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New Page 9
The education question and Ndigbo
UZOCHUKWU J. NJOKU
This essay is
inspired by recent calls on Igbo youths to embrace education. The counsel came
from Justice Chukwudifu Oputa and the first "Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo Education Summit
held in Umuahia on 3rd August, 2004. Oputa’s advice formed part of a lecture he
delivered to an Igbo group in Lagos, a report of which was published in the
Nigerian Vanguard Newspaper (on the internet) of Monday 22nd December 2003. The
report of the "Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo Education Summit" was published in the Daily
Champion Newspaper of 4th August, 2004. Both the concerns of Oputa and that of
the Ohanaeze educational summit centred on constructing a way forward for the
Igbo people. Apart from the above cited instances, the challenge to the younger
Igbo generation to embrace education has also been echoed by many other people
and groups in the recent years. My article is neither a review of these lectures
(or summits) nor a rejection of their primary objectives. It rather aims at
asking deeper questions concerning education itself and how it can help to
achieve the desired aim of Igbo renaissance.
The lecture of Justice Oputa and the
proceedings of the "Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo Education Summit" share the same concern
on the relevance of education both for individual enlightenment and for social
development. Justice Oputa recalled especially the contribution of such Igbo
figures as Nnamdi Azikiwe, Michael Okpara, Akanu Ibiam and a host of others in
the Nigeria’s First Republic. He highlighted the enthusiasm with which the Igbo
people though being latecomers in Western education, were able to catch up with
the Yoruba who were already ahead of them. He recalled the adventures of such
figures like Chike Obi, Pius Okigbo, Alvan Ikoku and others who had to labour
privately in their various fields of study and recorded resounding successes. He
recalled the role of Igbo Unions in giving scholarships to deserving Igbo
children to further their studies and the establishment of private schools by
some Igbo citizens. Oputa argued that the Igbo of the present generation ought
to emulate these forebears of theirs in embracing education as one of the major
tools in constructing the way forward for the Igbo race.
This challenge and emphasis on the
relevance of education is incontestable. Education opens one’s horizons and
broadens his or her worldview. Socrates describes knowledge (education) as a
virtue, which enables an individual to act properly. Francis Bacon simply states
that knowledge (education) is power. Paolo Freire stresses the imperatives of
conscientisation (education) in the struggle for liberation. There are
innumerable ways to reinforce Oputa’s position on the relevance of education for
the Igbo quest for a better future. I share this basic premise with Justice
Oputa, the Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo Education Summit and many others who have made
similar arguments on the relevance of education.
However, I think that some of these views
on the relevance of education and the inferences with the past Igbo generations
are more or less simplistic. This is where I differ with some of these views.
Some of these analyses indicate a particular presumption that the flight from
education, which has been noted among some Igbo people of the present
generation, can be explained strictly from personal craze for money at the cost
of learning. The newspaper title of the summit (in Daily Champion) seems to
encapsulate this frame of mind - "Go back to school, Ohanaeze urges Igbo
youths." In as much as I appreciate this concern of the Igbo elite to encourage
the younger Igbo generation to re-embrace education, it however appears to me
that these calls and concerns for a return to the old enthusiasm for education
simply bypass some very difficult questions concerning education today not just
for the Igbo but for some other parts of Nigeria.
The first question, which I would like to
raise is, on the type of education which these voices advocate for constructing
the future, which all of us dream of? In his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed,
Paolo Freire distinguishes between the banking system of education and a
liberative education. He describes the banking system of education
as one, which turns students into objects rather than subjects. The students in
this type of learning process assume the postures of receptacles and are termed
to be good students depending on how they are able to faithfully reproduce what
has been stored into them. This type of learning process gives little or no room
for originality, creative imagination or critical thinking. In this type of
learning system, reality is simple, one directional and static. The teacher
holds the key to this reality and claims to open it up to the student in as much
he or she is docile enough to continue acting as a container. This educational
methodology has been used largely in the colonial and missionary enterprises.
Those who receive this type of education can hardly contribute meaningfully to
social change or the development of thought. They can at best be good managers
and maintainers of the status quo. Liberative education stands in
opposition to the banking system. It takes off from the living experiences of
the students. They are subjects in the learning process not objects. In this
case, knowledge is constructed not imparted. Students are encouraged to
critically analyse issues and make their own contributions rather than
swallowing every information. In this educational methodology, reality is
complex and progressive. No one presumes to posses its totality. Liberative
education enables students to know who they are and imbues them with the
relevant tools to chart the course of where they want to arrive in life either
individually or collectively.
It would be necessary to raise the
question of what type of education these Igbo elites advocate in the quest for a
better tomorrow for the Igbo people? Certainly, it may appear to me that some of
them will opt for a type of education that could be described as liberative. The
next question is, to what extent do they see the education system in Nigeria or
in the Igbo states as bearing any feature that comes close to liberative
education? To what extent do they see the quality of education in Nigeria as
assisting the young Igbo generation in constructing a better future? This is one
aspect of the problems of these many challenges to return to education. They do
not examine the phenomenon of education itself neither do they point out the
brand of education they consider relevant.
If by education these voices mean the
possession of certificates, then I can say that the Igbo people have an
overflowing number of people with academic certificates. Nevertheless, the
possession of these various brands of academic certificates do not seem to
reflect sufficiently in issues concerning Igbo collective existence. If by
embracing education, they mean enrolling in schools, then I can turn their
attention to the number of nursery, primary and secondary schools (both those
owned by the government, organisations and individuals) scattered all over
Igboland. I can also turn their attention to the overflowing number of students
in these various institutions. I can turn their attention to the population of
young boys and girls of Igbo origin who sit for the School Certificate
Examinations, National Examination Council and the Joint Matriculation
Examinations every year. Furthermore, I can turn their attention to the high
number of university students of Igbo origin in the various tertiary
institutions in different parts of Nigeria and overseas. Though I do not posses
an accurate statistics to ascertain whether the number of Igbo people who are
enrolled in various schools at home and abroad is rising or dropping, I feel
confident to say that the problem of education as it pertains to Igbo survival
does not consist in the number of people who attend schools or possess academic
certificates but in the type of education they receive. If I turn again to the
issue of whether the call to embrace education implies attending schools, I
would readily like to raise a question concerning the implication of the present
situation where these Igbo elites and other rich people send their children to
Europe, USA, other African countries or to private (expensive) schools within
the country for studies? What does this trend say about education in Nigeria and
for the Igbo? What type of education can students receive in situations where
teachers are not paid properly, where libraries are scarce of relevant and
current texts, where schools are closed and opened like NEPA’s electricity? Does
this challenge to young people to embrace education mean that they ought to keep
hanging on to this type of education in Nigeria? Does it mean that they should
go to the exclusive schools at home and abroad in order to get better education?
How many people are able to afford the high fees charged in these schools both
at home and abroad? The onus of engaging in a fight to establish a good
educational curriculum for creative thinking and social change for the Igbo
nation does not lie with the students but with the Igbo elites like Justice
Oputa, Professor Fabian Osuji (the present Minister of Education) and the
members of the Ohanaeze. The task of making our education system an efficient
tool for social change does not lie in challenging young people or scolding them
at conferences and inept summits but in the resolve of the elites themselves to
be involved in a hard struggle to create a qualitative and affordable
educational system for the average Igbo student.
The second problem is the fate of
education in the country today. Education has been used by successive
governments as sacrificial lamb. As far back as 1978 teachers in the former Imo
State were not paid regular salaries, a situation which led to strikes,
interrupting the education process of students and often leading to mass
promotion of all students due to the inability of teachers to conduct
promotional examinations during the third terms. This situation helped to create
the image of teaching as a miserable profession and consequently began to deter
serious minded people from taking to teaching, which in turn affects the
dedication to duty and the quality of students.
To be continued tomorrow.
• The Rev. Dr. Njoku is of the Catholic University of
Leuven, Belgium.
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