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Nigerian Education
As I mentioned on the language page, English is the official language, and that is what schools teach in. Of course other languages are taught as well. The tribal languages for instance, and French, and possibly others.

SCHOOL YEAR

In Nigeria, the school year currently runs from January to December, consists of about 3 quarters with a month between quarters. It used to be that way many many years ago, and then they switched to a school year that ran from September to July (during the time I was in high school, that's how it was), and within the last decade, they've switched back to a school year that runs from January to December.

SCHOOL LEVELS

Some Nigerians go to nursery school in their early years. What is basically done there is teaching kids the basics like the alphabet, etc. etc.

For children who do not go to nursery school, the first level of schooling that is attended is Primary School (Primary 1 through 6) equivalent to what is called 'elementary school' in some other countries. This runs for 6 years, and after that, students take the Common Entrance Examination to be admitted into Secondary School, which is the equivalent of 'high school' in some other countries.

Up until around 1990, secondary school was a 5 year program (total...that is, the period between primary school and any higher education), made up of (Form 1 through 5, )and at the end, you had to take the WAEC (West African Examination Council) exam to graduate from secondary school, and the JAMB (Joint Admissions Matriculation Board) exam to be admitted into colleges.

However, around 1990 what was once known as 'secondary school' was split into 2 sections, and had a year added. So now, there is Junior Secondary School (JSS), which lasts 3 years, and then students have to take the JuniorWAEC or the JSSE (Junior Secondary School Exam) to move up to Senior Secondary School (SSS), which also lasts 3 years, after which you take the exams to leave and go to college. (I believe you still take the same exams to leave though, I'm verifying this.)

Also, for Secondary Schools, boarding schools are a quite common alternative to day schools (non-boarding schools).

After Secondary School, students can enter Universities, Polytechnics, Teacher Colleges, Trade Schools, etc. etc.

Of course, a number of students also go further after University/College on to graduate school.

Article from October 1998 about the number of students entering University in Nigeria

Nigeria, which currently has 37 universities and five other degree awarding institutions, can only manage to enrol some 20 percent of its qualified applicants, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Bello Ahmad Salim, has said.

He attributed the low access to higher education in Nigeria, to resource constraints and the growing number of students seeking access to university education.

During the 1996/97 school year, only 79,904 were offered places in universities by the board from 475,923 students who applied for places, Salim told PANA in Paris where he is attending the World Conference on Higher Education.

The number of applicants, he added, has continued to grow astronomically without a concomitant growth in the number of available places in the institutions.


Because college lasts for about 4 years, you'll sometimes hear this education system called the 6-3-3-4 system.

Before a person can start working in Nigeria (of course, if they start their own company, this does not apply) they need to have one year of National Youth Service Corp. (NYSC), and most Nigerians go through this right after school. Since I went to college in the United States, I did not go through that, and so I am trying to get more information on this to add to this section later.

In the meantime, a visitor (thanks Uimegi) was able to provide me with the following contact information:
J.S. TARKA ST., OFF FESTIVAL RD.
AREA 3, GARKI
P.M.B 138, ABUJA.

TEL: 09-234-1465, 234-1438
 

SCHOOL ATTIRE

During primary school and secondary school (both parts), students wear a school uniform that is chosen and designed by their school. During school parties or special functions, students are sometimes allowed to wear what they choose.

Also, there are usually other physical standards that students must abide too. For instance, most schools either have the girls hair cut short, or allow them to braid it neatly, sometimes depending on the grade level. Boys must have their hair short. With both boys and girls who have short hair, the hair must be neatly combed. Also, shoes, jewelry, and other accessories usually have guidelines attached. As far as I know, boys are not allowed to wear jewelry. Neatness is really important, and your school uniform must be clean and ironed, which was sometimes difficult if you had no electric power between the time you washed it, and the time you wore it (unless you were lucky enough to have a generator for power outages).

So, people usually had anywhere from 2-5 identical school uniforms. Also, because the weather is so hot, you sweat a lot, and wearing something more than a day in a row (between washings) was unheard of. (Here is a picture of me and a friend in our high school uniforms, also available in the picture section.)

For those going to boarding schools, in addition to the school uniforms that are required by the schools, the boarding schools usually also have a house uniform that the students wear after school hours. Usually, the design on these is the same, but the colors between different houses of the boarding school have different colors so it is easy to recognize which house the students belong to.

(Here is a picture of my sister and some of her friends in their boarding school house uniforms, as you can see, the colors are different because they are not from the same house. This picture is also available in the picture section.)

There are no restrictions on attire and appearance in higher education.

 

SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION

For primary and secondary schools, some schools do have buses to transport their students from certain areas to the school, and of course, in boarding schools, transportation is not an issue. For day school students though, for the most part though, transportation to and from school is left to the family. Some parents drop their kids off at school on their way to work (even if it is in the opposite direction, some parents are wonderful, aren't they? Mine included!!!), some kids walk if it is close enough, some take the bus, some get rides with others parents, etc. etc.(unlike the United States, 16 does not become a driving age for most children/young-adults)

For higher education, students can live on campus in the dormitories, or provide their own transportation to school.

 

SCHOOL LINKS

Here are links to some of Nigeria's high schools and Universities.

High Schools

Universities

  • Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta
  • Federal University of Technology, Owerri
  • Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife
  • Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (Photo Gallery)
  • Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (Alumni Assoc.)
  • University of Agriculture, Abeokuta
  • University of Benin
  • University of Ibadan
  • University of Ibadan (Alumni Assoc.)
  • University of Ilorin (Alumni Assoc.)
  • University of Jos
  • University of Lagos (Alumni Assoc.- Unilagalumni.org)
  • University of Lagos (Alumni Assoc. - Unilag.net)
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