Healing

HEALING

CHAPTER ONE

1.0   INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Nigeria is at the· cross road of her developmental stage and therefore needs a decisive action to liberate her from the danger of total collapse in the face of political, economic, socio-cultural, environmental, ecological, and religious and communication problems. It has been repeatedly said that no nation can rise above her education and Nigeria is not an exception. The method of education adopted by any country speaks volumes as to how far the country would go in solving her domestic or internal problems and her relationship with other people especially her external neighbours.

Each country has problems and needs that are peculiar to her and her environment and as such need to construct her education philosophy with regards to her needs. Education in Nigeria is an instrument par excellence for effecting national development (N.P.E. 2004:4).

It has witnessed active participation by individuals, communities, non-governmental agencies as well as government intervention. It is therefore desirable for the nation to spell out in clear and unequivocal terms the philosophy and objectives that underlines its investment in education. The Federal Government of Nigeria. has stated that for the benefit of all citizens the country's educational goals shall be clearly set out in terms of their relevance to the needs of the individuals and those of the society in consonance with the realities of our environment and modern world (ibid).

Unfortunately, Nigeria's education system is still in the woods courtesy of strict adherence to the conventional pedagogical method of education which she received from her erstwhile British colonial master which does not consider the implications of such education philosophy to Nigeria's political, socio-cultural, economic, environmental and ecological needs.

1.2   POINT OF INQUIRY/STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

There are four main phases to the problems of Nigerian education system. These are:

Ø    Problem of what to teach

Ø    How to teach

Ø    Problem of effective management or bureaucracy

Ø    Problem of professionalization

The problem of what to teach has to do with the curriculum of education while the problem of how to teach is concerned with the method to be used in teaching and learning business co make learning effective. The management or bureaucratic problem is the mother of all problems since management is concerned with planning, directing, controlling, organizing, and supervising of any organization.

Quite unfortunately, there are many mediocre in the various levels of administrative cadres of our education system. In the classrooms, there are teachers who are not qualified to teach in the first place but they are there for one reason or the other. Because they do not understand the nature of teaching work, they cannot be effective in their work and as such cannot impact any meaningful learning to the learner. The teaching profession is currently being regarded as profession of the hopeless as all manner of people enter the profession both qualified and unqualified (Chigbo, 1976: 9­10; Anih, 1988:2-3). The Nigerian Union of Teachers (N.U.T.) has neither means of controlling entry into the teaching profession nor to discipline the erring teachers.

The administrative problems or bureaucracy places undue emphasis to the office administration at the detriment of the teachers who labour in the classrooms. The people in the hierarchy of education administration and the policy makers show more interest in the award of frivolous and inflated contracts from which they enrich themselves at the expense of teachers, students and the schools. As a result there are evidence of dilapidations of the school buildings and infrastructure; the teachers are not motivated to teach. Teachers are paid peanut compared to their counterparts in other professions which have always resulted in trade disputes between the Nigerian Union of Teachers and the government. During the strike actions, a lot of useful time is wasted at the expense of the learning periods, the tax payers money and above all the learners (pupils and students) who could not graduate within the expected duration of their studies at various levels of education. This has caused frustration to many of the students and makes them to lose interest completely in their studies.

Another bad effect from this is that the teachers are deprived of job satisfaction. The teachers who are so badly treated by their employers do not teach with profound interest as most of them are engaged in other activities like petty trading, okada and kabukabu riding, pepper soup joint and quasi restaurant businesses to make ends meet. They spend less time to prepare their lessons if at all they do. As a result, the business of teaching suffers and the products of school are half-baked and less prepared people who are brought into the society with less quality education and nothing to offer their societies.

This study will expose the reader to some of the caches that were buried behind the screen of the very Rev. Fr. Stan Anih's synthesis in education with a view of unveiling the secrets of successful teaching principles and practices of education.

1.3   PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

This research study aims among other things:

1.                  To do a survey on Nigeria's education system with a view to finding out how the pedagogical conventional method of education has affected the development of education in Nigeria.

2.                  To show evidence of misplaced priorities in approach to educational issue in Nigeria.

3.                  To evaluate the teaching profession with a View to finding a lasting solution to the problems confronting the teaching profession, e.g. the issues of falling standard of education; poor academic performance/ achievement of pupils/ students; teachers incessant strikes and cultism in our schools.

4.                  To see that the child as the epicenter of education is given its rightful place in the education process.

5.                  To point out and place the right values to our education system.

6.                  To show how the COIP4C educational approach could be used to address 'the socio-economic, political and cultural Issues that affect education in Nigeria.