how much time does nigerian student spend in school
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How much time does Nigerian Student spend in school and have contact with Teachers?TRANSCRIPT
StatiSense ® - Wale Micaiah ©
How Much Time Do
Nigerian Students Spend
in School?
Let’s verify this!
LAGOS STATE 2014/2015 Academic Year Calendar
1st
term
Resume for the first term Mon, 15th Sept, 2014
13 WEEKSMid-term break Thurs, 27th & Fri, 28th Nov, 2014
End of term Fri, 12th Dec, 2014
Vacation Mon, 15th Dec & Fri, 2nd Jan, 2015 3 WEEKS
2nd
term
Resume for the 2nd term Mon, 5th Jan 2015
12 WEEKS
Mid-term break Thurs, 19th Feb & Fri, 20th Feb, 2015
Mock Examinations for SS III
studentsTue, 24th Feb & Fri, 6th Mar 2015
Unified Examinations Tue, 24th Mar & Fri, 3rd Apr, 2015
End of term Fri, 3rd April, 2015
Vacation 2 WEEKS
3rd
term
Resume for the 3rd term Mon, 20th Apr, 2015
12 WEEKS
Junior School Certificate
Examination (JSCE)
Tue, 16th June to Mon, 29th June,
2015
Mid-term break Thurs, 4th and Fri, 5th June 2015
End of Session Unified Examination Tue, 7th and Fri, 17th July 2015
End of term Fri, 17th July, 2015
LAGOS STATE 2014/2015 Academic Year Calendar
DURATION OF SCHOOL HOURS?Schools resumes at 7:30am; Monday to Friday.
Academic activities starts at 8:00am
This makes 6hours of Students being physically
present in School.
8:00 – 2:00
How many Hours do they really have contact with Teachers?
TERM WEEK DAY HOUR
1ST 13 65 3902ND 12 60 3603RD 12 60 360
TOTAL 37 185 1,110
HOURS SPENT IN SCHOOL
By the foregoing, Nigerian Students
spend 185 days in school which equals
1,110 Hours.
185 x 6hrs = 1,110
DURATION OF SCHOOL HOURS?
TIME ACTIVITY HOURS
8:00am – 10:15am Lectures 2hours 15mins
10:15 – 10:30am Short Break 15mins
10:30am – 12:45pm Lectures 2hours 15mins
12:45pm – 1:15pm Long Break 30mins
1:15pm – 2:00pm Lectures 25mins
45mins 5hrs.45mins
6hrsStudent contact hours
with Teacher per day
8am – 2pmHour is expressed in
60minutes.
45minutes = 1
Lecture.
DURATION OF SCHOOL HOURS?The effective number of hours Student have
contact with Teachers is
5hours 15minutes per school day.
DAY
WEEK
YEAR
5 HOURS
15 MINUTES
26 HOURS
15 MINUTES
971 HOURS
I5 MINUTES
Academic Year
DURATION OF SCHOOL HOURS?
TERM WEEK DAYHOUR
CONTACT BREAK
1ST 13 65 341hr:15min 48hr:45min2ND 12 60 315hr 45hr3RD 12 60 315hr 45hr
TOTAL 37 185 971hr:15min 138hr:45min
However, the number of contact hours is without
considering Mid-term breaks, Public holidays as
well as other unforeseen circumstances that
sometimes make school inaccessible to Students.
Let’s consider all these and see what the table above comes to.
MID-TERM BREAKS & PUBLIC HOLIDAYSTERM MID-TERM BREAK DAYS
1st Thurs, 27th & Fri, 28th Nov, 2014 2
2nd Thurs, 19th Feb & Fri, 20th Feb, 2015 2
3rd Thurs, 4th and Fri, 5th June 2015 2
6Date PUBLIC HOLIDAY DAYS
January 1 New Year's Day 1
moveable Good Friday 1
moveable Easter Monday 1
May 1 Worker's Day 1
May 27 Children’s Day 1
May 29 Democracy Day 1
October 1 Independence Day 1
December 25 Christmas Day 1
December 26 Boxing Day 1
Moveable Ramadan 2
Moveable Mawlid 2
Moveable Eid al-Fitr 2
Moveable Eid al-Adha 2
17
Total Holidays:
23DAYS
May 27 - Children day
WEEK DAY HOUR
TOTAL 37 185 971.25
Public Holiday 23 120.75
Effective Contact 162 850.50
HOURS SPENT IN SCHOOL BECOMES…
Schools are opened 162 days a year, and the
total number of contact hours lost due to Public
Holidays per academic year is
20 Hours 45 Minutes.
Therefore, the total number of contact
hours per academic year is
850 Hours 30 Minutes.
Nigerian
Students
spend 850
Hours 30
Minutes in
School per
year, is this
competitive?
In reality, Nigerian students actually spend less
than 850 hours of contact or instructional time
per year. These are some of the reasons:
Schools close at 1:00pm on Fridays – this is 1hr
less than the normal closing time;
State Governments can unilaterally declare public
holiday (Adamawa State a case in point);
Some South-West States celebrates Democracy
Day on June 12;
Traditionalist may decide to hold some special
rituals/festivals mandating school closure;
Political, Ethnic or Religious unrest
Inadequate Teachers;
Strike actions.
?
?
HOW IS INSTRUCTIONAL HOURS IN OTHER CLIME?
Most
countries
require
between 175
and 180 days
of school
In Nigeria,
Schools are
opened
162 days a
year
Nigerian Students
spend 850 Hours
30 Minutes
Most countries spend
between 900 & 1,000 hours
of instructional time per year
In Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), primary students should
receive an average of 802 hours of intended
instruction time per year. Only in Australia,
Canada, Chile, the French Community of
Belgium, Israel, Luxembourg, the Netherlands
and Portugal does it exceed 900 hours
Korea requires 1,020 hours of instruction at the high school level.
In India, schools open 200 days a year for grades 1-5, for a total of
800 instructional hours per year, compared to 220 days and 1,000
instructional hours in grades 6-8 (World Data on Education).
In the United States of America, schools open for 180 days.
In OECD, Lower secondary pupils should receive on average 122
more hours of intended instruction per year than primary students.
The difference exceeds 200 hours in the Czech Republic, Finland,
France, Hungary, Korea and Mexico
At the middle school level, total hours of instruction range from
777 hours in Finland (a top performer) to 1001 in Italy (an average
performer).
In most countries, there is a significant increase in the time
students are required to be in school at the high school level. In
the U.S., most states require the same number of hours in high
school as in middle school. Just as they did at middle school level,
Finland (856 hours) and Italy (1,089 hours) required the fewest
and most hours of instruction respectively.
32
On the assumption that our Primary Schools also follow the calendar of 8 – 2pm
Nigeria
Failures in National
examinations; such as in
UTME, WAEC, NECO,
GCE, NCEE, could be as a
result of inadequate
instructional hours!
This is a call to order, for our Governments and our
Education Administrators to review current
instructional hours and equally compensate for
incessant school closures due to Public holidays and
other identified reasons.
If Nigeria must compete with the
rest of the World and be part of
the Top 20 Economies; having our
Instructional hours less than the
rest of the world is definitely a
disadvantage to this quest.
NEXT RESEARCH
Do Private and Public Schools spend the same instructional hours?
Does instructional hour differ
Among Nigerian States?
What is the instructional hour per
Subject?
StatiSense ® - Wale Micaiah ©
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Data source:- Eurydice Network http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/
- OECD Education Indicators in Focus (April 2014)
Analysis by: Wale Micaiah
m: 08078001800
w: www.walemicaiah.com
w. www.statisense.info