It is quite obvious that institution for acquiring formal education is one of the oldest institution in existence, the learning patterns might be subjected to upgrades but the foundation remains. Education is a product of civilisation which involves the process of learning and impacting knowledge through an institutional structure. It has been one of the most practiced norms among the populace of the world due to its capacity in creating enlightened citizens.
The standard of education in each country depends on the rate of investment the governing body of the state has invested in academic endeavours to ensure development. As much as its benefit the citizens to have standard education, the academic sector has also been a source of revenue for the government and private organisations.
Looking aback, education was introduced to countries like mine to bring about civilisation and eradicate some old cultural practices that served as shackles. For those with knowledge of the cultural impediment of most African countries are aware of the core reasons why education was founded. One of the core objectives of education is to create enlightened populace in a country, having it in mind that only enlightened citizens can make informed choices.
In those days I wouldn't say we were not enlightened but our manner of doing things was less civilised. We were a culturally based group of people with traditions passed down from generations, we took pride in our ancestral heritage but the world was changing and our existing culture wasn't ready to give room for such changes. Most people tend to criticize the westerners agenda when it comes to things that were introduced during the missionary days, truth be told they were lot of dark truth that exist within, truth that is better left untold.
People speak of cultural imperialism and education among many other things that were among the tools used by the westerners to propagate their culture. They might be right, everything done by any human is prone to criticism but if we are to blame foreigners for forcing their culture on us, we better ask ourselves, what exactly was our culture like in those days? I don't have all the historical facts at hand but the few I do have is more than enough to create a fair foundation for a scholarly argument.
Apart from some of pagan lifestyle that involves sacrificial offerings and all, which was causing harm to lives and properties, at the centre of it all was subjugation of the female gender. It didn't seem like that in those days, we wouldn't even know what subjugation means. It was just our culture to see women as baby factories but then, in those days their reasons was justifiable.
In those days and in some places till today, our primary occupation was/is farming among many other occupation that involves utilising our natural resources. Every family in those days has a portion of land that is passed down through generations, these lands are used for farming and other things. To cultivate these lands, lot of manpower was needed. Which means the bigger the household, the greater manpower to cultivate their farm lands. The key players in ensuring the household is filled with enough manpower are the women. In a way women were considered as household properties, to be fed and rare eggs in return, if you know what I mean.
Apart from this, there was issue of division of labours. I'm sure you might have seen something similar to it in documentaries, where a lion pride is on a hunt but it is always the males that leads the hunt while the rest of the pride lay in ambush and some stay behind to protect the little ones (the nursery), this is exactly how it was. Most males are hunters and leaders of household while the females were in charge of taking care of the children. So in most household, women were prizes to be won by capable men. In fact during the time of war, the males are always the first to be eradicated while the females will be kept.
Taking you through the narrow path ways of history is to make you understand that, in a country such as mine called Nigeria, subjugation of women and some cultural division of labour is a tradition of ours that has been existing for generations in the pre-colonial era, as a result of colonialism, education was introduced among many other key factors that played tangible roles in the induction of education in the Nigerian society.
Despite the introduction of a tool of enlightenment called education, it was not enough to eradicate our already existing culture. While education plays its roles in reshaping people's mentality about the way of the world, our culture exist as the foundation of our existence. It is alright for people that still wants to hold unto the culture they were born into, some even practice this subjugation unconsciously without knowing it is a cultural mentality they were born with.
Is everyone allowed to pursue education to their satisfaction? To an extent. For those of us that lived in the city, we may not really be aware of the existence of some cultural biases that still remain potent among us. I was exposed to it when I embarked on my NYSC journey and I was posted to a less civilised community.
In this community, I experienced what we used to be in the olding days. Education was less valued among the populace of this community, it was a second nature to them while farming is the first. The males only come to schools after they might have visited their farms, while the ladies might have hawked around the community for valuable hours before coming to school.
As if that was not bad enough, the moment the females are done with their WAEC {West African examination council} or Junior WAEC now known as BECE {Basic education certificate examination}, they get married off to some household, very few are opportune to furthermore in their academic endeavours. Some of them are already married off to someone before they finish their SS3 exams and some get pregnant along the line and drop out. For the males in the community, is a matter of choice, they choose to continue or not but at least, they still have a choice.
To prove how potent some cultural practices still are, on Thursdays the students are asked to cultivate the school farm lands and they do it joyful. They prefer to get involved in any farming exercise than academic related activities because it is natural for them but things like this are alien to those in the cities, even me I wouldn't have known if I never lived in such a community.
What are the rates of young boys to young girls going to school? Perhaps in the city, from what I have seen it is kind of low. During my days in school and from what I have heard from my friends from other schools, the percentage of women in schools are far higher than men. Especially in courses that are women oriented like mass communication, marketing, advertising, business administration, accounting and a lot more. In Nigeria currently, men are kind of endangered species, even in churches there are more women than men lol.
Despite this, the fact remains. It might seem like cultural factors does not really exist in cities but it does. The question is, in today's society how many women pursue an academic career after school or pursue the career they studied? Most end up getting married off before they could allow their passion manifest. It is like a tactical approach, let them go to school to get enlightened and become valuable for the marriage market. Things are improving, since we now have more women in high rank places but most of them are from wealthy families, which is why they have the privileged to do such. While the few without the privilege of being born into a wealthy home that aimed and achieve high peaks in the society educationally, knows the sacrifice they endured.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled Getting exucated in hive learners community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
Image 1 - All images are mine or else indicated otherwise
