By Ayo Olodo
Government policies rarely fail because their intentions are bad. They fail because good intentions are often mistaken for good implementation.
Nigeria has become something of a laboratory for ambitious education reforms. Every new administration arrives promising transformation. New curricula are introduced. New assessment methods emerge. New technologies are announced. Fresh slogans replace old ones.Yet our classrooms remain burdened by many of the same problems: poorly prepared teachers, inadequate learning materials, weak supervision and inconsistent implementation.The lesson is obvious.
In education, how a policy is implemented is often more important than what the policy seeks to achieve.That is why the current debate over the Federal Government’s proposed textbook assessment and ranking policy deserves serious attention.At first glance, the objective appears admirable. Every Nigerian parent wants quality textbooks. Every teacher wants learning materials that faithfully reflect the national curriculum. Government has not only the right but the responsibility to ensure that public funds purchase only quality educational materials.Nobody is arguing against quality.The real debate is about the method.
