The paper was written as part of the efforts to find solution to the the falling standard of education in Nigeria. The education stakeholders and government alike strongly held the view that the standards had fallen and recently the Minister of Education called for the declaration of a state of emergency in education in order to take extraordinary measures to restore the education system to its glorious past. Against that background, the paper was written to draw attention to the fundamental issues, principles and practices which largely determine the standards of education across the world. Often, the school system in Nigeria had paid less than required attention to such fundamental issues while focusing disproportionately on matters of funding and lack of infrastructure and facilities. It is the position of the paper that though funding, infrastructure and facilities are indispensable, a proper understanding of the fundamentals of the learning system and their proper management can empower schools to record high academic achievements irrespective of their settings and material circumstances. The paper therefore addressed themes such as learner characteristics, curriculum development, instructional resources, instructional strategy, teacher competency, learning assessment and reward system.