During the recent convocation ceremony of the Federal University in Ekiti state, there were calls for the re-evaluation of values in education for national rebirth. OJO OLADELE in this report captures one of such calls.
A popular adage has it that if you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
This perhaps gives the thought that investing in education may not be a wrong idea afterall even though many perceive such venture as too driven by money consciousness.
This saying no doubt corroborates the submission of a frontline educationist Prof Wahab Olasupo Egbewole the vice chancellor, University of Ilorin in Kwara state when he posited during the 7th Convocation Ceremony and Conferment of Degrees at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti in Ekiti state recently.
According to him, “Nigeria is in deep throes today as virtually every aspect of our national life is in crisis and not a few are hopeless that a solution could be found.
The submission
“Experiences all over the world show that education takes the lead in national rebirth. Some would argue that it is good leadership that leads the process of national rebirth, but a deeper reflection would show that good leadership is the product of good education.
“A good leader is one who has knowledge, skills and good character. And that is what education is all about.
“With due sense of modesty, I recommend that educational institutions should take the lead in taking Nigeria to the next level just simply by prioritising and inculcating good character in students over providing them with knowledge and skills.”
According to the varsity don/legal luminary, providing knowledge without building character, he said is mere schooling, while learning (education) is providing opportunities for students to acquire knowledge, skills and good character.
“It is in the self interest of educational institutions to promote learning because the greatest detractors of the education system in Nigeria today are those who went to school but left without acquiring good character.”
While stressing the need to reform Nigeria’s educational system, most likely through the use of technology, the erudite professor maintained that, “In today’s world, educators aspiring to be relevant must seek to provide solutions to the challenges of schooling, using the integration of innovative pedagogies, emerging technologies and best practices for teaching, learning and research that lead to reflection, problem-solving, informed decision -making, and practical experience.”
With the ability to train students’ character, the legal luminary, in his candid opinion, said that Nigeria’s educational institutions have performed very poorly.
Having the privilege to choose the subject of discourse, he said, “I have taken the opportunity to invite attention to the conundrum that education seems incapable of solving the problems of Nigeria. It appears that the more widespread education becomes in the country, our problems multiply and complicated. Yet the goal of education is to enhance the problem-solving ability of its recipients.
“Growth over the years in education sector as evidently proved, has without mincing words led to solving the problems of the world, breakthroughs in finding solutions to challenges in the different facets of human life at the interval of decades.”
Stressing further, Egbewole, in his analysis said, “Today, such breakthroughs occur almost weekly because of the unprecedented growth in education.
“It is puzzling that while education has continually solved the problems of the world, it has not had the same effect in Nigeria.”
Many educational institutions; no values
Although Nigeria like the rest of the world, according to the vice chancellor, has demonstrated faith in education as the primal factor in human development, he added that this has been exemplified by the phenomenal growth in educational institutions and opportunities.
Tracing the country’s educational growth to strengthen his submission, the VC recalled that, “From having only one university in the 1950s and only six in the 1060s, the country today (2022) has 221 universities (50 federal, 60 states and 111 private).
He disclosed that there are now 152 polytechnics (64 federal, 31 states and 58 private) and 143 Colleges of Education (71 federal, 50 states and 22 private).
Aside all these, he said there are, in addition, numerous other tertiary institutions, such as Schools of Nursing, Health Technology, Monotechnics and a plethora of certificate /Diploma awarding institutions located across the country.
While lamenting lack of positive successful impact regarding the existence of the above listed educational institutions towards the growth and development of the country and her citizenry, he quickly added that the trend has not excluded primary and secondary schools that feed the tertiary institutions.
“It is indeed a puzzle that in spite of the existence of all these institutions and millions of Nigerians who have graduated from them, Nigeria still earned the unenviable epithet of being the poverty capital of the world.”
Dwelling on the matter of training of students’ character, he posited that, “My candid opinion is that Nigeria’s educational institutions have performed very poorly.”
According to him, “When institutions declare during convocation ceremonies that graduating students have been found worthy in learning and character, it only implies that they have not been found guilty of negative character such as examination malpractice, cultism, rape and theft. This follows from the maxim in litigation that a person must be presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
For students to be declared to be of good character, the Senior Advocate posited that, “Students must possess virtues like honesty, courage, compassion, temperance, liberalism, positive ambition, patience, friendliness, modesty, justice, sense of appreciation, feeling of care, confidence, courtesy, humility, creativity, diligence, generosity, spirit of forgiveness, selflessness kindness, love, moderation, sense of responsibility, simplicity, sincerity, tolerance and above all integrity.”
He, however, advised that, “It is better left to each educational institution to determine how widespread are these virtues among students of nowadays.” But he also observed that there is growing evidence that educational institutions have not inculcated these virtues in their students
“Majority of those who commit atrocities in the society today are products of our school system. The courts and the media are replete with records of people who are supposedly educated; some to a very high level and have demonstrated lack of virtues.
“My take is that the ability of educational institutions to inculcate virtues in students has been compromised by their gradual adoption of vices that exist in the larger society. It is therefore now generally accepted that educational institutions are microcosms of the society”.