Secondary education in Nigeria is at the center of the educational system. It is strategically placed in the system and I believe it affects employment, hence its importance. In this article, I will examine secondary education and share ideas on how it can be improved in Nigeria.

In Nigeria, secondary education is the type of education a student receives after primary education. It is that kind of education that precedes tertiary Education.

Over the years, the structures and patterns of secondary education and indeed the educational system in general has changed. From the 6-3-3-4 system which states a child goes through 6 years of primary education, 3 years of junior secondary education, 3 years of senior secondary education, and then 4 years of tertiary education. Today, we have the 9-3-4 system. This system explains that a Nigerian child will undergo 9 years of basic education (which invariably is the combination of the 6 years’ primary education and 3 years’ junior secondary education), 3 years of senior secondary education and 4 years of tertiary education.

As at today, secondary education is controlled by individual states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Which means that state governments are directly in charge of regulating and financing secondary education in their respective states. We also have Federal Government Colleges, a secondary school which is directly managed by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Improving secondary education

One way to improve secondary education in Nigeria is to re-examine the goal of secondary education. According to the National Policy of Education (2004), the goal of secondary education in Nigeria is to prepare the individual for 

(a) useful living within the society; and

(b) higher education

These goals are noble but taking a closer look at them reveals that only one of them is being achieved. And that is ‘preparing students for higher education’. This is made possible by the certification one receives after completing secondary education. At the end of secondary education, a student is examined on various subjects in line with his or her proposed career goal and then the student is presented with a certificate. This certificate is the proof that a student completed secondary education and it certifies the student for tertiary education. 

For me, this is where the problem lies. The goal of secondary education should not just be a certificate. The goal of secondary education should be self-reliance. Secondary education should not just leave the student with a certificate; secondary education should leave the student with a skill – a life skill, a survival skill, a marketable skill, and economically viable skills. Secondary education should leave students with a skill, or some skill sets that helps the individual to be productive and self-reliant. 

I think that the focus on the two major goals of secondary education should be re-examined. Apparently, more attention is paid to preparing students for higher education than preparing them with viable 21st century skills for useful living within the society.

My point is this. Secondary education should not just be about preparing you for University. Secondary education should be about preparing you for life. How? By empowering you to discover and develop your skills, gifts and talents, so you can start up a business and offer your skills to solve problems. Secondary education should be skill based. The focus of secondary education should be skills, practical and relevant present day skills.

So with this system, a student who has completed secondary education can decide to start something with the skills that he has learned or developed. He could decide to further develop and explore those skills at the tertiary level, in universities, polytechnics and specialized tertiary instructions.

Some may argue that it’s too early to talk about skills at the secondary level of education, but I think that’s where it starts from. We need to begin as early as possible to position and fortify our students with relevant 21st century skills that they can always hold on to after secondary education. I tell you, this will have a positive ripple effect and reduce unemployment.

Finding yourself in a new work environment is something that can leave you second guessing all the time. First, it takes some time to get used to new ways of doing things, new work schedules and even getting familiarized with new colleagues. Of course, a few awkward moments are expected. This is normal. 

In one particular instance, a worker who was new in a particular organization, and who happened to have met a new acquaintance at work was given a list of dos and don’ts by his new “friend” on how to approach every manager. I understand what the friend was trying to do. He was just trying to make things as easy as possible for his new colleague.  This isn’t particularly a bad thing as many organizations even organize orientation programmes for new employees as it helps in familiarization.

Still, it is important to note that studying the organization by making your own observations will give you a perspective that suits you. There is no guarantee that Manager A who reacted in a particular way under a particular circumstance to Mr B  will react in a similar way to Mr C in the same kind of circumstance. This is true for so many reasons. One being that the difference in personalities can make people to react differently even in identical circumstances . Hence, you get situations like this where a particular individual does a particular thing and gets away with it, whereas another fellow who does something similar pays dearly for doing the same thing. Then he thinks it has something to do with bias. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. The tips outlined below can help one familiarize in a new work environment:

• Get Updated: Go through their website, study space,  come a little bit earlier than the other workmates so you can have that extra hour you need to look around and see how things are.
• Be Friendly and Create A Good First Impression: This helps in so many ways as many people will continue to see  you based on the initial impression you created. Introduce yourself to people properly. Try to mingle, don’t isolate yourself.
• Ask Questions. Asking questions where you need clarifications will save you the time and embarrassing associated with making unnecessary assumptions.
• Maintain Neutrality: Don’t take sides on issues you don’t know how it began or what led to it. Don’t see anyone for now as an ally. 
• Be Positive and Optimistic: You can see the changes from the positive end. It could be a new adventure worth embarking on; just explore the new opportunities and also see it as a forum where you meet new people .

Remember this isn’t just about getting familiar with people in a new place, it is also about understanding organizational procedures. The essence of having these procedures is to eventually make the system function in a smoother and more efficient manner. In some firms, money cannot be taken out of the company account without the endorsement of maybe two or three principal officers. This kind of additional protocol would help prevent unnecessary withdrawals from a particular individual for personal  reasons. In some organizations, an additional protocol may be created to provide an additional line of security to checkmate illegal activities from taking place.

An organizational procedure by definition  is a step-by-step description of the tasks required to support and carry out organizational policies. They also help to provide a clear understanding to employees of what is actually expected of them.

In many instances as I have seen, some organizational procedures create unnecessary bottlenecks preventing  the smooth flow of work. There have been instances where work has been delayed or eventually suspended because of the signature of a particular official after two or three other signatories may have given their consent. We see that all the time in many agencies and yet wonder why some establishments fail to live up to their full capacities. 

So before creating or continuing a particular organizational process we should ask the following questions:

• Will this procedure lead to quicker work delivery?
• Does it serve as an additional security check?
• Does it improve documentation and record keeping?

If it passes these tests, then maybe you can consider having that process as part of your organizational procedure.