“When we went to school in those days…’’

The phrase ‘‘Things were better in those days,’’ is a favourite among Nigeria’s senior citizens. It represents a flashback into a time that the younger generation cannot truly understand with words alone.

Senior Citizens recall

This is commonly said of the economy, societal values, entertainment, and even education. As the nation celebrates independence, Saturday School Life, SSL spoke to senior citizens who attended school in Nigeria before independence, to get insight into what today’s education system can learn from the colonial era.

Engr. Felix Obioru just turned eighty-five. He told SSL that he owes his strong background in the sciences and technical subjects largely to the colonial masters’ strong emphasis on technical education during his time.

‘‘I think that one thing missing today is the lack of focus on technical education,’’ he said, ‘‘then, we had carpentry workshops, metal workshops, physics and chemistry laboratories but the technical schools in Nigeria today are seriously lacking in funding. In 

Benin, where I stay, the Government technical school does not have a lot of facilities.

Government should ensure adequate funding for technical education especially at the secondary level.’’ Engr. Obioru also hinged on the fact that students were judged on merit and not on personal relationships then. He recalled: ‘‘After Primary six, I attended a secondary technical school in Lagos. We wrote the entrance examinations in Akure; I still remember that there were only four centres in the whole country. The scripts were marked in one day and the results were based on merit. We didn’t know anyone at the school; in actual fact, there were only two black teachers in the entire school, they taught Geography and English.  From there, I went on to Yaba Technical Institute, which is now Yaba College of Technology. The school had an affiliation with the University of London.’’

For Pa Elias Aluko, today’s education system has in its bag very few committed teachers, a poor reading culture, and a narrow, lazy curriculum. Aluko attended Local authority Primary school in 1955. It was one of the schools established by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He said: ‘‘That was the beginning of the free primary education throughout Western Nigeria. The facilities were lacking in those times, unlike what you have today. But there was the dedication on the part of the teachers. The encouragement was there, the motivation was there.

There was enough competition for the schools and the teachers as well. The focus was more on education to produce the best unlike today. Even though the remuneration for teachers then was not very much, they were happy and content.  But because of the erosion in certain areas overtime, the remuneration expected to be paid to teaching staff has been diverted, and teachers have to do additional things like selling to supplement their income. This has affected the concentration on the teaching profession in recent times.’’

Aluko also argued that the introduction of the multiple choice questions has not ‘‘helped students to really sit down and study. In those days, there was more of serious studying for students to be able to pass their examinations. Most of the subjects in those days were more or less on comprehension basis; not like what you have today where it is a question of choice, trial and error. In those days you just had to read.

Also then, students were interested in reading.  The reading culture has fallen terribly. In those days, we were assigned a specific number of literature books per week. We had strong societies in History, debating, Geography, Literature which prepared us for future challenges. How many schools have such clubs today? Even today, I can conveniently close my eyes and say this is where Buenos Aires is, I can point to nearly any part of the world on the map.

Unlike today, the narrowness of the scheme of work has reduced the capacity of students to study. They just cram for examinations.’’

Dr. Hauwa Imam, a lecturer at the University of Abuja, did a study recently on the Educational Policy in Nigeria from the Colonial Era to the Post-Independence Period. Reviewing the educational policy under colonialism, she concludes that ‘‘the period 1944 to independence in 1960 was a time when: the role of state and that of Missionaries in the governance of education was defined; the school system was geared towards producing the desired manpower for the civil service, thus the recipients of western education ultimately became misfits in their own local rural setup and were suited for blue collar or white collar jobs in the cities.

She also points out that the introduction of Universal Primary Education in the 1950s in western and eastern regions of the country further widened the existing education gap between the north and southern parts of the country; and the western, Qur’anic and traditional education thrived as parallel modes with Qur’anic education being the preferred mode in the largely Muslim north amongst the rural communities. The after-effects of this is reflected in the Alamjiri education, more than fifty-four years after.

But there are some things that have changed for the better. Aluko, who is still involved in the Information and Communication Technology, ICT, industry, is quick to point out.

‘‘On the other hand,’’ he said, ‘‘there are a lot of advantages this generation has over ours, for example the advent of ICT has improved access to information and aided the teaching and learning process.’’The past and the present of Nigeria’s education sector are not without their pains and gains. However, to ensure a future for the sector, the lessons learnt must be put to work.