Education is one of the most important things every child should have not because it guarantees success but because of the impact it can have on us as an individual. With education, we acquire knowledge and it gives us huge exposure to a lot of things in the world. Being educated makes us create some expectations about ourselves which is normal and when there are setbacks, we feel like all the struggle we went through in school was just a waste of time.
I do not agree that all my struggle in school was a waste because without it, an opportunity like Hive and many others would have just passed me by. I don't work in a bank or telecom company and yet, I have been able to not just apply the knowledge I acquired in school but also pass it on to people who find them valuable. If we think about it critically, we will realize that one of the things education does is to prepare us for opportunities in life.
Whenever I see a Nigerian trying his or her best to acquire an education, I admire them a lot because despite the will to learn, the country's education system isn't helping matters which is a slap on the face of the Nigerian government. Let's put the issue of unemployment aside, a lot of students go through hell to pay their tuition fees. In between their time of study, lecturers would embark on strike, students face security challenges and if we combine all of these together, it's enough for them to lose interest in education but we don't give up. Every year, thousands of students still work effortlessly to get into different institutions not minding the challenges ahead.
The country is blessed and the future of the youth should be made the government's priority but it's the other way around. Just because their kids aren't studying in Nigeria, many of the people in power wouldn't mind seeing the education system crumble completely. It's so bad that if the students hadn't started protesting or damaging the government properties, they wouldn't get the government's attention.
If left to me, there are lots of changes I would love to make in the Nigerian education system to make things easier for students and help them improve academically.
During my time at Polytechnic, one of the things I realised was that higher institutions do not update their curriculum which is terrible and one of the reasons why many students find it difficult to cope with the work system immediately after graduation. As computer science students, we were taught programming with Fortran, and COBOL which are already outdated. It's a good thing to start with the basics so that students can get the scope and have the background understanding but it shouldn't stop at that.
There is Java, Python, C++ and many others but many lecturers can't teach this so they just stick to the old school which is bad. Many students had to pay huge sums to take courses after graduating just to be relevant in the field when the schools could have done the needful. Just like it's an issue at my institution, I know many students are facing the same issues in many schools which shouldn't be so.
All school curriculums should always be updated to make the students stay updated with the current systems in different industries. If this can be taken care of, a lot of students won't wait for employment opportunities. Creating jobs for themselves wouldn't be much of a problem since they can meet the demands of whatever industry they choose to work in.
The introduction of more practicals, tests and projects is what I would love to add to the education system. Doing projects can be challenging because of many student's financial challenges and these are the things government should have made provisions for but instead, they see the education system as a source of revenue which is wrong. The Nigerian education system and that of countries across the globe should serve the purpose of empowering students, it should be about helping students to become creative enough to solve problems within and outside the country.
Many institutions are obsessed with theories which is not what many industries are after. Many of the industries out there want creative minds that can help them make huge progress and the only way to help students is through projects. The only way we test students is through examination which isn't bad but not enough because students need real-life scenarios which don't exist on paper.
Passing exams ain't difficult, it's easier to just cram my books and dump them on the answer sheet in the exam hall but when it's not exam time, many students don't have anything upstairs. Practicals and projects will drive students and help them attain a different level of success with their academics.
The Nigerian education system needs to be restructured and I hope the able hands and minds get the job someday to do what's necessary.
All image in the post belong to me
Thanks for reading.