School Location and Educational Opportunity in Nigeria (Published)
It is obvious that the place a school is located has an impact negatively or positively on the educational opportunities available to those committed to it. There is a general consensus therefore that improving the availability of school opportunities increases greater equality in gender and socio-economic status participation. This therefore influences the policies and measures being embarked by numerous administrations across the world to tackle the educational imbalance between classes, states and ethnic groups in the country. In this paper, equality of educational opportunities entails a lot of things. It means giving the same type educational treatment to everybody without any form of discrimination regardless of any location, disability or barriers the individual may have. The 1999 Nigerian constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria coded, institutionalized and legitimized political patronage representative for sharing the national positions and resources. It provided not only the clauses of “federal character” at the national level and diversity at the local and state level of government, but also instituted a Federal Character Commission to oversee, implement and ensure compliance. There are educational disadvantaged states in Nigeria that led to the introduction of “Catchment Area” which is another phrase in the admission policy to promote equalization of educational opportunity. In this paper, the type of school, topography of site, population, nature of host community, aesthetic value of the site, availability of amenities, pollution levels are some of the factors put into consideration prior to the establishment of a school. Barriers to educational opportunities as identified in this paper include; individual differences amongst pupils, selection methods, quota system of admission, unaffordable costs, gender discrimination, armed conflicts and limited admission spaces.
Keywords: Education, Federal Character, School Location, educational opportunity