By Dorcas Musa and Ndagiju Dzarma
Education is a key factor in every developing society. Because of its Influential power and positive impact on the growth of the society, it yields good success. Though it requires time, finance and most importantly hard work, it is very important for people to be educated so they can contribute their quota towards the growth of the society.
Being educated means being properly informed and that allows a person to think logically and make informed decisions that will solve the problems in the society. An educated person is regarded as ‘literate’ because of the knowledge he or she has acquired. On the other hand a person, who due to one reason or the other, is not able to acquire any formal education, is considered an illiterate.
Article 13 of the United Nation 1966 international covenant on economic, social and cultural right, recognises the right of everyone to education. That privilege was challenged in 1948 where the right to education was affirmed in Article 26 of the Universal Declarations of Human Right, which further underlined that education is not only human rights, but also a pre requisite for the development of the society. This means every citizen of the country is entitled to education, hence the establishment of government schools all over the country and free education in some parts of the country. The education system in Nigeria is in the format of 6-3- 3-4, that is six years of primary, three years of junior secondary, three years of senior secondary and four years of tertiary education.
The completion of 16 years of academic learning, qualifies a person to Perform the national service of working free for the country under the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. Completing the six years primary education earns a person the primary school certificate in some states, at the end of the three years junior and three years senior secondary education, he or she earns the Senior Secondary School Certificate, if he or she passes WASSCE or NECO. The completion of four years university education, earns a person a degree, while two years polytechnic or college of education will earn a person a national diploma or NCE. Education is the back bone of the society without which there could be no development and growth. Dorcas and Ndagiju are 300 level Mass Communication students, University of Maiduguri
