Schooling in post-conflict society: access and participation in basic education in Borno state, Nigeria

Abstract

Borno State has endured more than fifteen years of insurgency, and the consequences for its basic education system extend well beyond the destruction of school buildings. This study examines schooling in a post-conflict society with emphasis on access and participation in basic education in Borno State, Nigeria. Four research questions were addressed and two hypotheses tested at the .05 level of significance. A survey research design was adopted. The population comprised 1,000 teachers and 5,000 learners in selected schools across the state, from which 250 teachers and 350 learners were purposively selected. Data were collected using a self developed structured questionnaire titled Schooling in Post-Conflict Society: Access and Participation in Basic Education, administered on a four point scale. Test and retest administration returned a reliability coefficient of 0.90. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analysis. Teachers agreed that conflict has impaired access to basic education, with insecurity discouraging attendance attracting the highest level of agreement at 88.0 percent and a mean of 3.48, followed by displacement at 84.0 percent. On participation, poverty recorded the highest mean at 3.41 and 86.0 percent agreement, slightly ahead of irregular attendance and dropout. Both teachers and learners endorsed the proposed remedial strategies, though teachers rated them consistently higher than learners did, a divergence of some practical interest. Enrolment in the sampled schools fell from 5,000 before the conflict to 3,200 during it and had recovered to 4,100 by the post-conflict period, representing a decline of 36 percent followed by a partial recovery of 28 percent that leaves enrolment 18 percent below its pre-conflict level. Attendance followed a similar incomplete trajectory, falling from 85 to 55 percent and recovering only to 65 percent, while dropout remains at 25 percent against a pre-conflict 10 percent. Participation scores were significantly lower after the conflict than before it. The study concludes that educational recovery in Borno State is real but partial, and that the residual deficit is concentrated in participation rather than in enrolment, which has implications for how recovery is measured and resourced.