NIGERIAL AND HER EDUCATIONAL INADEQUACIES

my fellow steemians, if you have been following my page am sure you must have noticed i have been writing on issues relating to Nigeria in particular and Africa in general.Due to the love i have for my country,i have decided to write this so we the youths can have a foresight in order to tackle whatever might be a clog in the progress of our dear country Nigeria. read and share your thoughts.Thanks

Nigeria as the largest black African nation in the world has been blessed with both human and natural resources than most other nations in the world, and as such one would have expected the country to have most of her citizens to have enough educated people, not only to cope with her enormous programs and developments but in order to make it a developed country, but also to show case these educated citizens of the country in all spheres of human endeavors. To achieve the above, it is expected that adequate programs for the educational development in all ramifications that will meet the highest standards of performance in the world, will have been put in place and made workable to produce effective results.
The past Government, after the Nigerian independence have been fashioning various educational development programmes which they thought are the best for the country. These programmes were actually good to some extent in certain sectors and to a certain extent, to help our development programmes, but certainly not to the extent of the desired goal for a developing country or a fully developed country of our dreams. Most of our educational programs since then have been mostly on administration programmes, those not on administration, have been anchored mostly on theory with barely or no practical oriented course content during training program or during the course program. In order words, most of our educational courses have been more of white collar job oriented programs with very little or no content of practical adaptation. Hence most of our professionals were mostly trained more on theory than practical and this has not augured well for the country, particularly for those courses that require practical work, utilizing various equipment's, laboratories, workshops, tools and materials that will make the recipients fully equipped in his or her profession such as Engineering, Pharmacy, Doctors, and a host of other professions involving practical work during the course program.
These inadequacies also apply in technical and vocational courses which as a matter of fact, are worse affected. One can from this see that in most universities, polytechnics, and other tertiary institutions, technical and vocational institutions are grossly ill-equipped with the necessary equipments, machines, tools etc. which will make teaching more practically adaptable and make the recipients ready for job placements and be effective after graduation, consequently making the products of these institutions ill-equipped and lacking “total education” to meet the world standard in each area of profession or specialization. Therefore, the products of some of our institutions, do not meet up with the world standards educationally. And because of this lack of inadequacy in our educational content in practical aspects, most “qualified” graduates, post-graduates, of our tertiary institutions lose confidence in themselves or in their ability in applying for jobs that will require their qualifications and/or creating some fears in the minds of some foreign employers to employ these “professionals” in sensitive positions outside the country. Also, some of these “graduates” or ‘professionals” because of lack of in-depth practical training during the course of their courses are afraid to setup professional practice for themselves when they could not be employed because of the default in the educational system, and the ability to cope with any problem that may arise. This scenario brought about massive unemployment among the youths both from tertiary and other institutions where education is being based on theory with little or no practical adaptation/content which does not provide for easy employment or for the recipient to set up their own businesses.


Much as the educational planners and developers of this country in various institutions in this country have tried to fashion out the best programs to produce effective or total education, it has not proved worthwhile; hence the country is in the present worse mass unemployment situation in the history of the country. So our educational planners and developers are well advised to go into their drawing boards to fashion out the best system of education in this country, that will turnout quality products from our various institutions who will be equipped not only in theory, but both theory and practice, to make them well baked for easy employment and possibly be able to setup employment or businesses which in turn will solve unemployment and promote industrialization and national development in all ramifications.
Government who is the main source of educational development should make available funds for all the necessary equipments for both laboratory workshops and all other sectors that may require practical work during the course programs in all institutions of learning including tertiary and below. Specific attention should be paid to technological, technical and vocational education as these are the pillars of industrialization and massive progress and development in any country. It is also one of the pillars of economic growth of any nation and also one of the areas that provide massive employments of labor and major area of productivity. Therefore more technological, technical and vocational institution should therefore be established and be well equipped and adequately staffed with fully qualified and trained personnel so that products of these institutions will not only be useful to themselves, but also to the country in general as well as to the whole of Africa since we are giants of Africa. for instance the present situation where technicians,craftmen and other people in vocation are been recruited from our neighboring countries to come and be employed and also carry out services in their areas of specialization and where Nigeria is in dire need of the services of this people is not only acceptable but a discredit to our faulty educational programming. This situation makes the employment market increase on a yearly basis which is bad for the country’s economic growth. This scenario can only be accepted on short time basis and not permanent basis as the situation in the country today. The present situation were qualified, technicians, craftsmen or people in various vocations are not easily available for services, is not acceptable and not good for the county’s growth and development. The situation must immediately be arrested and corrected. It is also my advice to the Government, that various vocations with practical applications be introduced to the youths starting from the primary school, up to the tertiary level, irrespective of what profession he/she is going for in the tertiary institution. This should serve as a sort of buffer or a fall back absorber by any professional, in times of need. Where this is not done before a youth enters into the tertiary institution, technical and vocational courses should be made compulsory in the National Youth Service Corps, and be effectively pursued and supervised so that the recipients may benefit immensely and be an effective tool in times of need in the life of the recipient. It will also serve the benefactor to be the more useful to himself, the community and the country as a whole, in the acquisition of that additional education which allows for self-employment and for self-sustenance whenever there is need for it. Nigeria has the financial resources to make this program work for all her youths.

The alternative to this for those who have graduated from the tertiary institutions and who are to serve in the one year national youth service(NYSC), should instead of sending every graduate to teach irrespective of whether they studied education or not, all professionals should be attached compulsorily to organizations where they effectively practice (practically) their profession and have certificates of attendance for that one year course. That one year course will enable them to have more practical training for their profession in addition to what they have during the course of their training and boost their practical knowledge. The present programmes in the secondary schools, were various vocational courses are included in their curriculum (only in theory) should be discouraged. Rather these vocational courses should be matched with practical’s, workshops and qualified personnel should be provided for each vocation in the curriculum to make the vocational training meaningful and effective to the recipients. It shouldn’t be to pass the exam, but they should pass the practical too and be able to work or practice the vocation irrespective of whatever profession they will later study in the future. This present situation should not be the same as it was in the 6-3-3-4 system in the past. When there was provision for vocational training with massive importation of machinery and equipment, but lacking qualified personnel to handle the equipment for the practical training. The result of which made the system a complete failure. For any vocation that has to be introduced to any secondary school or any institution for that matter to succeed and be effective, adequate provisions must have previously been made for the massive training of personnel in both theory and practical and be fully qualified to teach the subject or courses.
Therefore, with the planners going back to the drawing board for more effective planning for productive education, with the Government putting more funds in funding education, particularly with the provision of competent personnel, laboratory equipments, fully equipped workshops, research centers and paying attention to supervised practical training, our educational system will have a turnaround and will come out better in producing total education for the various levels of the benefactors and this will in turn eliminate half-baked products thereby minimizing massive unemployment and at the same time producing more manpower for self-employment and consequently providing more employers of labor. This system of training can be found in developed countries of the world such as republic of Germany, France,
Ukraine e.t.c. This I hope will be better for the country both on short term and in the long run. long live Nigeria
Copyright
michaelgodson