It was Nelson Mandela that said "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Schools are one of the means through which we are educated whether private or public schools, although the experiences differs and this i can say because I was privileged to experience both.
The debate between private school and public schools in Nigeria has been a topic of discussion ever since, while some belief private school is better others argue that public schools are.
As a student that has experienced both system I am here to share my personal insights on this topic
When I started my school journey in the year 2000 Nigeria was using the 6-3-3 system of equation. This meant that students spent 6 years in primary school, 3 years in junior secondary school and 3 years in senior secondary school and then university
For my primary education I was enrolled in a private school named Goodshephard which was later changed to Harrobs private school. The emphasis here in the private school was on quality education and smaller class sizes . The school provided a nurturing environment that fostered individual attention and made learning easier for me .
The small class size of my primary school education made it possible for me to enjoy a stronger relationship with my peers and also my teachers, even up till now I can still remember names of my primary school teachers such as Aunty Lara, Aunty Vero, Uncle Banks, Uncle Gbenga, Uncle Joe who later bacame the Headmaster after the death of Uncle Ben , wow, so many memories, while for my secondary school even though more recent than my primary school education I can just remember just 3.
My secondary school education on the other hand was in a public school managed by the state Government . Public schools in Nigeria are known for their large class sizes, limited resources and often times overcrowded facilities
I remember my first year in junior secondary school (JSS 1) it was full of surprises one of such suprises was the use of Yoruba language and pigeon English within school premises, it was a surprise and a shock because of where I was coming from (private school) where the only acceptable language is English and the slightest utter of a syllable that doesn't sound English you would be punished.
The second shock was that we had to find ourselves a chair to sit on, else we will be sitting on the ground, so myself and some friends looked for discarded planks in the school and made for ourselves something resembling a bench we could sit on, don't ask where we placed our books, it was on our laps and we managed untill we provided some good benches after half of our JSS 1 which we used till we finished our stay in the Junior secondary school. I was happy that we didn't have that same experience in my Senior secondary school days although we still constructed a bench with one leg and the other side was fixed into a hole on the wall this time around we had a bench we could put our books on.
The large class size also posed a certain level of difficulty for me because I was used to learning in a more comfortable space and not where noises from the other class will be affecting us in our own class because of the building structures back then and we sat at the back (back benchers) where we could hardly hear some of our teachers, so for such teachers we had our own class going on at the back while the teacher had their own class in front. One of such teacher was our mathematics teacher, I can't even remember her name again, she had a low voice and don't like stressing herself, so when she comes to the class she says if you are interested in learning come to the front that she is only teaching the first four rolls and this was a class of 135 students which means it was impossible for us to all fit in the first four rolls.
Despite these challenges , attending a public school exposed me to a diverse range of students from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, which fostered a sense of inclusivity and cultural awareness for me.
Both private and public schools had their own benefits and helped me tremendously to becoming who I have become . Private school with the small class size helped me in participating and paying more attention in class, this enhanced my overall learning experience , on the other hand public school helped me developed resilience , adaptability, and also helped me become more accommodating to other people, culture and backgrounds .
However, despite the benefits in my private school , the cost of attending the school became too expensive which made me switch to the public school and private schools can address this issue of high tuition fees by bringing in and expanding scholarships and financial aid programs to ensure that education becomes more accessible to more students.
In the public school I attended the major concern was that of inadequate infrastructure seen in overcrowded classrooms and this limited my learning experience , in order to solve this issue government should prioritize public schools by investing more in it, providing the needed resources and training for teachers in public schools.
My experience in my primary (private) school and my secondary (public) school I do cherish which is why I feel my children when I eventually have will attend private school in their nursery and primary education because of the attention paid to students and this is the formative stages and needs good teachers and conducive environment but having form a good foundation the exposure to other people,culture and backgrounds that public school offers is another important ingredients in having to become a well educated person .Both have their demerits but their merits also are both needed