Nigeria has one of the biggest economy in Africa and is no doubt growing everyday. It has one of the largest population of black people on the planet and ample natural resources. The country gained independence in the year 1960 .
As a blessed country one would expect the education system to have evolved to something wonderful, but the exact opposite happened. Corruption has destroyed the country and the educational system rendered stagnant and almost useless.
Since my primary school days the educational curriculum is still the same . When I entered secondary school I was shocked to see that even books used by my father in his schooling days were still in use, same with the university. Where is the innovation and change necessary to match the ever evolving world?
Another issue with the Nigerian educational system is that it deals mostly with theory and very little practicals . If students are taught about planes, the only place most of them may get a glimpse of what is been taught to them is on tv or pictures , hence they have no firsthand experience of what an airplane is . During junior secondary school very few practicals were done and they were mostly in art( paper mache , clay Moulding, cooking e t.c). Science is mostly ignored till senior school and even then it's done in minimum. Learning creative arts and having culinary skills is good but what of scientific, engineering and mathematical skills? The world today is run by science and as we move further into the technological age any nation that does not train it's young in these things will regret.
They have been so many cases of Nigerian graduates not being capable in their fields; graduates of agriculture who cannot handle simple farm tools, graduates of Mechanical engineering and they cannot tell the front from the back of a screwdriver. Theory teaches about these things but practicals show these things.
There are leading fields today in the tech industry which have room for so much more, the Nigerian government should tap on these opportunities and train the upcoming generation to be world pioneers, they should increase the educational budget, refrain from looting it, pay teachers their salaries and re- enact a new and more fitting curriculum for the upcoming generation that will match the times.
There is a saying which goes thus; tell me how something is done and I may forget it but show me and I will never forget . To most people talk is very boring, a lot of kids will prefer a trip to the airport to see planes than a teacher standing in class and just telling them about it. We see a lot of people forfeiting school education for trade learning, the government should introduce more practicals and integrate these workshops into schools so as to give the upcoming generation a good platform.