Understanding The Ube Programme Instructional Materials Intervention And Its Potentials For Enhancing The Delivery Of Qualitative Basic Education In Nigeria

Introduction

All over the world, basic education is acknowledged as the foundation and most important pillar for the achievement of the overall objectives of the education system. In Nigeria the basic education sub-sector enjoys a pride of place and is seen as the bedrock for national transformation as well as the overall development of all facets of the society.

UBEC is the Federal Government’s intervention agency with responsibility for coordinating all aspects of UBE programme implementation across the country. Among others, UBEC has the responsibility of ensuring that the Nigerian child enjoys unfettered access to qualitative and functional basic education in a child-friendly environment with the necessary infrastructure and materials in place for effective teaching and learning. Books are very vital to quality education delivery and their availability, in quantity and quality is a factor in educational achievements prediction.

The National Policy on Education (NPE) recognizes the roles of books in quality education and the UBE Act (2004) section 9(i) mandates UBEC to “develop and disseminate curricula and instructional materials for basic education in Nigeria”. As part of its mandate in this direction, 15% of 2% Consolidated Revenue Fund is earmarked for the provision of Instructional Materials; Text books, Library Resource and other important learning facilities in the basic education level. Textbooks supplied by UBEC are in the core subjects. Other items provided by the Federal Government in this regard include Science Kits, Teaching Aids, Visual learning Charts, Play Equipment and library resource materials.

UBEC has been supplying instructional materials to basic education Schools since 2005 through the SUBEBs. As earlier stated, 15% of 2% CRF is earmarked for textbooks and other instructional materials. This allocation is utilized as follows:

1. Five percent (5%) of the total amount of the 15% shall be used for the procurement of ECCDE materials
2. Sixty percent (60%) shall be utilized for the Primary Schools
3. Thirty-five percent (35%) for the Junior Secondary Schools

For each of the above mentioned components, the following allocation subsists:

• 70% for Textbooks and Teachers Guide
• 20% for Library Resource Materials (Pry& JSS)
• 10% for other Teaching Aids

UBEC’s Intervention in the Provision of Instructional Materials

At the initial stage, UBEC’s intervention in instructional materials provision to States was through direct fund disbursement for the purchase of designated textbooks. This gave States up till 2009, the prerogative to procure and distribute the textbooks to their schools. It was however noted, after a system review by the ICPC in 2007 that the procurement and supply of the books were largely done on paper but the books were not available in schools. Several monitoring reports of the Commission also corroborated this as schools were still devoid of the books said to be provided by the State Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs).

Other challenges associated with the SUBEB handling of the procurement included:

1. Change of approved textbooks with tenure of political office holders
2. Low utilization of the instructional materials fund
3. Haphazard distribution of textbooks without recourse to enrolment and school needs
4. Books designated ‘Not for Sale’ being placed in the open market for sale
5. Books kept in stores and Headteachers’ offices without being used by teachers and pupils/students
6. Non-distribution of the textbooks at the LGEA and school levels
7. Lack of proper safe keeping mechanisms for the textbooks causing the books to be destroyed by rodents, termites and some natural causes like weather
8. Textbooks being distributed to private schools, and
9. States not establishing Book Management Committees for proper management of the intervention, among others.

To forestall this unhealthy practice in the procurement and supply of textbooks and other supplementary readers, UBEC commenced the centralized procurement and distribution of textbooks directly to the end users. This has continued since 2009 with the target of the initiative being the attainment of 1 textbook to a pupil. The coverage of the provision of textbooks is primarily in the core subjects of English language, Mathematics, Social Studies and Basic Science and Technology. Available records indicate that through this intervention the Federal Government has supplied to the 36 States and FCT the following items:

Process Involved in the Provision of Instructional Materials

In the current practice, SUBEBs would identify the textbooks of choice while UBEC takes responsibility for providing such textbooks in adequate quantity and best possible quality. The process of listing or procuring the textbooks commences with states identification and furnishing of UBEC with appropriate information on the textbooks they wish to procure. UBEC being mindful of the fact that the quality of a book/non-book materials is determined mainly by its content and technical packaging, advises at all times that States should take the following steps in selecting textbooks for use by their schools:

1. States and FCT should be mindful of quality in content and technical packaging
2. States should set up evaluation committee in ERCs to evaluate textbooks.
3. Selection should be from pre evaluated textbooks
4. Textbooks should have approval of NERDC, which is the agency responsible for approving textbook materials in line with the Curriculum

UBEC as an agency prescribing minimum standards, also pre-evaluate textbooks listed by States and can play an advisory role in recommending pre-evaluated books to SUBEBs. Additionally, UBEC can also recommend library resource materials in addition to the ones selected by states. UBEC’s safeguard in the selection of textbooks by States covers issues relating to the suitability of the books in terms of content, language, culture etc. This is in addition to NERDC’s assessment and recommendation. UBEC always recommends that States should have plan (B) in their recommendations. This shall be used where books recommended/preferred by the SUBEBs do not conform with UBEC’s assessment or meet expected standard by NERDC.

UBEC advertises all opportunities related to the supply of instructional materials from the selection of eligible suppliers right to the distribution of the materials to end users through open competitive bidding in line with established public procurement processes. In this direction eligible publishers/suppliers of identified textbooks take part in both technical and financial evaluations from where suitable bidders are selected.

Following a specified timeline, selected companies produce and deliver the procurement of services related to the procurement of textbooks and other instructional materials to target users in the States. Instructional materials procured depend largely on the availability of funds.

As part of the mechanism for ensuring that procured instructional materials reach the target beneficiaries, UBEC stipulates that SUBEBs should among other things;

1. Set up Book Management Committees to ensure that the guidelines especially regarding book quality and utilization are strictly adhered to.
2. Complement the support provided by UBEC through replicating the strategy on other aspects of instructional materials provision not covered by the UBEC intervention
3. Ensure that textbooks are distributed to learners taking into cognizance the enrolment in each school and where achievable on a 1:1 ratio
4. Ensure that the books are used for class work, home-work and teachers reference materials within a 3 year life span.

Support services provided by UBEC to SUBEBs in this process include funding for the distribution of the textbooks, mmonitoring and evaluation of the delivery, availability and utilization of textbooks in the states. Available records indicate that between 2010 and 2015, UBEC has utilized the sum of N53,027,423,596.28 for the provision of 121,399,650 titles comprising 24,026,387 Mathematics books, 24,054,641 English Language books, 34,111,995 Basic Science and Technology books, 25,330,657 Social Studies books and 13,875,970 Library Resource materials for JSS school.

It is an established fact that text books are very vital to quality education delivery as these and other learning resources contain and transmit detailed information that support and reinforce teaching and learning.  The resources expended and the materials provided as part of the instructional material intervention by UBEC represents a significant contribution to the improvement of quality in public schools. Furthermore the availability of these resources in schools is a bold step not only in retooling the basic education process but importantly in stepping up efforts in harnessing the innate potentials of our school aged population.

As empirical evidence suggests, availability of books appears to be the single most consistent positive factor in predicting educational achievement. It is therefore expected that in the near future there will be evidence-based and tangible indicators of the added advantage that this intervention has brought on Nigeria’s basic education sub-sector.

Conclusion

One of the cardinal objectives of the UBE programme is the inculcation of permanent literacy, numeracy and reflective thinking skills for life-long learning in the graduands. Without any doubt, the provision of quality textbooks and other learning materials play a crucial role in this respect. In view of this therefore UBEC is committed to stepping up efforts and other initiatives towards ensuring the attainment of both quality and quantity objectives of the textbook provision drive. In this regard, UBEC advocates for the establishment of a textbook policy to aid the development and sustenance of a viable textbook and other instructional materials framework.

Availability of a Textbook Policy will address notable challenges and provide guidelines for the provision, distribution and utilization of instructional materials in the UBE programme. As a complementary step, UBEC also advocates for the involvement of the private sector and other development partners in sponsoring and replicating the efforts of government towards improving the availability of appropriate learning resources for our teeming learners.

UBEC also encourages the involvement of other stakeholders (members of the National and State Legislature, SBMCs, PTAs, NGOs, etc) from time to time, in monitoring availability and utilization of textbooks in schools as part of oversight functions and accountability processes.

(This paper is adapted from a presentation made by the UBEC Acting Director, Department of Academic Services, Mallam Wadatau Madawaki, at the just concluded 19^th Quarterly Meeting of UBEC Management with Chairmen of State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs), held in Asaba, Delta State, July 10 – 13^th, 2017)

 Report prepared by: The UBEC Public Relations and Protocol Team