That we can do a great deal for the sorry state of Nigerian
education with more money is generally accepted. Which would go a long way in
increasing the salary of teachers; reducing class size by ten (10%) percent, or
increasing the number of teachers by the same percentage. But the occasional
visitor to the Nigerian schools would note some changes that would cost much
less, nothing at all, or even save money – and yet would improve at least the
educational environment in Nigerian schools, should the youth be seen as
empowered as objects of change and development needed in the educational
sector.
Youth
comes with vitality and strength. One cannot mention development without
mentioning the young vibrate youth; because they are the backbone of every
society. According to the United Nations; youth is time between childhood and
adulthood. And the process called youth are within the age bracket of fifteen
(15) – twenty five (25) years of age.
The prominent
role the youth has to play in the educational sector in Nigeria cannot be
over-emphasized, as the youth also include secondary school students and the
university graduates and undergraduates like myself. We do not have to wait on
the government to provide us with the necessary infrastructures before the
change we need in the educational sector is seen. And the journey to this epoch
transformation begins with self.
We have
to play our own role in the educational sector as we have become privileged to
attend school. All tanks to the white men who brought in education and our
parents who have supported the idea. It is one thing to be in school and it is
another thing to pass through it.
Like an adage says “what is worth doing, is worth doing
well”. Education is good, but having a sound education is awesome. Therefore,
the only way to have an awesome education is to graduate with good results
which only can be attained by studying. Most students in our present generation
prefer every other activity in school except the sole aim of schooling which is
to study. We cannot be called scholars if we do not study; even the Bible
advises that we should study to show ourselves approved.
If Wole Soyinka, Chimamanda Adichie and the Late Chinua
Achebe did not study in the young days of their youth, they would not have
attained the insurmountable heights they have attained today.
Unlike the scholars of those days, the youth like myself
cannot even say my times table off hand
without consulting the back cover of my 60 (sixty) leaves exercise book
or my calculator, we cannot even spell and write words correctly without
referring to our dictionaries or our personal computers like handsets and IPads.
We now prefer to study on the net which could divert our minds to some pornographic
contents or even expose us to misinformed articles written by hunger authors
and worst of all damage our precious sight due to the constant exposure of
harmful rays from the computer/digital device screen; instead of study in a well-equipped
and conducive library like the Professors Kenneth Dike’s library in school,
which has helped a lot of students with their research and assignment.
The
youth see to the welfare of their fellow youth in school. Through their
participation in the students’ Union Government, the needs of some less privileged
youth have been met. The Union’s leader like Comrade Noble Eyisi in Nnamdi
Azikiwe University here, has added seeing to our welfare through the reduction
of the bus fare inside the school and the failed reduction of the food price.
Even the Executives like the amiable secretary General Comrade Arinze has
helped improved to an extent the educational sector through his intellectual
competition on hold today.
This
should be an eye-opener to certain youth on campus whose family wealth or
personal wealth have become an avenue to commit atrocities in school by joining
cultism and spending extravagantly in club houses and food joints on their
fellow youth instead of sponsoring intellectual contests in their various
department and facilities with some money.
With the experience of youth outside the walls of the
school, they make good academic contributions. There is no much formalities
about education, because we receive education everywhere. We get education through
socialization in schools, homes, churches, markets and gatherings. In as much
as social life can distract a student from his studies, students who are
opportune to work, while in school, due to some financial problems or personal
reasons work harder to meet up with his/her academic needs and still perform
better in the course he/she is studying. In addition to that, their experiences
in their place of work, especially, works relating to their choice of course
like a student of Banking and Finance working in the bank, serves as a bonus to
the student as he has been exposed to the practical aspect of the course,
unlike the students, who study strictly without working. To prevent
distractions, students who work should try hard to create a balance between studies
and work.
The value system of youths goes a long way in improving the
academic system too. Late Chinua Achebe, a popular literature explained in his
book “There Was A Country”, the high value of education in his generation. He
had gotten admission into two different universities from which he chose the
one that best suited him. Back then, educated people were highly revered. Now,
the reverse is the case; many students just come to school without gaining the
necessary knowledge. It is also important for youths to know that no discipline
is higher than the other, and if by peradventure we feel ours is simpler than
professional courses, we might as well come out with a first class or second
class upper in the so called inferior course to obtain certificates and go
away. That is why the cases of exam malpractice and corruption in the
educational sector have increased rapidly.
The baton is in our hand; it’s high time we arose and said
no to cheating and sorting. Its time we have a positive attitude towards
learning. It is time we valued the knowledge we acquire in school, not the
paper “certificate” we’ll obtain in the end. It is also important to note that
lecturers who fall into the youth age bracket can go a long way in encouraging
the right value system by saying no to sorting and cheating and by encouraging
hard work by giving students’ scores due to them.
The youth should beat the parents’ choice, especially in
terms of course and university choice. The aim of man is to achieve comfort and
peace of mind. This means that when we follow others’ choice, we may end up
being uncomfortable and disturbed for the rest of our lives. Most youths follow
their parental choice of course and school which has left a billion graduates
in Nigeria jobless and a graduate of a particular course like law doing music
in the society like Charly Boy and Chimamanda Adichie who against the choice of
their parents to study medicine has become a prolific writer today. She made
her choice and she has peace of mind. Now, it is up to the youth to rise up to
the occasion and say No to parental choices that affects our passion and
talent. It would have been disastrous for me if my parents had forced me to
study medicine when I am crazy about fine and Applied Arts.
I
strongly believe that when the youth make the desired right choice of
discipline, I believe they will become better, attend lectures and participate
actively in school without following shortcuts and being nonchalant about the
goings on the school because their dreams have been dashed.
OSINACHI OKAFOR
