By Sunday Onyemaechi Eze
“One of the most powerful tools for empowering individuals and communities is making certain that any individual who wants to receive a quality education can do so.”
– Christine Gregoire.
– Christine Gregoire.
Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity. The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead. Education remains the key to both economic and political empowerment, says Barbara Jordan. Quality education is the best and priceless legacy parents could bequeath to their children. Nigerian parents, despite their social or economic status, have done all within their reach to meet up with this parental responsibility.
Before going to work every morning parents take kids to school and in the afternoon abandon whatever they are doing to pick their kids during school closing hours in what is commonly known as “school runs.” In fact, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world – Nelson Mandela.”
Eminent scholars have made spirited efforts at defining education. One strongly maintained that “it is the act or process of imparting or acquiring knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life,” The purpose of education is to develop the knowledge, skill and or character of students. Education, in all its inclusive form goes beyond what takes place within the four walls of the classroom. One gets education from one’s experiences outside the school as well as from those within, on the basis of these factors. There are mainly three types of education, namely formal, informal and non-formal education. Formal education is obtained in school established for that purpose. It is in the form of systematic, planned, and guided instruction. Informal on the other hand is an educative activity, habit, manners and patterns learned while living with others or moving in different spheres of the society. Non-formal education includes adult basic education, adult literacy education or school equivalency preparation. In non-formal education, an adult or youth who is not in school can learn literacy, other basic skills or job skills.
Education strengthens the economic growth of countries. It is said that when you educate a child, a nation is totally educated. However, the collapsed standard of education in Nigeria has forced many parents to seek this priceless legacy for their children outside the shores of Nigeria. At the moment, it is mind boggling the number of Nigerians studying abroad and the huge capital flight to these learning centres. This craze to study abroad has posed enormous detrimental challenges and has taken a dangerous dimension too.
It is estimated by UNESCO Institute of Statistics that more 39,000 Nigerians presently study in United Kingdom. Countries like Malaysia, Singapore, India, Cyprus, Dubai and USA etc. are also popular destinations to numerous Nigerian students offering different courses of study. Exam Ethics International, a Nigerian non-governmental organization, said the nation spends over N1.5 trillion on students abroad annually. In West Africa, the educational shoulders of less endowed nations of Ghana, Niger, and Benin Republic have become a convenient place of rest for Nigerians in search of quality education. Some of these universities especially those in West African countries, are not approved. Others have turned out to be huge scams or at best glorified secondary schools. Cases of untimely deaths of Nigerian students in these institutions have remained likewise unresolved.
Any nation without good and functional educational system; be it in terms of structure and substance, is doomed to fail in all its developmental endeavours. Education and knowledge acquisition have played a vital role in the overall development of so many advanced countries of the world. The various potentials of nations are unlocked through education.
Educate a child and the nation is educated. India, China and Japan are known to have invested heavily in the education of their citizenry. Many were on government scholarship to the best Ivy universities in the world. That investment has paid off especially in Asian countries after they brought back and invested their wealth of experiences in the development of their countries.
Educated citizens, for sure, have better chances of contributing meaningfully to the growth and development of their countries. The benefit of education cannot be over emphasised considering the level it has helped nations that applied it wisely. Poverty and illiteracy in countries are eradicated through knowledge acquisition. The application of knowledge acquired by citizens in different fields of academic endeavours, ends up improving different sectors of the economy – a sure way of attaining national growth and greater heights.
The Nigerian educational sector has gradually deteriorated and came to a halt due to long neglect of the sector by successive governments. The budgetary provision for education is abysmally low. The nation has failed to meet the UNESCO recommendation of allocating 26% of its annual budgetary provision to education. In fact, Nigeria has not allocated more than 8% of her total annual budget for education. Ghana, which serves as our educational solution ground, currently has a huge budgetary provision of 31% for education.
Our educational system lacks quality teaching personnel. The recruitment processes is skewed against competence and merit. Compensation packages other than passion for the job drives some teachers found in our class rooms and lecture theatres. Conducive learning environment and facilities are evidently lacking in Nigeria. Most universities, we must agree, lack requisite educational facilities to aid studies.
In the light of above, sticking to implementable policies and adequate investment in education, is the only way out for Nigeria to fully realise her educational potentials. Individual needs of every student must be considered in policy formulation. Nigeria should hear the words of Aristotle, “Those who educate children well are more to be honoured than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those art of living well.”
•Eze writes from Lagos via sunnyeze02@yahoo.com