Universal Basic Education Policy and the Quality of Primary Education in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

There is huge budgetary expenditure of the government over the years to primary education in
the FCT, yet, it remained in shamble. Consequently, the implication of the declining quality of
primary education has far reached impact on a nation’s moral, civic, cultural and economic
sustainability. This study examines Impact of the mandates of Universal Basic Education Policy
on the quality of primary education in the Federal Capital Territory. The study was built within
the framework of system theory. It employed the use of qualitative and quantitative research
methods drawing data from primary and secondary sources. Questionnaire was used and
accompanied with well-structured interviews. Secondary sources of data reviewed existing
literature from journals, online articles, and research projects. It argued that the mandates of
Universal Basic Education policy have not enhanced the quality of primary education in the
Federal Capital Territory. This is because most vital education facilities and support resources
such as toilets, cupboards, and health materials e.g first aid box, water containers, and
recreational materials eg. Swings and facilities for storing are grossly inadequate in FCT UBE
schools. Other resources that were found to be inadequate are library facilities and textbooks.
However, the study also revealed that the implementation of UBE in FCT has not been
successful in giving access to free basic education to school age children with respect to free
tuition in basic education; School feeding programme; Sensitization and mobilization of
members of the public towards UBE programmes and; training and retraining of teachers. The
study recommended that the government through the Universal Basic Education Commission
should intensify effort in the area of establishment for an effective institutional framework for
monitoring learning and teaching. This will drastically curtail the incidences of child-hawking
during school hours and high drop-out rate in primary education. By so doing, the mandates of
the UBE would be achieved and sustained.