An Assessment of Educationally Disadvantaged Migrant Ebira Farmers Access to Basic Education

In Nigeria, the Fulani herders, Ijaw fishermen and migrant farmers are generally behind others in terms of access to basic education. Even so, attention is rarely paid to migrant farmers when it comes to nomadic education. The migrant Ebira farmers are particularly disadvantaged in terms of access to basic education. The study was aimed at determining the level of access of migrant Ebira farmers’ children/wards to basic education. Specifically, the study assessed the level of access to basic education of this group. It examined the opportunities available to them to access basic education and identified the major barriers to their accessing basic education. The study also determined the extent to which the barriers hinder the farmers’ children and wards access to basic education. The survey research design was adopted for the study and a representative sample of migrant Ebira farmers predominantly located in farm settlements in four (4) states namely, Kogi, Edo, Ekiti, Ondo. The sampling method involved using the simple random sampling technique first to select four settlements within each state and then the cluster sampling to select the participant farmers. A self-designed questionnaire and structured interview schedule was constructed and administered on the participants in the selected settlements to generate data for the study. The data obtained was analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, and chi square test of independence. The results show that enrollment in primary school and JSS were quite low, averagely 19.2 % for primary school and 18.1% for junior secondary school (JSS)l. Conversely, those not accessing basic education was quite high on the average 80.8% for primary education and 81.9% for JSS. The proportion of children by genders who are attending primary school and JSS was equitably distributed between the sexes, even though the access to these levels of basic education is low across the selected states. Out of the five primary schools and one JSS available to the entire group across the sixteen farming settlements in all the states, only one of the schools is close to one of the settlements while the others are not. In addition, the available schools were generally of poor qualities. Findings indicates that factors such as non-availability of schools; distance (proximity) of settlements to schools, child labour, indirect cost of education, direct cost and inaccessible location rank top six, 1st – 6th in that order, among factors prohibiting their children from accessing basic education. As well, non-availability of school affects access of this group to basic education to very ‘large extent’, whereas proximity of settlements to school and inaccessible location by road affect them to a ‘large extent’. Factors like indirect cost of education, child labour in the farm, and insecurity affect them to only a ‘moderate extent’. Findings also show that there is a significant independence between the farmers’ attitude toward basic education and their sex. Similarly, it was found that the farmers ‘attitude toward basic education is independent of their literacy level. However, the farmers’ attitude to formal education is significantly dependent on their financial ability. Farmers with less financial means tend to be more positively disposed to their children receiving basic education than the more able ones. The farmers suggest the establishment of schools, provision of infrastructure, facilities, teachers, equipments etc. creating awareness/sensitization and mounting special ebira sensitization programme on the need to embrace formal education as some of the way of improving their children’s access to basic education. Other suggestions include the provision of free education, access road to their settlements, special pupil feeding programme. Based on the findings, it was recommended that relevant authorities should establish basic schools within the farming settlements, link settlements with access road to main towns and villages and offer their children free education with free school feeding.