
I recently saw a video clip where Price Ea, an American filmmaker, poet and speaker in one punchy rap titled, ‘The People vs. the School System’ accused American school system for turning millions of people into robots and killing creativity, individuality and being intellectually abusive. He stressed that the school an ancient institution has outlived his usage.
After seeing the video, I concluded that if the American School system can be accused of not changing in the face of the present age despite it advancement at least as perceived by us in the developing world, I then concluded that Nigeria should campaign for the declaration of state of emergency on our education system across all levels.
This is pretty seriously! If the American school system with all the technological advancement is being accused then what should Nigerians do?
Nigerian education system is not only murdering the present generation, if it continues at this pace, I can’t imagine how terribly maimed the coming generation would be educationally when they have to stand with their ‘supposedly colleagues who are in touch with 21st century education in other countries of the world should occasion call for it.
It is quite a laugh that someone will for example write UTME maybe for four sittings before he eventually makes it to the university to study say Computer Science. And then after 5 years of academic pursuit plus maybe one year of strike actions and then National Youth Service Corp, which may accrues to say seven to eight years depending on the university, and then such person graduates and approach an ICT training centre to learn computer basics because the computer languages he learnt from the university went obsolete over three decades ago and technologies of today does not speak those languages anymore.
Not so bad I guess!
How about the computer teacher in a friend’s secondary school who does not know what a flash drive is or the difference between soft copy and hard copy? The dear computer teacher did not even know that Whatsapp is an application!
As if that was not enough to make one cry while laughing, what about the English language teacher that teaches her students English Language in their mother tongue and the university graduates who hire people to draft their cover letters because they are only proficient in writing in short hands and smileys.
The Nigerian education system is not as bad you may say but I bet if the system is not overhauled as a matter of urgency, I can’t imagine the educational gap that would be between us and those in countries that prioritise education.
The gulf in education would be just so great!
While we suggest to government of the road map to take to revolutionise Nigerian educational system and wait for the changes to get effected, what can we do?
Enough of the blame game! Enough! My counsel to everyone is the simple word; ‘upgrade!’ Upgrade as if the air you breathe depends on it. If you must stay relevant in the next ten years, you must unlearn what you thought you knew. Get formal or informal training on current best global best practices on your field. Don’t shy away from the fact that most of the curriculum from which you are being taught today has gone into extinct years ago.
Learn, unlearn, relearn and keep learning while we wait for the educational system to be revamped!
