FORMAL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA; A SCAM?

FORMAL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA; A SCAM?

  The Merriam Webster dictionary defines scam as a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation

  Education as defined by the Wikipedia, is the process of facilitating, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, belief and habits. It includes acquiring cultural, political, social and economical knowledge, values, skills, beliefs and habit of your environment and the outside world. Thus this is fostered by research work and discoveries.

  In the early Nigeria history, right before colonization, education had existed; thou was classified as non-formal. Cultural, political, social and economical values, beliefs, skills, and knowledge were passed from generations. Parents were able to teach their children the dos’ and don’ts of their community. Children were given the political culture of their community. In this system, they had operated under the ‘PEER GROUP’ called “EGBE ODO” in the Yoruba kingdom with the head as “OLORI ODO”. This group serves as an instrument of check and balance to the king, through their activities, poor or wrong actions of the kings are corrected and there were peaceful coexistence between the two groups.
 The peer group also helps in the security of the community; they help members of the group and also help in the security of the community. They help members of the community heads and group members to carry out strenuous activities. This group works together with the community heads during festival periods, they ensure the success of the festival, with these, components of education were given completely during the pre colonial era; thou still referred to as non-formal education in our contemporary days.

 The formal or western type of education was introduced by British missionaries in the 1840s. The colonial government gave church financial aid, but in the early twentieth century, the government began building schools by the time the British merged northern and southern regions into one colony in 1914, a total of 11 secondary schools were in operation, all but one run by missionaries. There were also 91 mission and 59 government elementary schools. Secondary education was established in 1859 and the first secondary school education was CMS Grammar school, Lagos. The reason behind the delay of secondary schools was not well known. Though, there are insinuations that it was because the missionaries thought that secondary education can induce some critical thinking in people, which may not be helpful for their policies. When ones intentions are wrong, all activities carried out becomes questionable, because the British at first had no pure or good intentions about the country, all they had wanted is getting Nigeria resources, they were afraid to build strong minds, this which led to the late introduction of secondary education.

 When secondary education was introduced, students were made to see their British counterparts as being supreme and only the Britons had access to good house, good education, good medical attention etc, the few Nigerians who got them got it by accident, and these opportunities which came by accident paved way for some Nigerians to further their education. This which later brought out Nationalist movements from the group of students who went to Britain to study and for the first time, some were able to discover the lies of the Britons that they were better than Nigerians.

Boiling down to the 21st century formal education in Nigeria, in the early introduction of western education, the British had introduced some standards which were very good, thou were incomparable to what’s practiced in their land. Education was made very easy, students in higher institutions were like kings, and they had lived a very comfortable life. A lecturer in the university of Ibadan once said it to me that during their period, they had enjoyed good clothing, good shelter, access to good food and water and the only problem they had had was on how to put food in their mouth with chicken dancing in their plate of rice which used to be readily made for them.

 Today, western education has suffered many damages. The standard of education that schools were known for had varnished. Nigerian university graduates lack the proper knowledge and skills to acquire employment. This is as a result of some indices and components of education being removed from today’s western education, many students had been made to belief that the only best thing is for them to finish with a first class or second class upper, students no longer carry out researches, rather rely on the researches had decades back, students only read to pass exams, we no longer read to acquire knowledge, values, skills, beliefs and habits which constitute the indices of education.
 Poor finance might be one of the problems facing formal education in Nigeria, but not the main problem. We need not forget that when the foundation is destroyed, what shall the makeup artists do? Formal Education in Nigeria itself have fundamental problems of its components and not finance, the indices of education which are to be the pillar of which the institution in held, had eluded the institution;
- Students knowledge had been changed from having all round knowledge to knowledge on paper
- Students are no longer involved in learning skills that encourages entrepreneurial skills on campus, therefore, rendered useless in absence of employment opportunities
- Students no longer value what knowledge they possess in their thoughts, but on paper. We shouldn’t forget that we have many second class lower who are quite better than some first class degree holders, no wonder a saying ‘certificate is not the best instrument for measuring intelligent quotient’.
- Students no longer belief in themselves, they do not belief what they know about themselves but what people tell them
- Changes in the four indices of education listed above had brought negative changes in the habits of students.

 The changes in the five indices of education had deprived students from getting the components of education which includes political, social, cultural and economical component.

 Not until we get our feet right, our rights will never be right. It’s time we incorporated into the institution of formal education, the five elements I call indices of education, so that the components of education can be given completely also in a formal setting just as it is in non-formal.

 A car of four wheels will never move in the presence of the absence of a wheel, neither will tricycles nor bicycles move in the presence of the absence of a wheel. Once a component is considered not being relevant, the remaining components becomes useless just as my slippers is useless once one is gone


Sodiq Kolade Sobur