IMPACT OF FREE EDUCATION POLICY ON PUBLIC JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

ABSTRACT

This study assessed the impact of free education policy on the quality of education in public junior secondary schools in Lagos State. Free basic education, guaranteed under Nigeria's Universal Basic Education Act and reaffirmed through Lagos State's own free education policy covering kindergarten through senior secondary school, is intended to remove the financial barriers that keep children out of school and to close persistent gaps in access and quality. Yet the country continues to record one of the highest numbers of out-of-school children globally, and recent evidence suggests that even where tuition is formally waived, indirect costs, infrastructural gaps, and administrative weaknesses continue to undermine both enrolment and educational quality. The study identified the challenges militating against the implementation of free education in Lagos State, ascertained the reasons for persisting pockets of school dropout in Lagos State despite the ongoing free education policy, and evaluated the measures put in place by government to ensure that all Lagos children are carried along in the free education policy. A descriptive survey research design was adopted, with data collected through structured questionnaires administered to school administrators, teachers, and parents in selected public junior secondary schools in Lagos State, and analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings are expected to provide evidence-based insight for policy makers and education administrators seeking to strengthen the implementation of free education policy in Lagos State.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Free education policy, in the Nigerian context, refers to government commitments to remove tuition and other formal fees as a barrier to basic education, most prominently through the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act of 2004, which guarantees free and compulsory education through junior secondary school. Lagos State has extended this commitment further than most, maintaining a free education policy that formally covers learners from kindergarten through Senior Secondary School III, with the state government funding tuition while directing other components, such as certain levies, toward parents through structured arrangements with the Lagos Inland Revenue Service. In principle, this positions Lagos State among the more ambitious sub-national implementers of free education policy in Nigeria.

In practice, however, national and sub-national evidence suggests that the removal of formal tuition fees alone has not been sufficient to guarantee either universal access or consistent educational quality. A comprehensive 2024 assessment of the out-of-school children phenomenon in Nigeria, drawing on a critical literature review validated by empirical correlation analysis, found that despite decades of policy interventions, including the Universal Basic Education programme, up to twenty million Nigerian children and youth remain out of school, with the researchers identifying persistent gaps between stated policy commitments and the funding, infrastructure, and administrative capacity needed to realize them, including chronic underfunding of the education sector relative to internationally recommended benchmarks (Nwoke, Oyiga, & Cochrane, 2024). This finding is reinforced by research examining the determinants of child schooling in Kwara State, North Central Nigeria, which found that access and cost, including indirect costs not captured by formal tuition waivers, remained significant determinants of whether children were enrolled in school, and that parental educational attainment continued to shape how much attention was paid to a child's schooling even where direct fees had been removed (Ojuolape & Mohd, 2024).

These findings carry direct relevance for Lagos State's own experience with free education policy. Despite the state's formally free education policy remaining in operation, public commentary from Lagos State officials themselves has acknowledged ongoing confusion among parents over levies and taxation associated with school enrolment, illustrating that the practical experience of "free" education on the ground can diverge from its formal policy design in ways that may affect both continued enrolment and perceptions of educational quality. Taken together, this evidence suggests that assessing the impact of free education policy in Lagos State requires looking beyond the formal removal of tuition fees to examine the specific implementation challenges, indirect cost barriers, and administrative measures that determine whether the policy's intended benefits are actually realized for all children. It is against this background that this study assesses the impact of free education policy on the quality of education in public junior secondary schools in Lagos State.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Despite Lagos State's sustained commitment to free education policy from kindergarten through senior secondary school, national evidence continues to show that large numbers of Nigerian children remain out of school or experience compromised educational quality even under nominally free education systems, with underfunding, infrastructural gaps, and indirect costs identified as persistent barriers that formal tuition waivers alone do not resolve (Nwoke, Oyiga, & Cochrane, 2024; Ojuolape & Mohd, 2024). This raises important, unresolved questions specific to Lagos State's public junior secondary schools: what specific challenges are militating against the effective implementation of the state's free education policy, why do pockets of school dropout persist despite the policy's formal existence, and how adequate are the measures currently in place to ensure that all children in Lagos State are genuinely carried along. Without context-specific evidence addressing these questions, education authorities in Lagos State risk continuing to rely on the formal existence of the free education policy as a proxy for its actual effectiveness. It is this gap that the present study seeks to address.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The broad objective of this study is to assess the impact of free education policy on the quality of education in Lagos State. The specific objectives are to:

1. Identify the challenges militating against the implementation of free education in Lagos State.
2. Ascertain the reasons why there are pockets of school dropouts in Lagos State in spite of the ongoing free education in Lagos State.
3. Evaluate the measures that are put in place by the government to ensure that all Lagos children are carried along in the free education policy.

1.4 Research Questions

1. What challenges militate against the implementation of free education in Lagos State?
2. Why do pockets of school dropout persist in Lagos State in spite of the ongoing free education policy?
3. What measures has the government put in place to ensure that all Lagos children are carried along in the free education policy?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

Ho1: Implementation challenges have no significant effect on the quality of education delivered under the free education policy in Lagos State.

Ho2: There is no significant relationship between the free education policy and the rate of school dropout in Lagos State public junior secondary schools.

1.6 Significance of the Study

This study will benefit the Lagos State Ministry of Education and the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board by providing evidence to guide improvements in the implementation of free education policy. It will benefit school administrators and teachers in public junior secondary schools, by clarifying the specific challenges affecting their day-to-day delivery of free education. It will benefit parents and guardians, by highlighting the indirect barriers that may still affect their children's continued enrolment despite the policy. It will benefit civil society organizations working on educational access in Lagos State, and will serve as a reference for future researchers examining the implementation of free education policy in Nigeria.

1.7 Scope of the Study

This study is limited to assessing the impact of free education policy on the quality of education in public junior secondary schools in Lagos State, covering implementation challenges, causes of continued school dropout, and government measures to ensure inclusive access.

1.8 Limitations of the Study

Time and resource constraints limited the study to a selected sample of public junior secondary schools rather than a comprehensive survey of all such schools in Lagos State. Some respondents, particularly parents, may have provided socially desirable rather than fully candid responses regarding indirect costs or dropout-related decisions within their households.

1.9 Definition of Terms

Free Education Policy: A government policy that removes tuition and, in principle, other formal fees as a barrier to accessing basic education.

Quality of Education: The extent to which the education provided meets established standards of teaching, learning outcomes, and available resources.

School Dropout: The premature withdrawal of a student from school before completing a given level of education.

Junior Secondary School: The first three years of post-primary education within Nigeria's 9-3-4 educational structure.

Universal Basic Education (UBE): The Nigerian federal policy guaranteeing free and compulsory basic education from primary through junior secondary school.

REFERENCES

Nwoke, C., Oyiga, S., & Cochrane, L. (2024). Assessing the phenomenon of out-of-school children in Nigeria: Issues, gaps and recommendations. Review of Education, 12(3), e70011. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.70011

Ojuolape, A. M., & Mohd, S. (2024). Determinants of child schooling in Kwara State, North Central Nigeria. Cogent Social Sciences, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2024.2319377