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The educational system in Nigeria consists of the following stages:
- Kindergarten**: 2 years (not compulsory!)
- Primary School: 6 years (compulsory education)
- Secondary School**: 6 years (Education at this level consists of two phases
- Junior Secondary School and Senior Secondary School. Each phase lasts 3 years and
is rounded up with exams after which certificates are issued to the students.
- University or Polytechnic** with the corresponding degrees
Parents and students do not receive financial support from the government in
those areas of education marked with asterisks. Even the primary school education which
is compulory and which is supposed to be free is not completely free as parents are made to
pay one levy or the other from time to time.
Due to lack of fund, children from poor families neither attend nursery schools
nor further their education after leaving primary schools. In view of this, these
young children - most of them are 12 years old when they leave primary schools -
are forced to start fending for themselves. Some even assume the additional
responsibilities
of caring for their parents at this early age. Needless to say that the struggle
to earn their livelihood at this premature age exposes them to great dangers
and untold hardship.
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