Dilemma Of Paper Qualifications

Education is the foun
dation of socio-economic political and manpower development in any country. It is  the avenue through which individuals  and the society is  enlightened.
In the Webster Encyclopedia  Dictionary, Professor Read Allen Walker  had focused on education in different dimensions viz: “Education  a systematic  development and cultivation of natural  powers by inculcation, instruction and training in an institution of learning. The knowledge  and skills resulting  from such instruction and training in an institution of learning. Teaching  as a system, science or art.” Read, further   described education as “an educational institution; the place in which formal instruction is given; a period or session  of an educational institution; a course of study at a school; a subdivision of a university devoted  to a special branch of higher  education  – a school of education”.
Invariably, education deals with the impartation of  knowledge, learning, culture, refinement and wisdom which shapes actions  and habits. The question is, how do the many institutions of learing in the country contribute to the quality of education? It is sad that our nation has become one of paper qualification. This may sound unreasonable but the truth is that  the many institutions we have are worsening matters for us in the question of education.
Orobor, M.E. (2008), in his book ‘Theory and Practice of Adult Education’ asserted that schools may educate but they do not necessarily educate. To equate schools with education is like taking  salvation  for church membership. The establishment of schools or education institutions without adequate infrastructural  facilities  amounts to nothing.
Similarly, acquiring  education that makes one unemployable  is useless and of no value. It is of no use having educational institutions established in all nooks  and crannies of the country without  adequate  instructional facilities to enhance learning and boost the education  standard.
In my examination of the state of our  education, I identified seven problems. These  are lack of commitment on the part of the facilitators; economic achievements, instability of study curriculum; eradication of creative  artworks, paper  qualifications by all means, the rise of cultism in the school  environment and extortion syndrome.
Following the abuse of discipline in the school  system, indiscipline has  taken the centre stage and become the order of the day. The widespread extortion from educants  by the educators which  has eaten deep into  their marrows has led to the   laxity  in our education system. The  result of this is the unemployability  of our graduands. Many of them are unable to defend their certificates.
Besides primary and post-primary institutions in Nigeria, there are over one hundred  and seventy (170) tertiary  institutions of learning in Nigeria and they produce hundreds of thousands of students graduating every academic session without skills . It is unfortunate that most  graduates  of institutions of higher learning are only concerned with obtaining paper qualifications. This menace has infiltrated even the teachers  and lecturers  in our institutions of learning. Recently, a university don was disengaged for claiming to have certificates that were  discovered to be fake.  Several cases of this nature abound. It is unfortunate that some employers of labour, without verifying  the  certificates brandished by job seekers, go ahead to employ them. They later discover that they have employed illiterates.
It is disheartening that many graduates  cannot construct simple  but correct English. Many of them have been tested with something as simple as letter  writing but failed hopefully. This is because of the  way they obtained their certificates. All that matters  today is to present paper qualifications from institutions of higher learning and every other thing would be taken care of by  employers of labour.
For instance, a  one hundred level student in an institution of higher learning  could not pronounce  the word  ‘chemistry’   boldly inscribed on a blackboard before his lecturer. One  begins to doubt whether that fellow even  attended primary school how much more secondary.
One way of solving this problem is to encourage students  who are unable to cope with the rigors of academics to take to  vocational education. The time has come for our policy makers to think  in this direction. Vocational education must be given prominence  as much  as regular education.
Let  the Federal Ministry of Education and the authorities concerned map out strategies to run our education system  in  a way that it can produce  quality graduates. This must be done if our society will develop.
Ominyanwa, a public affairs analyst resides in Port Harcourt.

Goddey Ominyanwa