Nigeria's Education Crisis: Focus on System Capacity

A report titled "Nigeria’s Education Capacity Crisis: Closing the Gap Between Enrolment Growth and System Capacity," authored by Professor Temitayo Shenkoya and Anita Olatunde from the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership, was released on Wednesday in Abuja. It indicates that Nigeria's education challenge has transitioned from merely increasing school enrolment to enhancing the education system's capacity to deliver quality learning.

The report states that 40.1 million pupils and students were enrolled in Nigeria's public basic and secondary education system during the 2024/2025 academic session across 107,042 public schools. However, the rapid enrolment growth has not been matched by necessary investments in classrooms, teachers, and infrastructure, leading to severe overcrowding, with an average classroom accommodating about 60 students and 66 students sharing a single toilet.

The report warns that Nigeria's education system is constrained by weak governance, inadequate teacher deployment, and poor instructional quality, urging for institutional reforms and the development of the Digital Nigeria Education Management Information System (DNEMIS) for effective planning and evaluation.