Over the years, various guidelines have evolved on education, most of which were based on various models of study. In modern times, parents, students, and educators have continued to explore the different philosophies on education and how they can learn using those teaching methods.
While each education philosophy has its own underlying tenet and driving force, provision of quality education is pertinent in the wake of globalisation. Education guidelines are numerous in various countries of the world. But all seek to achieve one thing: qualitative learning.
In Nigeria, education seems to have been translated to mean another thing. During examination period, for instance, most students see it as a time to cram their note and text books, then answer questions words for words. After the examination, such students forget what they have read. In higher institution, students refer to this trend as La cram, la pour, la forget.
It is instructive to note here that the trend has been a major setback in our education system, and it has helped more in the production of half-baked graduates. Examination is supposed to be testing of students on knowledge of what they have been taught in their own understanding. They are required to write necessary quotes, principles, terminologies and keywords in their own words.
Today, there are many graduates with poor grades but when it comes to the practical knowledge, they have a good grasp of any subject. Their brains work faster compared to the certificate they carry. To those sets of graduates, securing employment is difficult because no employer will give them the benefit of the doubt.
However, there are graduates with good certificates but they crammed throughout their days in higher institutions. These certificates make them to be in a good position to get jobs. But when they eventually get employed, they perform below expectation. This, surely, will affect the progress of organisations they work for, and in one way or the other, their incompetence will affect the society. This is the reality of Nigeria’s education system.
Last Christmas, I was discussing education issues with my cousins, who came from the United States for holiday. One of them said: “You guys are undergoing unnecessary stress here in Nigeria all in the name of studying.” He said most Nigerian lecturers deviate from the curriculum and fail to cover the syllabus, believing that students will study to complete the course outline. “Over there, this is not the case; lecturers in the US assist students to read further after they would have completed the course outline,” he said.
To standardise the quality of education in Nigeria, methinks we should emulate the standards in countries, such as the US, United Kingdom, Canada, India and even Ghana, which have good educational system. In droves, Nigerian students migrate to these countries in search of qualitative education. If we can adopt these countries’ guidelines, our education standard will improve and this will stop the phenomenon of brain drain in our country.
A statistics on education showed, Nigerian students invested N246 billion – over 60 per cent of the 2012 budget on education – in the UK universities alone. The statistics also showed that, Nigerians studying in British and American universities spent above N137 billion on tuition and living expenses alone in the last two academic sessions; this is about 34 per cent of Federal Government’s allocation to education.
Foreign universities are profiting from Nigeria’s ill-equipped institutions. According to the UK Council of International Student Affairs (UKCISA), Nigeria is the third in the list of the top 10 non-EU countries studying the country.
Nigeria, too, can be reckoned with when it comes to education, but this is if our government is ready to place importance on the sector by formulating standards that will help to realise qualitative education. There are international bodies that can help us to achieve this. Such is International Accreditation Organisation (IAO), which approves institutions according to their standards compare to their foreign peers.
The University of Bangalore recently received candidacy status from IAO, which is a major achievement for the education sector of India. It will encourage reputed education providers to be internationally accredited and recognised for providing quality education.
IAO’s accreditation offers international recognition to all institutions on its list, a factor considered very important by students and guardians or parents before accepting placement in programmes of any university in the world.
An internationally-accredited university can reach out across geographic boundaries and has greater appeal for foreign students. Graduates of internationally accredited universities find it easier to pursue their career in foreign countries because their academic credentials are accepted worldwide. This quality of international accreditation plays a vital role in career development for students and increases the value of international accreditation for students.
If Nigeria can also seek this standard for its higher institutions, the present trend in education, which seems to favour the mediocre, would give way to a standard that will make learning easy for all students.
