Nigeria and Her Enemy Education: Waging War Against the Future?

Any nation that is working towards advancement and not merely proclaiming advancement does not underestimate the power of education.

 Education has the ability to re-construct a person's mind, which in turn can make the person leave a mark in the sand of times. Little wonder someone said:

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” 
That was a world renowned legend speaking - Nelson Mandela.

The way the giant of Africa - Nigeria handles education is pathetic. 

Some months ago, I was at a government-run primary  school in the Lagos metropolis and it was  nothing to be compared to what could be obtained at an average private school. The classroom did not represent the wealth Nigeria claims to
and in actual fact does possess. Did I mention fans? There were no fans. What an environment to nurture future giants!

Many a child are allowed to hawk during school hours. Thiss should be disallowed. The government should do all she could to improve the standard of living of these bright wards' parent. By so doing the parents would have much less of a compelling reason to hold their wards'

 bright future captive and in extension the destiny of a great nation - Nigeria. 

Sometime ago, I overheard people discussing on the requirements for being a teacher in government-run primary school. One of which was acquiring a Bachelor of Education (B Ed). In my own view, this should not continue. Reason being that one's ability to teach does not come from the acquisition of theoretical knowledge. I skimmed through one of the materials of a student of Education; I observed that most of the teaching techniques outlined there are not practiced by most Private Schools, how much less our 'prestigious' government-run primary schools? This has to change.

Curriculum makers have lost grip of the vision that was destined to rescue the already failing destiny of Nigerian Education. In advanced nations of the world, a vocation is practically integrated into the curriculum. We need to follow suite because, this is what will tame the ever-growing number of unemployed citizens and non-citizens of Nigeria. 

Can we say the Computer Based Tests were technologically designed to fail in Nigeria or the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) did fail? As far as I, a technologist, is concerned the 

tragic magic' that will forever leave scars in the lives of so many youngsters could have been avoided. JAMB has been running the Computer Based Tests in previous years without much of technical hitches. The technical hitches that were recorded in previous years ought to be corrected; instead of that, the board under-prepared and failed Nigerian students. 

It is only in our country, that someone fails the country and gets cheaply away with it. In some other countries, the highest leader is afraid of the smallest follower. Can we continue to trade our future to slave traders and proclaim the future is bright? Can we continue to sing ''... the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain''? If we must take our place as the giant of Africa, we are destined to be, we must change these, there must be a transformation. 

If we say JAMB has not failed, why do we have Post-UTME? Many Nigerian students are not freaked by their friends high score. Reason? It may have been obtained by 'divine revelation'! A Nigerian student will have to pay to register for this exam, pay to print the results, pay to print the admission letter, pay acceptance fee, before other school fees. 

In Nigeria today, brilliance does not guarantee securing admission into a tertiary institution, Many a student believe that brilliance, divine intervention, and maybe some kind of 'connection' (which most times involve money). If the afore mentioned 'connection' is not strong enough, maybe instead of 3G you have Edge/HSPA, you may not scale through.

The new Nigeria must put merit students before any other category of people. Many tertiary institutions exploit students' financial resources, some even go to the extent of asking for money to print out their Post-UTME results (even when they (the students) may have failed). 

The system is so not transparent that many student believe strongly that they are not issued their real results.

Our recommendation here at Change Squad? Let the whole system be looked into by experts, and trasformed into a system that Nigerian students will appreciate, support and believe in. We say:

 #LookIntoJAMB #EducationForAll #EducationTransparency . The dumb skulls are going to Nigerian-Ivy-Leagues and the smart ones are going to glorified Secondary Schools.This must change. 

The next time you hear somebody who claims to be educated say he/she went to school without shoes, and he doesn't encourage someone to go to school. The person doesn't know the value of education. 

The next time you sponsor a child-marriage, you are sponsoring the captivity of the destiny of millions. 

Change starts with me and you. Be the change you want to see. 

“The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.” 
― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

You couldn't have agreed with every word I wrote, share your views politely in the comments. Let's rub minds together; your views are very important. We appreciate shares. Kindly RBC.