One of the questions that has been bothering me lately is this: Have we started confusing schooling with learning?
Think about it for a moment.
Every morning, millions of Nigerian children wake up before sunrise, put on their uniforms, carry their school bags, and head to school with dreams in their hearts. Parents work tirelessly to pay school fees because they believe education is the key to a better future. Teachers step into classrooms hoping to shape lives, while school owners work hard to keep their schools running despite rising costs.
But somewhere in the middle of all this, we need to pause and ask ourselves a difficult question.
Are our children truly learning, or are they simply going through the motions of schooling?
The numbers make this question even more important. Nigeria has more than 40 million learners in its education system and over 1.19 million teachers. On paper, that sounds encouraging. Yet in many schools, classrooms remain overcrowded, and the average learner-teacher ratio is about 34 students to one teacher. Imagine being responsible for helping thirty-four young minds understand different concepts, identify individual learning needs, mark assignments, provide feedback, and still inspire every child to dream bigger. It is no small task.
So when school fees continue to rise while many classrooms remain overcrowded and learning outcomes remain disappointing, shouldn’t we all be asking tougher questions?
Perhaps the issue isn’t simply how much parents are paying. Maybe the bigger issue is what they are paying for.
Let’s be honest with ourselves.
Most parents don’t dream of paying expensive school fees. No parent celebrates receiving another bill for tuition, uniforms, development levies, ICT charges, transportation, excursions, or textbooks. What parents truly celebrate is seeing their children grow into confident readers, critical thinkers, problem solvers, and responsible adults.
That raises another important question.
When we ask about a school, do we ask how much it costs, or do we ask what its students are actually capable of doing?
Those are two very different conversations.
Sometimes we are easily impressed by beautiful school buildings, attractive uniforms, smart classrooms, colourful websites, and polished social media pages. There is nothing wrong with investing in good facilities; in fact, a conducive learning environment matters. But beautiful buildings alone have never produced brilliant minds.
If we stripped away the magnificent gates, the air-conditioned reception areas, and the impressive marketing materials, would the quality of teaching remain just as outstanding?
Because children do not become successful simply because they attend an expensive school. They become successful because someone taught them how to think, question, create, communicate, and solve problems.
Unfortunately, many education experts now speak of a learning crisis rather than simply an education crisis. Recent reports suggest that more than 70% of children struggle with foundational literacy and numeracy skills, meaning many learners spend years in school without mastering basic reading and mathematics. That should concern every one of us.
Imagine spending six years in school and still struggling to read fluently.
Whose responsibility is that?
- The child’s?
- The parent’s?
- The teacher’s?
- The school’s?
Or have we all contributed in one way or another?
This conversation becomes even more interesting when we consider how much education has changed in recent years. School fees have increased. Transportation costs have increased. The prices of books, uniforms, and learning materials have all increased. Nearly everything connected with education now costs more than it did a few years ago.
Yet we must ask ourselves honestly:
Has the quality of learning improved at the same pace?
Some schools proudly advertise a 100% pass rate in external examinations, and that is certainly worth celebrating. But examination results alone cannot tell the whole story.
- Can those same students communicate confidently during a job interview?
- Can they analyse problems they have never encountered before?
- Can they work effectively in teams?
- Can they adapt to emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence?
- Can they create opportunities instead of waiting endlessly for jobs?
The future will reward people who possess practical skills, creativity, emotional intelligence, adaptability, and critical thinking not just certificates.
As we discuss all these issues, we must also remember our teachers. It is easy to blame them whenever learning outcomes fall short, but have we stopped to consider the realities many of them face every day? Some teach classes of more than fifty students. Some spend evenings marking hundreds of exercise books. Some buy teaching materials with their own salaries. Others have not received meaningful professional development for years.
Can we honestly expect world-class education from teachers who are overwhelmed, under-supported, and sometimes underpaid?
Perhaps before asking why students are not learning enough, we should first ask whether we are giving teachers everything they need to succeed.
The conversation cannot ignore technology either. Around the world, Artificial Intelligence is transforming education. Students can now access world-class learning resources from their mobile phones. Universities are redesigning courses to prepare learners for jobs that did not even exist a few years ago.
Meanwhile, many Nigerian classrooms still rely heavily on note copying, rote memorisation, and preparing students only to pass examinations.
So the real question is no longer whether technology belongs in education.
The question is whether our schools are preparing children for tomorrow’s world or preparing them for a world that is rapidly disappearing. UNICEF has also highlighted significant digital challenges in Nigeria, noting that internet access, digital literacy among young people, and ICT skills among teachers remain limited. These realities make it even more urgent to rethink how we teach and learn.
When learning fails, the consequences extend far beyond the classroom. Employers struggle to find graduates with the skills they need. Universities spend valuable time teaching what students should already know. Businesses invest heavily in retraining new employees. Young people become frustrated, families lose hope, and the nation’s productivity suffers.
- Poor learning is not simply an education problem.
- It is an economic problem.
- It is a social problem.
- And ultimately, it becomes our problem.
Perhaps, then, the question isn’t whether schools should make profits. Every school needs financial sustainability to survive. Teachers deserve salaries, facilities require maintenance, and investors deserve reasonable returns.
The real question is whether we can build an education system where financial sustainability and quality learning go hand in hand instead of competing with each other.
- If schools flourish financially while learning declines, we all lose.
- If learning flourishes alongside sustainable schools, we all win.
So let me leave you with a few questions.
- As a parent, do you believe you’re getting real value for the fees you pay?
- As a teacher, what is the biggest obstacle preventing quality learning in your classroom?
- As a school owner, what financial pressures do people rarely understand?
- As a student, do you feel your school is preparing you for life or simply preparing you for examinations?
And finally, if you could change just one thing about Nigerian education today, what would it be?
I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts, because meaningful change rarely begins with easy answers. It begins when ordinary people are willing to ask difficult questions and have honest conversations.
https://emis.education.gov.ng/portal