Educational System in UK and Nigeria

               From the the generalization of education all over the world, there have been many arising differences and similarities between different countries depending on the style the country required. However, with the influx of international trade and diversification of languages, the basic educational system has become a compulsory need in the lives of individuals who wish to locate lucrative jobs. Hence, there is a general hunger for high quality education at any level which is why numerous students travel thousands of miles away from home to different parts of the world to acquire quality education. Nevertheless, there is a need to examine the educational systems in the UK and my home country, Nigeria.

Here are some of the similarities between educational systems in the UK and Nigeria.

·         First of all, both systems are strictly based on proper British English.

·         Also, the systems are broken into three age stages : age 5-11, age 11-16 and 16 and above

·         Finally, the stages of school are called both the same names in the UK and Nigeria; primary school, secondary school and university. These are divided into terms and sessions.

Below are the differences:

	United kingdom	Nigeria
1.       Age of entry	By law, the compulsory age for a child to start school is 5 years.	There is no enforced age for starting school. Some children start earlier than 5 years, others later while some not at all.
2.       Finance	The UK government funds the education children between the ages of 5 and 16 years.	Here, the government only subsidises the prices of its public schools to make them cheaper. However, they are of very bad quality. There is also the option of private schools which must be funded by parents or guardian.
3.       Age of continuity	By law, child must be 11 years and above to enter secondary education and must be 18 years and above to enter university education.	Although there are laws regarding the ages for continuity there is no real enforcement of children’s ages to enter any level of education.
4.       A ‘levels or Sixth form	It is compulsory for a child to go to a sixth form or A’ level college before entering any university.	Here, it is no longer compulsory to do A’ levels before entering university. Hence, numerous children start university education before 18 years.

Clearly, there is a major difference in the adherence to rules in the UK than in Nigeria. However, that is not to say that both systems do not face their own problems. As suggested by Mortimore (2010), the UK government needs to give its teachers some extent of appraisal and sovereignty in classroom environment. It also needs to create a “democratically elected” commission to suggest amendments in the system to make it more effective and reduce its dependence in party politics. Hence, it is observed that the UK has its own issues with education.

Nigeria is not left out with its own set of issues. According to Tomori, (2012). The Nigerian educational system is filled with gaps such as inadequate infrastructure and facilities to provide a conducive learning environment; this is caused by poor funding of said schools by the Nigerian government. Hence, it could be said that both educational systems in Nigeria and the UK are somewhat similar but there is quite a gap in the level of quality.

Mortimore, P. (2010) ‘Ten Education Issues the Government should address’, The Guardian, 4 May [Online]. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/may/04/education-big-issues-new-government  (Accessed: 24 January 2012).

Tomori, O. (2012) ‘Education will be far worse in 2012’, The Punch, 5 January [Online]. Available at:  http://www.punchng.com/feature/2012-in-view/education-will-fare-worse-in-2012-tomori/   (Accessed date: 25 January 2012).