Barriers to Equality of Access to Educational Opportunity in Nigeria

Abstract

Education as well as its objective are dynamic instruments needed to meet and satisfy the aspirations of the citizens they are meant to serve.  Limited resources and a rapidly expanding child population pose problems of “who gets educated” in Nigeria.  The question of educational imbalance has been a dominant issue which subsequent Nigerian governments have had to tackle since independence.  No matter how much they try to spread educational opportunity equitably, a number of barriers have acted to counter governments good intensions.  The study has identified some of these barriers as including: the problem of carrying capacity, quota system of admissions, unaffordable costs, armed conflicts/insurgency, selection methods, gender inequality amongst others.  The study further proffered possible solutions before arriving at some conclusion.