By Gabriel Chy Alonta

A lecturer at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra state and clergyman of Roman Catholic order, Rev. Fr. Dr. Chika Okpalike, has said that there is no education in Nigeria, describing the current state of education in Nigeria as a pitiable child’s play.

Okpalike, who made this observation in a chat with Orient Education at the Communion Sanctorum Ministry, Awka, Anambra state, said that the prevailing situation in Nigerian schools is western education which, according to him, “was not aimed at improving our immediate environment”.

His words, “As far as I am concerned, there is no education in Nigeria, because before we can to talk about education, we will first of all situate our education to be a Nigerian brand of education.

“We all know that what we are doing in the schools is western education and unfortunately the scheme or curriculum of that same education is not aimed at the improvement of our own environment, rather it is only suitable for graduating people to be employed by the colonial government to work for them.

“Unfortunately since after independence, we have not tried to change this philosophy. So, as far as I am concerned it is not about investing money in education or not, not about graduating people who are suitable for labour market or not, it is about revising the idea of education itself to suit an environment in which that education happens so that education becomes functional in that environment”, the clergyman stated.

Okpalike, who is also the special adviser on academics to the UNIZIK vice chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ahaneku, argued that any amount invested in education in Nigeria would still impoverish it, remarking that the education was not aimed at the improvement of Nigerian environment.

He said that the purpose of education would remain in shambles if it continued to be alien, noting that Nigerian education should also recognise the social and cultural needs of the child.

“We have civic education, but what does it cover? We don’t tell our history and if you don’t have a history, you don’t have a past, and there will be no future. So, our education is misrepresenting the whole idea of education”.

“If we want our people to be educated, we must go back to the drawing board and evolve the philosophy of education that is suitable for Nigerian people and, through the philosophy, begin to draw a curriculum for education.”

https://orientdailynews.com.ng/life-style/education/education-nigeria-alien-need-home/


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