Barriers to Equality of Access to Educational Opportunity in Nigeria: A Philosophical Perspective

Education as well as its objective are dynamic instruments needed to meet and satisfy the aspirations of the citizens they are meant to serve. Limited resources and a rapidly expanding child population pose problems of "who gets educated" in Nigeria. The question of educational imbalance has been a dominant issue which subsequent Nigerian governments have had to tackle since independence. No matter how much they try to spread educational opportunity equitably, a number of barriers have acted to counter governments' good intentions. The study has identified some of these barriers as including: the problem of carrying capacity, quota system of admissions, unaffordable costs, armed conflicts/insurgency, selection methods, and gender inequality amongst others. The study further proffered possible solutions before arriving at some conclusion.