Education is a very important aspect of the development of any nation, the importance of education can never be underestimated. Education not only promotes
a better life but is very crucial for the overall human development in cognitive and shaping of character. In one of the great Nelson Mandela quotes, he said “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”
In Nigeria today there has been a lot of transformation in the educational sector. Acquisition of knowledge is now made easy with the availability of schools, both public and private with varying charges
In consequence now in Nigeria, we have millennial graduates both employed and unemployed, with the unemployed outnumbering the employed and graduates are still being rolled out annually.
The problem of Nigeria today is not solely the unavailability of jobs but the unemployability of our graduates. Permit me to say In Nigeria today we have so many educated illiterates,
The malady of our education system is deeply rooted in the structure of our education system.
Nigeria is operating a 6-3-3-4 system of education, which was introduced
in 1982 to replace the 6-5-4 system, according to
experts, this system was designed to inject functionality into the
The Nigerian school system, by producing graduates who
would be able to make use of their hands, heads, and the
heart (the 3Hs of education).
But as we all know Nigeria is one of the best policy makers in the world but is always not good at implementing such policies.
According to Martin Luther King, Jr. “The function of education is to teach one
to think intensively and to think critically.
Intelligence plus character – that is the
the goal of true education.”
In Nigeria today emphasis is no longer on the core element of true education, which is critical thinking and the ability to proffer solutions to real-life problems, That’s what is meant by true intelligence.
As an insider in the system I can categorically say that the focus in most of our institutions today is not on knowledge acquisition but basically on certification, the joy of learning is being sucked
out and education reduced to a dry, soulless
process of ‘delivery’ of the prescribed syllabus
material, which is aimed at producing a standard test with prescribed outcome measures.
This assessment approach is damaging to students’ intellectual development as well as also political and social development, The result of teaching
where there is no scope for the challenge,
disagreement or the open exploration of
alternative answers to life’s deepest questions are
closed-minded
Students raised with this system are ill-equipped to face real-life challenges, they are not trained to think for themselves, and the emphasis is just on reading and passing certain examinations. Some students employ the La cram la pour la forget approach
Where they cram to pass exams and afterwards they can hardly discuss the subject matter
In conclusion, our graduates cannot be blamed solely for their unemployability, the system should be looked at, there are many loopholes in the system which various research from our scholars have pointed out, I recommend the system be redesigned from the result and certification-driven approach to the real knowledge driven approach .where we don’t have trained sheep but creative, independent thinkers;
confident individuals who don’t expect someone
else to tell them the right answer but who knows
how to think for themselves and find new ways
forward.
Undergraduates also should put effort into learning new skills while in school, making themselves marketable, working on their communication skills, human relations skills, etc, being independent thinkers, and offering solutions to societal problems. That’s what I call real entrepreneurs, You are the master of our destiny.
Source: Allschoolabs, Nairaland
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