and with little interactivity. It is ridiculous to assume merely
putting science and technical schools under the same administrative control
will yield subject integration and interoperability. The consequence of this is
that the Science Board became saddled with more schools, more responsibility,
and little budget increase within a relatively short period of time. The table
below shows the number of science schools under the Board’s control
since 1977
|
|
School
|
Year Established
|
|
1.
|
Dawakin
Kudu Science College
|
1977
|
|
2.
|
Dawakin
Tofa Science College
|
1977
|
|
3.
|
Taura
Girls Science Secondary School
|
1984 (Jigawa, 1991)
|
|
4.
|
Kafin
Hausa Boys’ Science Secondary School
|
1985 (Jigawa, 1991)
|
|
5.
|
Garko
Girls Science College
|
1992
|
|
6.
|
}iru
Girls Science Secondary School
|
1992
|
|
7.
|
Maitama
Sule Science College, Gaya
|
1993
|
|
8.
|
Kano
Day Science College
|
1993
|
The Taura and Kafin Hausa
Science Secondary Schools were transferred to Jigawa State when the latter
state was created in 1996.
It is perhaps not surprising
that the first two, being the oldest and the only ones for as long as seven
years, produced the best results (relatively). The rapidity with which new
schools were established between 1992 and 1993 clearly showed the effects of
political process on the system and lack of adequate and clear planning. The
Kano Day Science College was established due to the high number of applications
received from the Kano Municipal; so the Board decided to establish one
day-release school to cater for this — further reflecting muddled planning.
To make matters worse, the
Board established what it calls Consultancy Services Unit in March 1993 in
order to generate more revenue which only aided in compromising the quality of
attention given to the science schools.
The Board also became
increasingly saddled with the responsibility of selecting students not only for
its schools, but also for Rumfa College; Government Girls College, Dala;
Government College, Birnin Kudu; and Kano Capital School. It is clear
therefore that the extremely meticulous process adopted earlier in screening
the students for the admission exercises could no longer be maintained due to
the simply large number of students now involved for the selection exercise.
Subsequently, the attention of
the Board became so diversified that it lacked a clear direction. This became
much more clearer toward the middle 1980s and early 1990s.
An obvious first step,
therefore, is to separate the science schools from the technical schools. The
early schools were successful simply because there were only two of them. When
they became four, the picture started getting complicated. It is clear
therefore that the less, the better the quality of products.
Related to this is the issue of
autonomy. Since the Board was still more or less an affiliate of the Ministry
of Education, it was forced to source for money to keep afloat in the face of
reduced government funding attributed to the recession that hit the county in
the 1980s (itself a recipe for reducing the number of the schools under Board’s
direct control). Consequently it engaged in many commercial ventures such as
utilizing the workshops and students of the technical colleges to rehabilitate
furniture and other equipment. This took much of its time and reduced the
quality of attention it can provide to its other schools.
A clear reduction of the number
of schools is necessary to maintain the quality. The addition of Maitama Sule
Science College, Kano Day Science College, and Garko Girls Science College all
contributed to depressing the quality of the products due to diversified
attention. I would strongly suggest that the Board concentrates on Dawakin
Kudu, Dawakin Tofa and Garko as science colleges, and transfer the others to
the Ministry of Education.
A consequence of reduced
funding is reflected in the students selection process. To begin with, all the
students to the science schools from about 1982 were the UPE mass produced
junior secondary school students with extremely poor background — being
products of quantity, rather than quality. Whereas previously the students were
from Form II of conventional secondary schools, now they are the half-baked
products of the poorly implemented junior secondary schools. This was seen in
the consistent way the students fail the English language examination which was
used as the main basis for further selection. For instance, as a result of a
consultant’s report on improving selection and performance in English language,
the Board introduced a two stage selection examination in 1990: the first was
in English Language; only those who pass at the appropriate level can then sit
for the next series of subjects that will determine eligibility to the Science
Schools. Of the 17,000 who sat for this qualifying English examination, only
9,000 were able to pass enough to go to the next stage. It is not clear, in the
light of the Board’s sudden commercialization drive, whether this English
Language qualifying examination is still as forcefully used.
Admission in the first cycle of
the schools was based on merit. In the subsequent years it became a school-tie
old boy network process where influential people bring their children and
insist on them being admitted even if they did not pass (or take) the entrance
examination. Further, the rigorous enforcement of selection process
characteristic of the first generation life of the schools was discontinued;
admission forms to the Science Colleges are simply taken to various schools for
all and sundry to apply. Due to poor performance in English Language cut-off
points were reduced to as low as 30% to ensure a spread in local government
representation — necessary to entice the local governments to pay for the boarding
fees suddenly introduced by the Board.
Thus the already bad situation
was made worse in 1995 when the Board introduced _2,000 boarding fees. To enable
students pay this, a formula was worked out where the Local Governments pay on
the behalf of the students from their area. This eventually led to a situation
where a quota system became surreptitiously introduced so that all local
governments must be represented. Subsequently, some local governments stopped
paying the money, and students whose fees have not been paid were simply
rejected by the schools. In other words, the schools became more or less
commercial.
Yet it is difficult to see
where all the money collected went. In my Dawakin Kudu Student FGD, students
complained bitterly of many things. Food was both non-nutritious, non-balanced,
subsequently of poor quality and repeatedly insufficient quantity. Even then,
it was not given at the proper times; for instance breakfast is usually taken
at 10.30 a.m. Further, students complained bitterly of being given excessive
labor duties — sweeping classes, compounds, cutting grass, etc. Since these are
special colleges, and since they pay token fees, one would have expected an
army of laborers to look after the school compound. All the laboring the students
do take away the time they are supposed to spend on studying. There were also
no sports and other recreational facilities (e.g. television).
I must say, however, that I was
really impressed by the students I interacted with. They spoke their minds frankly
and freely in excellent, lucid prose, the command of which was rather
surprising for that level of education. One other point that stuck in my mind
was their repeated disappointment with the cancellation of an exit
facility. Without fail, they all expressed desire to be allowed to go home for
at least one day during the weekends. I strongly suspect this is to escape the
suffocating atmosphere of the schools (no water, no proper toilet facilities,
broken down generators), as well as, in their view, the horrible food. Students
pointed out that this was responsible for many of them sneaking out through the
fencing (and thus risking the harsh punishment to follow) to town. Commendably,
at least according to them, the school is drug-free; neither harboring dealers
or users of even the common drug among adolescents, marijuana.
While the first generation
teachers, being mainly expatriates trained in science teaching and exposed to
then more popular advocacy of science teaching, the subsequent curricular
provisions remained static and WAEC controlled, and the teachers became less
qualified to teach science in the schools. Almost all the teachers have degrees
in science, but they were not science teachers and clearly lacked the
methodology to effectively teach science in the way intended. Indeed teaching
methodology of at least the Technical Drawing teacher was used by a Dawakin
Kudu FGD participant as an example of poor teaching. The student actually took
out his drawing book and showed me a series of concentric circles, telling me
that they mean nothing to him, and that the teacher did not bother to explain
what they are; all attempts to get the teacher to talk are rebuffed and met
with severe punishment if the student persists.
In an ironic twist of fate, the
Government’s Appraisal Committee (Appendix 4) on noting the absence of quality
control mechanism in the school, recommended that inspectorate duties should be
performed by the KERDC. Yet in the first generation cycle of the schools, the
teachers (mainly expatriate) kicked against allowing KERDC to do such job, and
insisted on the establishment of an Academic Committee to do so. The fact that
the problem has recurred indicate a clear lack of a monitoring mechanism that ensures
correlation between what the teachers are doing and what the system expects
them to do. The subject inspectors sent by the Board are mainly perfunctory in
their inspections.
My day-long fieldwork tenure at
Dawakin Kudu for the purpose of this report also enabled me to be closely
acquainted with their library. Ironically, they have more chairs in the library
than in Bayero University Main Reading Room library! However, most of the books
are hopelessly outdated, and well worn out. It is clear therefore that both the
teachers and the students lack effective reference materials. Students who
cannot afford to buy any textbooks are clearly disadvantaged.
Teachers are therefore involved
in a conventional teaching process which neither takes into consideration the
student’s ability banding, nor attempts enhance the curricular fare of the
students. It is therefore imperative for the schools to introduce a series of elective
courses (as would eventually be common in all the classes in the country,
if the government accepts the recommendations of NERDC).
In using the examination
outcomes of the science schools as benchmarks of their success, it is often
overlooked that the overall results were not really spectacular, even in the
halcyon days. For instance, both the schools performed dismally in 1981, in
their second outing for the WAEC examinations, sending nervous signals to
policy makers who stood by the project. At the same time, however, they perked
up in 1988 during which they both scored over 50% examination success. Yet the
Board did not seize this opportunity of analyzing the diary of events of that
year to determine why there was such massive success.
A further analysis of the
individual results reveal that, for instance, although D/Kudu scored a
relatively 37.75% success rate in its first examination in 1980, it plummeted
to 19.49% the following year. The highest achievements in the school were in
1988 when as many as 50% of the students scored five credits and above. Generally,
however, the success rate of the school in the first cycle (1980-1989) was
fair, averaging almost 39%. Dawakin Tofa, on the other hand, started off poorly
and maintained that status for at least three years, perking up only in 1983
with a 24.10% success, although also plummeting down to 18.93 the following
year. Its most spectacular mass achievement was in 1988 when about 54% of the
students obtained the magical five credits and above. Overall, at only 30%
average performance, it is clearly the weak link in the chain of success of the
scientific manpower production in the state. Ironically, it was also Dawakin
Tofa that produced the most outstanding WAEC record in 1984 when Aminu Abba
(now a medical doctor) scored the highest results in the entire country — even
though the overall performance of the school was quite poor compared to the
previous year (or the next). To make it easier to see the trend of the results,
I have re-arranged the examination outcomes according to highest number of
students with five credits and more, as in Table 5.
jeka
|
Dawakin Kudu
|
Dawakin Tofa
|
|
Year
|
No
|
Passed
|
%
|
|
Year
|
No
|
Passed
|
%
|
|
1986
|
237
|
115
|
48.52
|
|
1988
|
170
|
93
|
54.70
|
|
1988
|
197
|
99
|
50.25
|
|
1987
|
208
|
87
|
41.82
|
|
1989
|
221
|
98
|
44.34
|
|
1986
|
228
|
80
|
35.08
|
|
1985
|
213
|
95
|
44.60
|
|
1985
|
236
|
65
|
27.54
|
|
1983
|
184
|
82
|
44.56
|
|
1989
|
212
|
54
|
25.47
|
|
1987
|
229
|
78
|
34.06
|
|
1983
|
112
|
27
|
24.10
|
|
1984
|
205
|
65
|
31.70
|
|
1984
|
169
|
32
|
18.93
|
|
1980
|
98
|
37
|
37.75
|
|
1982
|
157
|
27
|
17.19
|
|
1982
|
151
|
37
|
24.50
|
|
1980
|
85
|
12
|
14.11
|
|
1981
|
159
|
31
|
19.49
|
|
1981
|
67
|
08
|
11.94
|
|
Total
|
1,894
|
737
|
38.91
|
|
|
1,644
|
485
|
30.0
|
However, as explained earlier,
the 1980-1989 cohort were able to, by 1993, produce as many as 1,053 scientists,
doctors, and engineers — the much needed manpower for technological
development. Although up till now, about six years after their mass production,
the state is still yet to develop technologically!! Clearly there is another
magic ingredient needed for scientific and technological development of a
society than simply having a large pool of scientific or technological
manpower.
Of the original pool of schools,
two which showed promise — a boy’s school at Kafin Hausa and a girls’ school at
Taura — were consigned to Jigawa State, leaving Kano with the original two at
Dawakin Kudu and Dawakin Tofa. Thus the late 1980s and early 1990s reflected a
remarkable change in the fortunes of the science schools. The years became
times of political considerations leading to more new schools being established
at Gaya and Garko. The management of the Board became more commercial,
charging, for the first time, considerable fees for Boarding, following the
Kano State Government policy to deboard all its schools sometimes in 1993.
Funding to the Board either became insufficient or was inefficiently utilized
leading to reduced quality of instruction in the schools. The general social
movement of austerity, economic crunch, embargo on jobs, etc all contributed to
massive resignation of teachers — as many as 105 in the era — from the system.
The result were reflected in the five credit success of the schools from
1990-1999 as shown in Table 6.
|
Dawakin Kudu
|
|
Dawakin Tofa
|
|
Year
|
No
|
Passed
|
%
|
|
Year
|
No
|
Passed
|
%
|
|
1994
|
121
|
56
|
46.28
|
|
1995
|
172
|
52
|
30.23
|
|
1996
|
125
|
55
|
44.00
|
|
1992
|
206
|
60
|
29.12
|
|
1990
|
189
|
75
|
39.68
|
|
1990
|
185
|
52
|
28.10
|
|
1992
|
200
|
73
|
36.50
|
|
1996
|
147
|
36
|
24.48
|
|
1995
|
170
|
58
|
34.11
|
|
1991
|
170
|
37
|
21.76
|
|
1998
|
166
|
55
|
33.13
|
|
1997
|
119
|
22
|
18.48
|
|
1991
|
186
|
46
|
24.73
|
|
1998
|
104
|
19
|
18.26
|
|
1997
|
98
|
14
|
14.28
|
|
1994
|
220
|
22
|
10.00
|
|
1993
|
219
|
23
|
10.50
|
|
1993
|
252
|
18
|
7.14
|
Surprisingly, just as in 1981 the
two schools produced their worst results, a similar pattern is repeated in 1993
when the results of the schools were both less than 11% each. It is instructive
that there was no single year during the 1990-1998 era in which any of the
schools scored 50% in its results — disturbingly, it was only in 1994 and 1996
that Dawakin Kudu scored 46 and 44% respectively: the highest in the period.
Generally, however, Dawakin Kudu
maintained its lead in producing consistently better results even in the “apocalyptic”
years, although the highest produced was in 1994 with about 46.28% of the
students obtaining five credits and above. The drop in the quality of results
in this period was must faster than in the halcyon days, with the worst results
being produced in 1993 at 10.50%. This is seen in the two summaries below:
Summary, 1980-1989
|
School
|
No
|
Passed
|
%/Av
|
|
D/Kudu
|
1,894
|
737
|
38.91
|
|
D/Tofa
|
1,644
|
485
|
30.0
|
|
Total
|
3,538
|
1,222
|
35.0
|
Summary, 1990-1999
|
School
|
No
|
Passed
|
%
|
|
D/Kudu
|
1,474
|
455
|
30.86
|
|
D/Tofa
|
1,575
|
318
|
20.19
|
|
Total
|
3,049
|
773
|
25.35
|
Thus Dawakin Tofa also maintained its second class
position to Dawakin Kudu by producing increasingly depressing results,
producing its highest result in the ten-year period only in 1995 at 30.23% — as
compared to 54% in 1988. Perhaps it is the results of Dawakin Tofa that often
raise the alarm of lowering quality of students in the Science Colleges.
There is a clear drop in
performance between the two time clusters. From 1980-1989, Dawakin Kudu dropped
from 38.39% to 30.86% average performance in examinations. Dawakin Tofa
similarly dropped from 30% to 20% within the same period. Thus the overall
performance of Dawakin Kudu in the nineteen year period was 35%, while that of
Dawakin Tofa was 25%. By and large, however, in the almost twenty-year period,
a total of 6,587 science students were produced, with 1,1995
of them obtaining university level examination success, which represents about
30.28%, as reflected in the summary below.
Summary, 1980-1998
|
School
|
1980-1998
|
%
|
% of Total
|
|
Dawakin
Kudu
|
3,368
|
1,192
|
35.39
|
18.09
|
|
Dawakin
Tofa
|
3,219
|
803
|
25.0
|
12.19
|
|
Grand Total
|
6,587
|
1,995
|
30.28
|
30.28
|
Thus Dawakin Kudu has produced
18.09% of the total results in the almost twenty year period, while Dawakin
Tofa produced only 12.19%. So why was Dawakin Kudu consistently better
than Dawakin Tofa, especially as both apparently started from the same “level
playing ground”? As noted earlier, although statistics have not been presented,
but from FGD sessions with officials and teachers, it would appear that there
is more high teacher quality presence at Dawakin Kudu than Dawakin Tofa, due to
the former’s relative proximity to the Kano CBD. And yet Dawakin Tofa is also
located along a similar network, so that could not really be the total
explanation. Another reason given for higher concentration of teachers at
Dawakin Kudu was its proximity to a major highway linking Kano to the southern
exit of the country. Since the history of Kano has been punctuated with civil
disturbances, non-indigenes are happy when there is a possibility of an escape
route nearby. Dawakin Kudu, located off Zaria Road, provides such handy exit
point.
It is clear that the success of the science secondary
schools in Kano has dipped; but not as dramatically as being made out. A more
detailed study would need to be carried out to compare the performance of the
students in all the science secondary schools in other states; as well a more
information from the various higher institutions about the graduation rates of
the students. Further, these results merely show those students with five
credits and above; they did not indicate in which subjects the credits
were obtained. For instance, credits in Islamic Studies, Hausa Language,
English Language, Biology and Physics are commendable enough; but useless combination
for a science career.
The seemingly poor performance of
the students in the Science Colleges must be seen in light of previous
achievements, but still incomparable with the performance of students in
standard secondary schools. For instance, the results of the 1998 SSCE
examinations in Kano revealed that only 50 students scored five credits and
above — out of over 10,000 entrants; the Science Colleges among themselves
alone produced 74 students with five credits in the same year .
Finally, therefore, what made
the Colleges successful in the first instance?
It is quite easy to distill the
reasons for the success of the science colleges in the first ten years of their
establishment. These are all attributable to:
·
sheer excitement at being a pioneer educational experiment — the first
of its kind in the entire continent (the nearest to it is the Kenya Science
Teachers’ College)
·
high caliber staff with orientations and training in science
education and aware of the purpose of science in development
·
Board membership that provided excellent policy focus in line
with development perspectives
·
liberal fiscal policy that ensured regular supply of quality
materials and equipment to the schools
·
stringent student selection policy that ensured only the best
entrants are taken to the science schools — regardless of social status
·
virtual zero school fees charged on graded-scale linked to the
child’s socio-economic status; thus government subsidy enables bright children
from poor homes to benefit from education in science.
·
fewer schools, which means more attention to the individual units
·
low development cycle: after the first schools in 1977, the next
schools were established in 1984, and the next in 1992 — thus a gap of six to
seven years in-between new schools. This provided sufficient time to study each
school and attempt to replicate its success.
Conversely, the following might
be attributed to the downfall of the schools in the last ten years:
·
inept Board leadership
·
increasing commercialization of science education in the state
·
embargo on staff recruitment which made it impossible to
replenish increasingly dwindling number of teachers
·
inefficient Board Membership which lacks focus to provide
effective guide to the matters of the schools
·
lack of professionalization of the teachers, leading to stale and
redundant teaching methodology
·
political power-play which saw a rapid increase in the number of
schools —two were created within just two years
·
overburdened Board which had too many modules — technical
schools, vocational centers, consultancy services unit, etc — to focus
attention on each individual module effectively.
·
compromising the student selection process which makes it now
open virtually to any child whose Local Government council is willing to pay
his _2,000
“boarding fees”
·
dilapidated structures — such that the Board needed more than _10
million in 1999 to begin to set things right.
·
prison environment for students who feel caged, with little poor
quality non-nutritious food, lack of gaming and sports facilities, lack of
basic amenities such as regular supply of water, and lack of leisure times and
reading materials
·
antiquated library stock that was more suited to 1960s rural
English primary school than a millennium high caliber science facility
As indicated earlier, a more
sustained and detailed study is needed to obtain the complete picture of the
status of science teaching and learning in the Science Colleges. Nevertheless,
as a pilot study, this report provides indications of the trends and
patterns, sources of concern, and thus focus of action to bring about change.
And it is quite clear that such change cannot be brought about by the
government bureaucratic machinery. A pressure group, such as the Kano Forum,
can effectively bring about change in many ways. I have carefully selected
about 17 or so individual ways change can be brought about to improve the
status of the science schools, but I have decided to put them in the Executive
Summary of this report, rather than this conclusion.
Section IV: Analysis
And Conclusions
This web page traces the
emergence of the Science Schools project from 1975 to 1999, paying particular
attention to its most fundamental characteristics: genesis, the students, the
teachers and the pedagogic context.
Although not all aspects of the
project were discussed in the account here, the account provides a basic
framework for analysing the origins of the project. In the analysis, I will
draw from two theoretical bases. The first deals with the general pattern of
changes in education, and the strategies of implementing the changes. The
second base discusses the emergence of the project in terms of its structural
components.
The theoretical implications of
the project are wide, but clear. The emergence of power, authority and fellowship
network connections in getting the project started clearly defies any
theoretical assumption which suggests implementation of innovations, or indeed
even their emergence, is the outcome of mutually agreed set of priorities. In
this, the Authority Innovative Decision model proposed by Rogers and Shoemaker
(1971) seems be confirmed, although the authority figures did not follow all
the patterns envisaged by Rogers and Shoemaker. For instance, although there
was an awareness of the need for the Science Schools, there was a lot of
persuasion and arm twisting regarding the intended change (Science Schools),
but there was no dialogue as to whether to adopt or reject. Adoption was forced
because the policy initiators had enough power or what I call Fellowship
Network Interactions to get it through. The Fellowship Network Interactions
strategy therefore emerged as the main motor of certain types of educational
change activity in Nigeria.
This development did not confirm
Havelock and Huberman’s (1978) expression of power in educational changes,
especially where they argued,
“It is certainly hard to imagine how a complex
project with ambitious goals could ever succeed without a set of rules and
procedures which everyone was obliged to follow, and this inevitably means
surrendering some amount of autonomy. No one would seriously argue this point.
The real question is how far can one rely on such mechanisms as the primary or
sole means of introducing a change.” (Havelock and Huberman 1978 p.256)
But the development of the
Science Schools clearly demonstrates that power can be used as the sole
mechanism of introducing change. However, even within the framework of this
counter-argument, power alone, as the account of the Science Schools show
cannot get educational reforms introduced and implemented. The Ministry of
Education Kano was presented with a proposal to set up the project. It rejected
it. No amount of power coercion could force it to agree to the project. That
the project became possible was coincidental. And even then, the inadequacy of
power alone manifested itself in that although the project has become a
government concern, opposition to it could have prevented it from operating at
full functional capacity. It was the personal commitment, friendship and
understanding among those charged with implementing the project at its infancy
(especially 1977 to 1982) as well as their combined influence in the Kano State
political hierarchy that made the infant a robust toddler.
This dimension (fellowship network
interaction) does not seem reflected in any theoretical model which describes
how educational changes come into being, although elements of it were
acknowledged by Rogers and Shoemaker (1971). What makes it unique is its
combination of elements of Diffusion strategies (Havelock and Huberman 1978 p.
259) and Power Coercive strategies in describing the origin of educational
innovations. But this dimension of educational change is not complete because
it describes the change process only in terms of the policy initiators, and
excludes other components of the process.
The second theoretical base is
the IAC project pattern synthesized by Havelock and Huberman (1978) which
describes educational innovations in terms of their structural components. In
using the IAC as an analytical tool, I encountered some problems not taken into
account by the model. For instance, it was not clear whether such project
patterns adopted by any change strategy will remain fixed for the rest of the
duration of the project. This is because, as demonstrated by the genesis of the
Science Secondary Schools project in Kano, due to changes in political
sentiments and unstable nature of economy (both not accounted for by the
project) shades of patterns fade out.
To begin with, the first pattern
discernible, using the IAC framework, is I+ A+ C-, where good infrastructures
(I+) - both the Science Schools newly acquired and the Board newly created to
manage them - are coupled with enthusiastic authority (A+) but with general low
consensus (C-) considering the strength of the opposition to the Science
Schools both within the Kano State Executive Council and as provided by the
Principals of the feeder schools.
But the authority itself did not
remain A+ because a change in government saw the ushering in of an I+ A- and C+
configuration, in which other socio-politically powerful forces within the Kano
State Civil Service attempted to block the project. The Commissioner for
Education in 1980, for instance, did not approve of the schools (creating an
A-). And by then the effect of the A+ in the first configuration has generated
some measure of consensus in this second configuration (C+). This is surprising
since with an unenthusiastic authority (A-, consensus, which has never been
positive to begin with, should also be negative.
But the second configuration (I+
A- C+) does not enable us to determine the nature of the consensus. For
instance, from the account of the genesis given in this web page, it emerged
although some members of the Kano State Executive Council still opposed the
project, the Principals of the feeder schools seemed to have accepted it in the
sense of allowing their best students to be taken away to provide the first set
of students for the Science Schools. This is the conclusion given by the I+ A-
C+ configuration. But as the events showed, this was a forced consensus on the
part of the Principals. Thus the model does not enable us to distinguish
between a consensus arising from conviction orother, hidden, political forces.
This is quite important, because as Havelock and Huberman (1978) suggested,
“We would predict that C+ is a critical component
at the local level in order both to initiate and to implement an innovation.
Also, when C+ is obtained at this level, I+ and A+ are more likely to accompany
it.” (p.84)
But this is not so according to
the pattern of development of the Science Secondary Schools project. Consensus
can be forced in one authoritative form - getting the students to the school by
whatever means. But getting a measure of co-operation from those responsible
for implementing the objectives of the project is another issue. And in the
case of the Science Schools Project, C+ (obtained by whatever means) was not
accompanied by I+ and A+ at the same time. Indeed, I+ seemed to be independent
of C+ but quite reliant on A+.
In any event, this configuration
did not last long, as a third one emerged which showed I+ A+ C- reverting back
to the first type, and some Principals refused to allow their students to be
taken away from their schools. Indeed, by this stage, it might even be possible
to discern a configuration of I+ A- C- because the opposition to the project
(A- and C-) resurfaced itself again over the decade in various forms. And
throughout all these changes in the configurations of the project pattern, I+
has remained more or less positive; i.e. the infrastructure, as can be deduced
at this stage, has remained what it should be.
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