Education for Children and Young People in Nigeria and the United Kingdom

This article provides a fact sheet on education for children and young people in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. It covers the education system, compulsory education, number of schools, literacy rates, GDP, and government spending on education.

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FACT SHEET I
Fact sheet on education for children and young people in Nigeria
Nigeria is located in West Africa and is the most populated nation of the country. In
terms of the compass of population, Nigeria ranks seventh on an international level
(Adegoke, 2017; Dambo et al., 2020). Nigeria is home to thousands of multi-ethnic
communities that speak various languages and adhere to various religions; in 1991, Nigeria
signed the UN'S group meeting in regards to the children's rights (Osaiyuwu, 2019). Nigeria
is categorized as a lower middle-income nation, with an estimated population of 211,
400,704 million people in 2021(The World Bank, 2022a).
 The total number of children in Nigeria from the years 0 to 14 is estimated to be
91,555,124 million, with 46,806,974 males and 44,748,139 females in 2021 (The
World Bank, 2022b).
 The education system in Nigeria is structured using the formula of 1 year time period
of pre-primary schooling, 3 years of junior-grade and then the school from
elementary pedagogy. The very next 3 years are precedent secondary and followed
by 4 years of university teaching. (Ogunode et al. 2022).
 9 years of formal education is compulsory for the attainment of basic pedagogy in
the country, as per the instructions of the National Policy on Education, 2004

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(UNESCO, 2O22). In Nigeria, basic education is free and compulsory (UNICEF,
2022a).
 From the age of 6 to 15 years, education is mandatory. In Nigeria, the total amount
of public schools is 61,921, and the private schools are 55,004 in number. The actual
figure of children in school is an approximate number of 5.5 million students in
privately funded schools and 22.4 million in centrally publicised primary educational
institutions as of 2018 (Sasu, 2022a).
 In Nigeria, there are 13,000 public schools serving over 5 million educates. There
were around 81.3 thousand public classrooms for pre-primary education in Nigeria,
and the required number of classrooms were 146.5 thousand, enunciating that
Nigeria lacked around 65.2 thousand classrooms (Sasu, 2022b).
 Globally, the highest percentage of children in terms of the total Nigeria's population
that are out of school is roughly about 18.5 million and 60 per cent of the
approximate ratio tends to be female (Ogunode et al., 2022).
 Nigeria's total GDP In 2021 is $440.776, 971.54 billion (The World Bank, 2022c). The
education sector is allotted 7.2% of Nigeria's N17 trillion 2022 budget, which was
passed into law at the end of 2021 (UNICEF, 2022b).
 Key components in the pattern of educational inequality in Nigeria are location,
poverty and gender. There is a definitive lack of access to formal education,
especially for girls. (UNICEF, 2022c).
References

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Adegoke, Y.,(2017). UN: Half of world's population growth is likely to occur in Africa. CNN World, 2(4),
pp.20-28.
Dambo, T.H., Ersoy, M., Auwal, A.M., Olorunsola, V.O., Olonode, A., Arikewuyo, A.O. and Joseph, A.,
(2020). Nigeria's# EndSARS movement and its implication on online protests in Africa's most
populous country. Journal of Public Affairs, p.e2583.
Ogunode, N.J. and Adanna, C.M., 2022. An Analysis -of Factors Responsible for High Out of School Children in
Nigeria and Way Forward.
Osaiyuwu, A.B, (2019). Exploring Child Labour: An Examination of Child Trading in Nigeria (Doctoral
dissertation, Anglia Ruskin University).
Sasu Dokua Doris (2022). Education in Nigeria-Staistics& Fact. [Online]. Available at:
https://www.statista.com/topic/6658/educatinn-in-nigeria/#:~:text=In%202018%2C%20Nigeria%20counted
%2022.4,5.5%20million%20in%20private% 0schools [Accessed 26 August 2022].
Sasu Dokua Doris, (2022.)[Online]. Available at:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1260853/out-of-school-elementary-school-children-in-nigeria-by-gender/
[Accessed 26 August 2022].
THE WORLD BANK/DATA, (2022a). Population, total- Nigeria [Online] Available at:
https://data.worldbank.org/country/NG [Accessed 26 August 2022].
THE WORLD BANK/DATA, (2022b).Population ages 0-14, total-Nigeria/Data. [Online] Available at
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.0014.TO?locations=NG&most_recent_value_desc=false
[Accessed 26 August 2022].
The World Bank/DATA, (2022c). GDP (current US$) - Nigeria bank, w. (2022). GDP (current US$) -
Nigeria | Data. [Online] Data.worldbank.org. Available at:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=NG> [Accessed 26 August 2022].
UNICEF, (2022a) [Online] Available at: https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/press-releases/unicef-warns-
nigerian-education-crisis-world-celebrates-international-day-education
UNICEF, (2022b), [online] All children, no matter where they live or what their circumstances, have the right to
quality education. See how UNICEF in Nigeria supports children so they can attend school and learn [online]
Available at: https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/education[Accessed 26 August 2022].
UNICEF, (2022c). Education/UNICEF Nigeria. [Online] Available at:
https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/education#:~:text=Even%20though%20primary%20education%20is,months
%20receive%20early%20childhood%20education [Accessed 26 August 2022].

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UNESCO, (2O22). World Data on Education-Nigeria. [online] Available
at:http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/archive/Countries/WDE/2006/SUB-SAHARAN_AFRICA/
Nigeria/Nigeria.htm[Accessed 26 August 2022].
FACT SHEET 2
Fact sheet on education for children and young people in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is located in the northwest mainland of Europe (Smith et al.,
2022). It is categorized as a high-income nation, with an estimated population of 67,326,569
million people in 2021 (The World Bank, 2022a). By population, the UK is ranked 21 position
globally (The World Bank, 2022b). The UK has been a significant member of the United
Nations since its origination. In 1991, the UK signed the UN's treaty on the issues pertaining
to the children's rights (UNICEF, 2022).
 The total number of children In the UK, from 0 to 14 is estimated to be 11,865,286
million, with 6,071,422 males and 5,793,827 females in 2021 (The World Bank,
2022c). There are 12.7 million children in the UK below the age of 16 (Ons.gov.uk,
2021).
 There are five levels of education in the United Kingdom, pre-primary, the stage of
primary education, level of secondary pedagogy, advance teaching, and the higher
level of pedagogy. The compulsory educational year of the UK is standardized to be 5
to 16 years, and all the children from the ages of 5 [4 in Northern Ireland] to 16 are
obligatory to attend school (Gov.UK, 2016).

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 Considering the United Nation's population, the number of children attending the
school in the year 2021/22 were 9,000,031 million, and the number of schools is
24,454, with an average class size of 26.6 (Gov.UK, 2022a).
 79% of girls children and 71% of boys meet the expected standard of literacy within
the country (Gov.UK, 2022b). The total GDP of the UK in the year 2021 is $ 3.19
trillion (The World Bank, 2022d).
 In the year 2021/22, the UK government spent almost 100.3 billion pounds on
education (Clark, 2022).
 In the UK, irrespective of domestic income, children in reception, year one and year
two in a public school are eligible to free meals at school (Gov.UK, 2022c). The
Department for International Development has focused on the "Get Children
Learning '' education policy for mitigating education gaps that are prevalent in the
UK within the lower income and the higher income group (Department for
International Development, 2022).

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References
Clark. D, (2022). Public sector- expenditure on education in the United Kingdom in 2021/22, by sub-
function in million- GBP. [Online] Statista. Available at:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/298910/united-kingdom-uk-public-sector-
expenditure-education/#:~:text=Government%20spending%20on%20education
%20in%20the%20UK [Accessed 26 August 2022].
Gov. UK, (2016). Education System in the UK. [Online] Available at:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/
attachment_data/file/219167/v01-2012ukes.pdf [Accessed 26 August 2022].
Gov.UK. (2022a).Explore education statistics. [Online] Schools, pupils and their characteristics.
Available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-
their-characteristics[Accessed 26 August 2022].
Gov.UK (2022b) Reading results for 6 to 7 year olds. [Online] Available at:
https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/education-skills-and-
training/5-to-7-years-old/reading-attainments-for-children-aged-5-to-7-key-stage-
1/latest
[Accessed 26 August 2022].
Gov.UK, (2022c). Apply for free school meals. [Online] Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals[Accessed 26 August 2022].
Smith, L. Baldwin , Briggs, . Asa , Hastings, . Margaret , Chaney, . William A. , Whitelock, . Dorothy ,
Joyce, . et al., (2022). United Kingdom. Encyclopedia Britannica. [Online] Available
at:https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Kingdom [Accessed 26 August 2022].
The World Bank, (2022a). Population, total-United Kingdom. [Online] Available at:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=GB&name_desc=false

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[Accessed 26 August 2022].
The World Bank, (2022b). Data Catalog. [Online] Available at:
https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search?q=the%20U.K.%20ranks%20number%2021%20in
%20the%20list%20of%20countries%20(and%20dependencies)%20by
%20population.&start=0&sort= [Accessed 26 August 2022].
The World Bank, (2022c). Population ages 0-14, total - United Kingdom. [Online] Available at:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.0014.TO?locations=GB
[Accessed 26 August 2022].
The World Bank, (2022d). GDP (current US$) - United Kingdom. [Online] Available at:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=GB
[Accessed 26 August 2022].
Ons.gov.uk, (2021). National -and subnational mid-year population estimates for the UK- and its
constituent- countries by administrative area, age and sex. [Online] Available at:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/
populationestimates/bulletins/annualmidyearpopulationestimates/mid2019estimates
[Accessed 26 August 2022].
Policy Bristol (2022) Children in Need and Children in Care: Educational Attainment and Progress
Available at: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/policybristol/policy-briefings/children-in-need-and-in-care-
education-progress/
[Accessed 26 August 2022].
UNICEF, (2022). THE UNITED NATIONS- CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD. [Online]
Available at: https://www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/the-rrsa/introducing-the-crc/
[Accessed 26 August 2022].

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