Transition of informal to formal education in Nigerian society
INTRODUCTION
Educationa in Nigeria has passed through two significant stages, the
colonial and post independence eras. Prior to the British conquest of the
area and the subsequent establishment of Colonial Government, most of the
area to the northern and western parts comprised empires, kingdoms and some
chiefdoms, while in the central parts and south eastern parts there were
small chiefdoms with some semi autonomous communities. In the northern
parts, Islam was deeply entrenched both in the religious belief and
educational orientation of the people who had a uniform Qur’anic education
policy (Ozigi and Ocho, 1981). In the southern parts, each ethnic group had
its own traditional form of education based on its own culture and
tradition, whose aims and objectives were similar (Taiwo, 1980). The
curricula which is informal comprises developing the child’s physical
skill, character, intellectual skills and sense of belonging to the
community as well as inculcating respect for elders, and giving specific
vocational training and the understanding and appreciation of the
community’s cultural heritage (Fafunwa, 2004). This was the scenario in
1842, when the Christian missionaries arrived on the coastal area of the
southern part of Nigeria and introduced western education. The aims of
education as given by the missionaries were to enable recipients to learn
to read the bible in English and the local language, gardening and
agriculture as well as train local school masters, catechists and
clergymen. Ozigi and Ocho (1981) noted that even though the Christian
missionaries’ major objectives of establishing schools were the propagation
of Christianity, their greatest legacy was their educational work and
development of indigenous languages into writing. However, it is the
amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates of Nigeria in 1914,
that brought people of different ethnic groups and faith together, as one
country thereby creating a pluralistic society that necessitated the
adoption of a federal structure for Nigeria. Also, British policy of
indirect rule restricted the activities of the missionaries in the
predominately Muslim. Northern protectorate thereby, curtailing the spread
of Christianity and western education (Fagbumi, 2005), leading to a
considerable educational gap between the northern and the southern parts of
Nigeria (Ogunsola, 1982). Also when grants in aid were given to missions
and voluntary agencies’ schools, the Qur’anic schools were excluded because
of their peculiar curriculum (Imam, 2003). The colonial government needed
vital personnel from amongst the natives and thus, the responsibility for
the provision of western education in the northern parts of Nigeria,
shifted to the colonial government (Ogunsola, 1982). In this set up, three
forms of education: Qur’anic, traditional and western education co-existed
side by side with the north and south each having a different pace of
development in terms of western educational attainment. This was the
scenario by 1944 which heralded the advent of globalisation in the post
Second World War period that coincided with the processes of democratic
transformation and national liberation from colonialism. Since then
educational policy in Nigeria has been shaped by the quest for national
development based on political, and socio-economic considerations.
Education policy issues continue to be a question of critical concern in
developing countries in Africa (Tikly, 2001) as a tool for development. The
relationship between education and development has been established, such
that education is now internationally accepted as a key development index
and it is in recognition of this importance that governments all over the
world have made commitments in their countries’ educational policies for
their citizens to have access to education (Odukoya, 2009). However, it is
essential that account is taken of political, economic and socio-cultural
factors in examining nations’ educational policies (Green, 1997). For
instance, considerations of consolidating the nation state have pride of
place among the origins and foundations of contemporary educational
policies (Hyland, 2000; and Green, 2000). Colonialism and Post-colonialism
is the conceptual framework which makes visible the legacy of British
colonial educational policy, the closealignment of Nigeria’s educational
policy’s philosophy of ‘the right of all people to education, material and
cultural well-being by seeking to change the way people think, and the way
they behave’, to reflect the dynamic process of nation building that is
continually being modified by new policy demands.
THE BASIC TERMS
SOCIALIZATION
The concept of socialization has been conceptualized by different scholars
in a different ways. Below are some of the definitions
According to Lundberg, socialisation consists of the “complex processes of
interaction through which the individual learns the habits, skills, beliefs
and standard of judgement that are necessary for his effective
participation in social groups and communities”.
Peter Worsley explains socialisation “as the process of “transmission of
culture, the process whereby men learn the rules and practices of social
groups”.
H.M. Johnson defines socialisation as “learning that enables the learner to
perform social roles”. He further says that it is a “process by which
individuals acquire the already existing culture of groups they come into”.
The heart of socialisation”, to quote kingsley Davis.” is the emergence and
gradual development of the self or ego.
Green defined socialisation “as the process by which the child acquires a
cultural content, along with selfhood and personality”.
Socialization is defined as a lifelong process of how an individual study
habits that include ways of life, values and social norms present in the
community to be accepted by society. The following definition of
socialization according to experts ;
Charlotte Buhler
Socialization is the process that helps individuals learn and adapt, how to
live, and thought his group so he can play and work with the group.
Peter Berger
Socialization is a process by which a person appreciate and understand the
norms in the community where he lived so that will shape his personality.
Paul B. Horton
Socialization is a process by which a person appreciate and understand the
norms in the community where he lived so that will shape his personality.
Soerjono Soekanto
Socialization is the process of communicating culture to the new citizens.
EDUCATION
Dushi (2009) defined education as the process by which society deliberately
transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation
to another. It could be through a formal educational setup, by mere
observance or via quasi formal or non formal means.
To Aderinoye (2015), Education can generally be thought of as the
transmission of values and accumulated knowledge of a society. It is a
societal instrument for the expansion of human culture
According to Prof. Herman H. Horn Education is a perennial process of
adjustment is higher for the creatures that have evolved physically,
mentally free and conscious of God as manifested in the environment,
intellectual, emotional and willingness of humans.
According to M.J. Langeveld Education is every interaction that happens is
every association that occurs between adults with children is a field or a
state where the educational work in progress.
To Prof.John Dewey Education is a process of experience. Because life is
growth, education means helping inner growth without being restricted by
age. The growth process is the process of adjusting to each phase as well
as adding in the development of one's skills.
Also, to Prof. H. Mahmud Yunus Education efforts that are deliberately
chosen to influence and assist children with the aim of improving
knowledge, physical and morals that can gradually deliver the child to the
highest goal. In order for the child to live a happy, and all what
dilakukanya be beneficial to himself and society.
wikipedia, Education is a conscious and deliberate effort to create an
atmosphere of learning and the learning process so that learners are
actively developing the potential for him to have the spiritual strength of
religious, self-control, personality, intelligence, noble character, and
the skills needed themselves and society.
According to Big Indonesian Dictionary (1991) Education is defined as a
learning process for the individual to attain knowledge and understanding
of the higher specific objects and specific.
FORMAL EDUCATION
Formal education is the process of integral education correlated stretching
from primary education to secondary education and higher education, and
that entails a systematic and deliberate intention that concretizes itself
in an official curriculum, applied with defined calendar and timetable.
It is therefore a type of education regulated (by different internal
regulations within the educational project of each College), intentional
(because they have the primary intention the educate and give knowledge to
students), and planned (because before each course, the college regulates
and plans all the educational action which will be transmitted in the same).
FormalEducation is a way, planned or unplanned, which elevates the man
towards its fullness, physical, intellectual, and especially ethics.
Wikipedia (2017), Formal learning is education normally delivered by
trained teachers in a systematic intentional way within a school , higher
education or university .
Sarah, E (2012). Formal education – Organized, guided by a formal
curriculum, leads to a formally recognized credential such as a high school
completion diploma or a degree, and is often guided and recognized by
government at some level. Teachers are usually trained as professionals in
some way.
CHARACTERISTICS OF FORMAL EDUCATION
Formal education is a term that broadly covers the education imparted in
schools and colleges and has the following characteristics –
1. It is purposeful, time-bound, syllabus-oriented, and professional with
identifiable objectives and specifications.
2. It is deliberately planned for the purpose of training the child.
3. Consists of imparting instruction through direct schooling and tuition.
4. It intends to prepare the child for any walk of life where he can take
up a suitable profession on attaining maturity and lead a life that is
socially desirable.
5. Conscious and well-planned schools and colleges are the specialized
agencies for imparting formal education in socially developed groups.
6. There is definite course to be covered within a definite time.
7. While teaching through formal education, specific norms and styles of
functioning within a fixed time-table are followed.
8. There is a syllabus, textbooks, and infrastructure like buildings,
laboratories, playground, etc. proper teaching aids and methods are
followed with attendance being marked, examinations and assessments done
and results reviewed.
9. Professional teachers with specific qualifications and training are
involved and fees have to be dully paid.
10. This type of education though universally followed, is actually
artificial, not deep-rooted, transitory, less effective, monotonous and is
often theory based and far removed from the practical world.
11. Formal education only prepares man to earn a living more specifically
for the white collared jobs.
12. Formal education concentrates on developing the 3R’s viz. reading,
writing and arithmetic and often does not realize the hidden potentials of
a child.
13. There is mental strain on the teacher and the taught.
14. It is covers only part of an individual’s life and is not a lifelong
process.
15. Education is centralized.
16. Student cannot earn and learn at the same time as it is a full time
course.
17. Teacher is considered superior to the taught.
18. It caters to all round development of the child.
INFORMAL EDUCATION
Informal education is the wise, respectful and spontaneous process of
cultivating learning. It works through conversation, and the exploration
and enlargement of experience.
Wikipedia (2017), Informal Education is a general term for education that
can occur outside of a structured curriculum. Informal Education
encompasses student interests within a curriculum in a regular classroom,
but is not limited to that setting.
Didactic encyclopedia (2017) Informal education is that which teaches
contents, is forming from habits, values, experiences and skills, outside
the institutions set up specifically for that purpose. It is spontaneous.
Informal education, on the other hand, is not institutionalized and does
not take into account within the scope of existing education curricula.
Informal education is seen as a diffused action because it has no defined
objectives and is randomly disseminated in full disarray, throughout life.
It is then an educational process that takes place without prior plan,
without a warrant, as a rain of cluttered concepts, chaotic but constant
rain.
CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMAL EDUCATION
1. Informal Education looks to create or deepen situations where people can
learn, explore and enlarge experiences, and make changes.
2. Provides an environment where everyone can learn together and can
scaffold off of one another.
3. Understanding that the activity can be based on any form of learning,
the teaching does not have to be deliberate, more so implied. We give
students the tools to do complex materials over time, rather than teaching
the complex material and then giving the tools.
4. Focuses on the social aspects of learning, and how important
collaborative learning is.
5. The tools students are given are tangible for the processes in which
they will be applied.
6. Bridges the gap between school and life.
7. Allows students a choice in learning, and how to approach the material.
8. Make learning accessible in every day life and in the future.
9. Informal Education is driven by conversation and interacting with others.
Informal Education offers the following:
1. Responsiveness when interacting with the environment.
2. Possibility to act freely in unknown situations.
3. Possibility for an individual to learn without any obligations or
restrictions.
4. Allows for free choice and changes in interests.
5. Ability to create ones own identity.
AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
Several institutional and other sources of socialization exist and are
called agents of socialization. They includes the following:
1. Family
2. School
3. Peer group
4. Mass media
5. Religion
6. Political parties etc.
FAMILY
Should parents get the credit when their children turn out to be good kids
and even go on to accomplish great things in life? Should they get the
blame if their children turn out to be bad? No parent deserves all the
credit or blame for their children’s successes and failures in life, but
the evidence indicates that our parents do affect us profoundly. In many
ways, we even end up resembling our parents in more than just appearance.
The reason we turn out much like our parents, for better or worse, is that
our families are such an important part of our socialization process. When
we are born, our primary caregivers are almost always one or both of our
parents. For several years we have more contact with them than with any
other adults. Because this contact occurs in our most formative years, our
parents’ interaction with us and the messages they teach us can have a
profound impact throughout our lives, as indicated by the stories of Sarah
Patton Boyle and Lillian Smith presented earlier.
The ways in which our parents socialize us depend on many factors, two of
the most important of which are our parents’ social class and our own
biological sex. Melvin Kohn (1965, 1977)Kohn, M. (1965). Social class and
parent-child relationships: An interpretation. American Journal of
Sociology, 68, 471–480; Kohn, M. (1977). Class and conformity . Homewood,
IL: Dorsey. found that working-class and middle-class parents tend to
socialize their children very differently. Kohn reasoned that working-class
parents tend to hold factory and other jobs in which they have little
autonomy and instead are told what to do and how to do it. In such jobs,
obedience is an important value, lest the workers be punished for not doing
their jobs correctly. Working-class parents, Kohn thought, should thus
emphasize obedience and respect for authority as they raise their children,
and they should favor spanking as a primary way of disciplining their kids
when they disobey. In contrast, middle-class parents tend to hold
white-collar jobs where autonomy and independent judgment are valued and
workers get ahead by being creative. These parents should emphasize
independence as they raise their children and should be less likely than
working-class parents to spank their kids when they disobey.
If parents’ social class influences how they raise their children, it is
also true that the sex of their children affects how they are socialized by
their parents. Many studies find that parents raise their daughters and
sons quite differently as they interact with them from birth. We will
explore this further in Chapter 11 "Gender and Gender Inequality" , but
suffice it to say here that parents help their girls learn how to act and
think “like girls,” and they help their boys learn how to act and think
“like boys.” That is, they help their daughters and sons learn their gender
(Wood, 2009).Wood, J. T. (2009). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and
culture . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. For example, they are gentler with their
daughters and rougher with their sons. They give their girls dolls to play
with, and their boys guns. Girls may be made of “sugar and spice and
everything nice” and boys something quite different, but their parents help
them greatly, for better or worse, turn out that way. To the extent this is
true, our gender stems much more from socialization than from biological
differences between the sexes, or so most sociologists probably assume.
SCHOOLS
Schools socialize children in several ways. First, students learn a formal
curriculum, informally called the “three Rs”: reading, writing, and
arithmetic. This phase of their socialization is necessary for them to
become productive members of their society. Second, because students
interact every day at school with their peers, they ideally strengthen
their social interaction skills. Third, they interact with authority
figures, their teachers, who are not their parents. For children who have
not had any preschooling, their teachers are often the first authority
figures they have had other than their parents. The learning they gain in
relating to these authority figures is yet another important component of
their socialization.
Functional theorists cite all these aspects of school socialization, but
conflict theorists instead emphasize that schools in the United States also
impart a hidden curriculum by socializing children to accept the cultural
values of the society in which the schools are found. To be more specific,
children learn primarily positive things about the country’s past and
present; they learn the importance of being neat, patient, and obedient;
and they learn to compete for good grades and other rewards. In this
manner, they learn to love America and not to recognize its faults, and
they learn traits that prepare them for jobs and careers that will bolster
the capitalist economy. Children are also socialized to believe that
failure, such as earning poor grades, stems from not studying hard enough
and, more generally, from not trying hard enough (Booher-Jennings, 2008;
Bowles & Gintis, 1976).Booher-Jennings, J. (2008). Learning to label:
Socialisation, gender, and the hidden curriculum of high-stakes testing.
British Journal of Sociology of Education, 29, 149–160; Bowles, S., &
Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in capitalist America: Educational reforms and
the contradictions of economic life . New York, NY: Basic Books. This
process reinforces the blaming-the-victim ideology discussed in Chapter 1
"Sociology and the Sociological Perspective" . Schools are also a
significant source of gender socialization, as even in this modern day,
teachers and curricula send out various messages that reinforce the
qualities traditionally ascribed to females and males, and students engage
in recess and other extracurricular activities that do the same thing
(Booher-Jennings, 2008; Thorne, 1993).Booher-Jennings, J. (2008). Learning
to label: Socialisation, gender, and the hidden curriculum of high-stakes
testing.
British Journal of Sociology of Education, 29, 149–160; Thorne, B. (1993).
Gender play: Girls and boys in school . New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers
University Press.
PEER GROUP
When you were a 16-year-old, how many times did you complain to your
parent(s), “All of my friends are [doing so and so]. Why can’t I? It isn’t
fair!” As this all-too-common example indicates, our friends play a very
important role in our lives. This is especially true during adolescence,
when peers influence our tastes in music, clothes, and so many other
aspects of our lives, as the now-common image of the teenager always on a
cell phone reminds us. But friends are important during other parts of the
life course as well. We rely on them for fun, for emotional comfort and
support, and for companionship. That is the upside of friendships.
The downside of friendships is called peer pressure , with which you are
undoubtedly familiar. Suppose it is Friday night, and you are studying for
a big exam on Monday. Your friends come by and ask you to go with them to
get a pizza and a drink. You would probably agree to go with them, partly
because you really dislike studying on a Friday night, but also because
there is at least some subtle pressure on you to do so. As this example
indicates, our friends can influence us in many ways. During adolescence,
their interests can affect our own interests in film, music, and other
aspects of popular culture. More ominously, adolescent peer influences have
been implicated in underage drinking, drug use, delinquency, and hate
crimes, such as the killing of Charlie Howard, recounted at the beginning
of this chapter (Agnew, 2007)Agnew, R. (2007). Pressured into crime.
After we reach our 20s and 30s, our peers become less important in our
lives, especially if we get married. Yet even then our peers do not lose
all their importance, as married couples with young children still manage
to get out with friends now and then. Scholars have also begun to emphasize
the importance of friendships with coworkers for emotional and practical
support and for our continuing socialization (Elsesser & Peplau, 2006;
Marks, 1994).Elsesser, K., & Peplau, L. A. (2006). The glass partition:
Obstacles to cross-sex friendships at work.
Human Relations, 59, 1077–1100; Marks, S. R. (1994). Intimacy in the public
realm: The case of co-workers. Social Forces, 72, 843–858.
MASS MEDIA
The mass media are another agent of socialization. Television shows,
movies, popular music, magazines, Web sites, and other aspects of the mass
media influence our political views; our tastes in popular culture; our
views of women, people of color, and gays; and many other beliefs and
practices.
In an ongoing controversy, the mass media are often blamed for youth
violence and many other of our society’s ills. The average child sees
thousands of acts of violence on television and in the movies before
reaching young adulthood. Rap lyrics often seemingly extol very ugly
violence, including violence against women. Commercials can greatly
influence our choice of soda, shoes, and countless other products. The mass
media also reinforce racial and gender stereotypes, including the belief
that women are sex objects and suitable targets of male violence. In the
General Social Survey (GSS), about 28% of respondents said that they watch
four or more hours of television every day, while another 46% watch two to
three hours daily. The mass media certainly are an important source of
socialization unimaginable a half-century ago.
As the mass media socialize children, adolescents, and even adults, a key
question is the extent to which media violence causes violence in our
society (Surette, 2011).Surette, R. (2011). Media, crime, and criminal
justice: Images, realities, and policies (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Studies consistently uncover a strong correlation between watching violent
television shows and movies and committing violence. However, this does not
necessarily mean that watching the violence actually causes violent
behavior: perhaps people watch violence because they are already interested
in it and perhaps even committing it. Scholars continue to debate the
effect of media violence on youth violence. In a free society, this
question is especially important, as the belief in this effect has prompted
calls for monitoring the media and the banning of certain acts of violence.
Civil libertarians argue that such calls smack of censorship that violates
the First Amendment to the Constitution, whole others argue that they fall
within the First Amendment and would make for a safer society. Certainly
the concern and debate over mass media violence will continue for years to
come.
RELIGION
One final agent of socialization is religion, discussed further in Chapter
12 "Aging and the Elderly" . Although religion is arguably less important
in people’s lives now than it was a few generations ago, it still continues
to exert considerable influence on our beliefs, values, and behaviors.
Here we should distinguish between religious preference (e.g., Protestant,
Catholic, or Jewish) and religiosity (e.g., how often people pray or attend
religious services). Both these aspects of religion can affect your values
and beliefs on religious and nonreligious issues alike, but their
particular effects vary from issue to issue. To illustrate this, consider
the emotionally charged issue of abortion. People hold very strong views on
abortion, and many of their views stem from their religious beliefs. Yet
which aspect of religion matters the most, religious preference or
religiosity? General Social Survey data help us answer this question (
Figure 4.3 "Religious Preference, Religiosity, and Belief That Abortion
Should Be Legal for Any Reason" ). It turns out that religious preference,
if we limit it for the sake of this discussion to Catholics versus
Protestants, does not matter at all: Catholics and Protestants in the GSS
exhibit roughly equal beliefs on the abortion issue, as about one-third of
each group thinks abortion should be allowed for any reason. (The slight
difference shown in the table is not statistically significant.) However,
religiosity matters a lot: GSS respondents who pray daily are only about
half as likely as those who rarely or never pray to think abortion should
be allowed.
POLITICAL PARTIES
Political parties attempt to seize political power and maintain it. They
try to win the support of the members of the society on the basis of a
socio-economic policy and programme. In the process they disseminate
political values and norms and socialise the citizen. The political parties
socialise the citizen for stability and change of political system.
TYPES OF SOCIALIZATION
Although socialisation occurs during childhood and adolescence, it also
continues in middle and adult age. Orville F. Brim (Jr) described
socialisation as a life-long process. He maintains that socialisation of
adults differ from childhood socialisation. In this context it can be said
that there are various types of socilisation.
1. PRIMARY SOCIALIZATION
Primary socialisation refers to socialisation of the infant in the primary
or earliest years of his life. It is a process by which the infant learns
language and cognitive skills, internalises norms and values. The infant
learns the ways of a given grouping and is moulded into an effective social
participant of that group.
The norms of society become part of the personality of the individual. The
child does not have a sense of wrong and right. By direct and indirect
observation and experience, he gradually learns the norms relating to wrong
and right things. The primary socialisation takes place in the family.
2. SECONDARY SOCIALIZATION
The process can be seen at work outside the immediate family, in the ‘peer
group’. The growing child learns very important lessons in social conduct
from his peers. He also learns lessons in the school. Hence, socialisation
continues beyond and outside the family environment. Secondary
socialisation generally refers to the social training received by the child
in institutional or formal settings and continues throughout the rest of
his life.
3. ADULT SOCIALIZATION
In the adult socialisation, actors enter roles (for example, becoming an
employee, a husband or wife) for which primary and secondary socialisation
may not have prepared them fully. Adult socialisation teaches people to
take on new duties. The aim of adult socialisation is to bring change in
the views of the individual. Adult socialisation is more likely to change
overt behaviour, whereas child socialisation moulds basic values.
4. ANTICIPATORY SOCIALIZATION
Anticipatory socialisation refers to a process by which men learn the
culture of a group with the anticipation of joining that group. As a person
learns the proper beliefs, values and norm of a status or group to which he
aspires, he is learning how to act in his new role.
5. RE-SOCIALIZATION
Re-Socialisation refers to the process of discarding former behaviour
patterns and accepting new ones as part of a transition in one’s life. Such
re-socialisation takes place mostly when a social role is radically
changed. It involves abandonment of one way of life for another which is
not only different from the former but incompatible with it. For example,
when a criminal is rehabilitated, he has to change his role radically.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE TRANSITION OF INFORMAL TO FORMAL EDUCATION IN
NIGERIA
TRADITIONAL EDUCATION
The historical antecedent of education in Nigeria is based on traditional
education with functionalism as a guiding principle. Like in any other
parts of the world, the modern education curriculum can be described as a
systemized and diversified version of the traditional or primitive
education which was or used to be the culture or the way of life of people
the world over. It can be categorically said that the theory and practice
of education anywhere is a universal instrument of society‟s policy and as
such modern day education can be seen as a deliberate evolution of
education which still has its umbilical cord strongly tied to the norms,
practices and aspirations of a particular group of people. Traditional
education has existed since time immemorial and been instrumental in
solving societal existential challenges in areas like sustenance,
governance, survival, etc. Children were raised, trained and put through
rituals of passage to become full-fledged members of their societies; and
they seamlessly fit in and continued with the works started by their
forefathers. Every society, whether simple or complex, has its own system
of upbringing and training of its young ones and members regarded as
life-long education. This type of education has persisted and permeated the
core of the human race giving it its nature, according to its geographical
coloration. However, the goals of traditional education and method of
approach, according to Fafunwa
(1974), may differ from place to place, nation to nation and people to
people, and as such the Greek‟s idea of an educated man was one who was
mentally and physically fit or balanced, the Romans on the other hand
placed emphasis on oratorical and military training while in traditional
Africa, the warrior, the hunter, the wise man who combined good character
with a specific skill was adjudged to be a well educated and well
integrated member of his community.
Invariably, the prehistoric African societies placed a great premium on
functionalism as the main purpose of education which was also seen as means
to an end. The traditional or indigenous education was meant for immediate
induction of the young ones into the society. and a preparation for
complete adulthood. Fafunwa (1974) also stressed the fact that such
traditional education emphasized social responsibility, job orientation,
political participation, and spiritual and moral values. As a matter of
fact, all the areas of the emphasis were core areas of human existence and
endeavours which, if not well developed in an individual, would negatively
impact him as well as the society he lives in. To this end, the values of
traditional or indigenous education cannot be overemphasized and as such,
the focus or the objectives deserve mentioning.
They are, according to Fafunwa (1974):
a. to develop the child‟s latent physical skills;
b. to develop character;
c. to inculcate respect for elders and those in position of authority;
d. to develop intellectual skills;
e. to acquire specific vocational training and to develop a healthy
attitude towards honest labour;
f. to develop a sense of belonging and active participation in family and
community affairs; and
g. to understand, appreciate and promote the cultural heritage of the
community at large.
Osokoya (2002) submits that the objectives of the Nigerian traditional
education were many and varied, but the ultimate goal was to produce an
individual who was honest, respectful, skilled, cooperative and who could
conform to the social order of the day. He goes further to say that each
social institution had a role to play in providing both moral and practical
teaching which would enable the younger ones to take up their rightful
positions in the community. Children, according to him, were encouraged to
explore their immediate environment, to observe as well as imitate the
adults and to discover new grounds and knowledge. Furthermore, children and
adolescents learnt the geography and history of their communities through
storytelling and full involvement in the communal activities. They knew
their local hills, valleys, rivers and plants. They knew when to expect
rain and when to plant, when to hunt, fish and harvest. The elders used
proverbs and riddles to develop intellect in the young ones. In all, huge
emphasis was placed on complete human development. This was the major
reason the traditional education was described as having a functional
nature.
Islamic education
Islamic education which was introduced around the 14th century in the
northern part of Nigeria was also going on alongside the traditional
education. It was introduced as a means of spreading Islam, and converts
were made to read and write the Arabic language in order to understand the
Islamic religion. The people learnt about Islamic law, Islamic poetry,
grammar and literature of Islam. The Islamic religion also suited the
people as it served their needs in the same manner traditional education
served the needs of the whole African communities. Islamic education was
fully entrenched in the northern part of the country, long before the
arrival of the western missionaries as evidently presented by Osokoya
(1995), that about 19,073 Qur‟anic schools were existing with an enrolment
of 143,312 students as at 1913, as against 41 western education schools in
Nigeria. In the views of Ijaduola (1998), Islamic education was basically
an orientation towards social stability hence, there was a great need to
obey the Holy Qur‟an which was believed to be the words of Allah given
through Prophet Mohammed. Islamic education can be rightly described as a
way of life of the people who subscribed to it. It spread through the
northern part of Nigeria to the southern and eastern parts. Islamic
education rests solely upon the Qur‟an and is divided into different
categories according to Adenokun (2004). The major source of information
and the major curriculum of Islamic education is the Qur‟an as well as the
Hadith which contains the prophetic traditions. The Islamic law (fiqh) and
the canon law (sharia) were all derived from the Qur‟an and the hadith. The
Islamic school has no age barrier as a student can join the level his
intellect allows him or her.Just like the traditional education which had a
clear cut objective, the Islamic education also has its aims and
objectives, some of which are listed by Ijaduola (1998) as:
a. balancing the growth of total personality of man through the training of
his mind, intellect, rational self and bodily senses. Faith is important so
that an emotional attachment to Islam is established through the learning
of the Qur‟an and the Sunnah;
b. creating of a good and righteous man who will worship Allah in truth,
build up the structure of his earthly life according to sharia law and
employing it to serve his faith;
c. promoting in man the creative impulse to rule himself and the universe
as a true servant of Allah;
d. producing men who are totally committed to the ideals of Islamic ethics
and preparing them for a life of purity and sincerity;
e. instilling piety and encouraging self purification as a means of
assisting man to realize the deep mysteries of the universe. Islamic
education in the opinion of Adenokun (2004) has survived tremendously, and
rather than being abandoned after the introduction of western education, it
has been integrated into formal education and still plays a role in the
life and education of many countries along the coast of West Africa.
Buttressing Adenokun‟s (2004) view, the Federal Government of Nigeria
(2004) says efforts shall be made by State governments to integrate
suitable Koranic and Islamiya schools within the formal education system
(NPE, Section 3, 11). The Arabic language used for the propagation of
Islamic education is still very much alive and relevant among the muslims.
The survival of Islamic education can also be traced to the fact that
graduates can become employed immediately as proprietors, editors,
chroniclers, local judges, preachers, etc., by virtue of the type of
education they received during training.Traditional and Islamic educations
have been observed to have limitations when viewed along the line of the
modern day education. Such limitations include:
a.Narrow interest: Islamic education is limited in view and may not allow
recipients to venture into other fields of knowledge. In the same vein, the
traditional education is geographically bound, i.e. it is limited to the
community of the recipient – not universal in nature;
b. Lack of proper documentation: The Islamic education has no prescribed
curriculum. The holy Qur‟an and the tradition of the Prophet are the only
available textual material used, while traditional education uses oral
tradition and storytelling as the major tools of teaching the recipients;
c. Indoctrination: Islamic education is a form of indoctrination, it closes
the minds of the learners to reason, as fear is mostly instilled in order
to get complete attention, obeisance and obedience;
d. Islamic education uses corporal punishment as a basic tool.
The Development of Modern Education
The global currents of the 15th century initiated European contact with the
indigenous societies. The Nigerian entity was not yet evolved even though
social, cultural and political units coexisted and maintained economics,
commercial and social relationships among themselves. Historically, the
first set of Europeans who made contact with Nigeria were the Portuguese
who came in order to establish trading relationship with the natives, and
along the line established schools and churches to promote trading
relationships. They maintained a trading relationship and used the Roman
Catholic Church creed to evangelize as well as give modern education to the
natives for almost a century, before the trans-Atlantic slave trade which
ravaged the African continent for almost three hundred years came to wipe
away all their efforts. The abolition of the slave trade by the British
government opened yet another opportunity of trading relationship with
Africa and Nigeria in particular. The freed slaves were settled in
Freetown, Sierra Leone and engaged in trading activities along the coastal
regions which made some of them to trace their route back to their homes
before enslavement. The reunion led to the invitation of the missionaries
to come for evangelical work in their towns in order to stop their kin from
the practice of worshipping idols and other traditional activities deemed
unreasonable. Such invitation led to the arrival of the Weslayan missionary
body at Badagry in 1842, and several other missions followed suit and
spread themselves to all corners of the country. These missionary bodies
built churches and schools at their arrival at any station, for preaching
the gospel and educating the natives in the modern method of education,
while the colonial government governed the colonies exclusively. Decisive
efforts were later made by the colonial government to participate in the
education of the natives, by enacting education laws to control the
activities of the missionaries especially in their school system. In the
latter part of the 15th century, the Portuguese arrived on the soil of
Nigeria through the Gulf of Guinea which bordered the coastal region of
South East and South South Nigeria. This expedition was mainly for economic
and commercial purposes, but it was not too successful as there was a
strong language barrier. The Portuguese did not lose hope as they were
determined to make their impact felt on the African soil. This
determination brought about the introduction of the Christian faith to
their trading partners and customers. In the early 16th century, precisely
in 1515, the Portuguese built a church and a school in the palace of the
Oba of Benin for his children and the children of his chiefs. The Roman
Catholic mission had been fully entrenched in Benin and other parts of
Nigeria because as at 1571, there were churches and schools as well as
several trading posts in Lagos, Benin and Brass. Another strong effort of
the Portuguese in spreading Christianity was the building of a seminary on
the island of Sao Tome which was off the Nigerian coast.The seminary,
according to Osokoya (2002), was mainly for the training of the Africans as
priests and teachers, to manage the churches and schools that were already
founded. Sadly enough however, the trans-Atlantic slave trade which began
in the 16th century and lasted for about three centuries wiped out all the
educational efforts of the Portuguese in Nigeria.
The Second Attempt at Modern Education in Nigeria
Slave trade became outlawed as the British government abolished it in 1833,
in what was then known as the British Empire. Freetown in Sierra Leone was
acquired as a colony where the liberated African slaves were settled. Some
of the freed slaves started trading along the coastal regions and found
their ways back to their roots in Abeokuta, Oyo, Lagos, Ibadan, Badagry,
etc., in Nigeria. Obviously the freed slaves while they were still enslaved
had been introduced to Christianity in the countries of their enslavement,
and this later became the foundation of the efforts they made to invite the
missionary bodies to their country, Nigeria, to come and preach the gospel
to their kin, in order for them to stop their crude ways of living which
then included making human sacrifice and the like. The Weslayan Methodist
Society was the first missionary body to honour such invitation with the
arrival of Thomas Birch Freeman and Mr. and Mrs. De-Graft to Badagry on the
24th of September 1842. The first school was opened shortly after their
arrival. The church missionary society also sent a group of people headed
by Mr. Henry Townsend to Abeokuta for evangelism and education, but did not
get to Abeokuta until 1846 and they immediately built two schools, one for
the boys and one for the girls. These two missionary bodies played a
fundamental role in the planting and nurturing of both Christianity and
western Christian education in Nigeria (Adenokun, 2004). The Roman Catholic
Mission impact was soon felt with the arrival of Padre Antonio in Lagos,
where he started evangelical work in earnest with the building of a school
in 1868. With the efforts of the Portuguese of the late 15th century and
the early 16th century still surviving, the Roman Catholic Church did not
have much problem in resuscitating the creed. The Presbyterian mission
arrived at Calabar in 1846 and made their impact felt by opening their
station. The Southern Baptist Convention started their own evangelical work
by opening a school in Ijaye in 1853, they continued to Ogbomoso and Lagos
where they opened a school each in 1855. In this same spirit of evangelism
and education, the Niger mission headed by Rev. Samuel Ajayi Crowther and
Rev. J. C. Taylor established schools in 1857 at Gbede and Onitsha, while
in 1864 another school was opened at Idda then in Akassa and Bonny. The
missionary bodies continued to wax stronger in their evangelical work by
moving inwards into Nigerian towns and regions, spreading Christianity by
building schools and churches. They all followed the same pattern i.e.
building churches and establishing schools which were mainly for the
production of preachers, catechists, teachers and clerks for spreading
evangelical work.However, the missionary schools started facing a lot of
challenges as they grew in number; they no longer served the evolving needs
of the native peoples and societies, as the content of instruction was too
limited to produce the kind of people needed for the work of ruling or
governing the country, as well as developing technologically; hence the
need for the colonial government to intervene in the education of the
people, by establishing ordinances and education laws, to control the
activities of proprietors of schools either government owned or missionary.
The Colonial Government Education
The major interest of the colonial government was political, and such that
by the year 1851 there was already a strong political alliance between the
British government and Lagos, and by 1861, Lagos had already become a
British colony. The education of the people was solely in the hands of the
missionaries even after the colonization. However, the colonial government
made an impact on education in the year 1872, by giving a paltry sum of
money to the three most prominent missionary bodies, to aid their
education activities in Lagos (The Church Missionary Society – CMS, the
Weslayan Methodist and the Catholic Mission).That first move marked the
beginning of grants-in-aid to education which according to Osokoya (2002),
formed the major educational financing policy of the colonial government.
The grant was increased in 1877 and remained like that until 1882, when the
colonial government felt that the entire running of the education system
should not be left in the hands of the missionaries alone. Such decision
thus led to the laying of the conditions for grants-in-aid; consequently
the education ordinances were established.
CONCLUSION
the system of education in Nigeria have undergo processes of transition
from one generation to another. These processes had played a significant
role in inculcating into the mind of the member of Nigerian society, its
norms, beliefs, customs, tradition, values and among others through the
process of socialization. It is evidence that, as the system gradually
shift from informal way of education to formal way, the society witness
more of development and give Nigeria it more better social structure.
REFERENCES
Adenokun, A. A. (2004). Functional Approach to History of Education in
Nigeria. Ijebu-Ode: Lucky Odoni (Nigeria) Enterprises.
Dushi, G. (2009), Notes on the Types of education: formal, informal,
non-formal
http://www.merinews.com/article/different-forms-of-education/15784144.shtml#sthash.QYYHuGE7.dpuf
Fabunmi, M. (2005). Historical Analysis of Educational Policy Formulation
in Nigeria: Implications for Educational Planning and policy. International
Journal of African and African American Studies, 4(2), 1-7.
Fafunwa, A. B. (2004). History of Education in Nigeria. Ibadan: NPC
Educational PublishersLtd.
Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004). National Policy on Education. Lagos:
Federal Government Press.
Green, A. (1997). Education and Globalization in Europe and East Asia:
Convergent and Divergent Trends. Journal of Education Policy, 14, 55-71.
Green, A. (2000). Converging Paths or Ships Passing in the Night? An
‘English’ Critique Japanese School Reform. Journal of Comparative
Education, 36(4), 417-435
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_learning
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informal_education
https://edukalife.blogspot.co.ke/2013/01/definition-of-formal-education.html?m=1
http://arieeoke.blogspot.co.ke/2012/05/definition-of-socialization-according.html?m=1
http://infed.org/mobi/what-is-informal-education/
Imam, H. (2003). A Survey of Pre-Colonial Almajirci Education in
Kanem-Borno and Hausaland. SAPHA- Journal of Historical Studies,1(1), 1-6
Ijaduola, K. O. (1998). Education in Nigeria: An Historical Perspective,
Ijebu-Ode, Lucky Odoni (Nig.) Enterprises.
Kumar, A. (2013), characteristics of formal education. Retrieved from
http://allbednotes.blogspot.co.ke/2013/05/characteristic-of-formal-education.html?m=1
Kash, S. (2016). Socialisation: The Meaning, Features, Types, Stages and
important.Retrieved from
http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/sociology/socialisation-the-meaning-features-types-stages-and-importance/8529/
Ozigi, A. & Ocho, L. (1981). Education in Northern Nigeria. London: George
Allen and Unwin Publishers Ltd
Odukoya, D. (2009) Formulation and Implementation of Educational Policies
in Nigeria, Educational Research Network for West And Central Africa
(ERNCAWA), www.slideshare.net .
Ogunsola, A.F. (1982). Legislation and Education in Northern Nigeria.
Ibadan: University Press Ltd
Odukoya, D. (2009). Formulation and Implementation of Educational Policies
in Nigeria. Educational Research Network for West and Central Africa
(ERNCAWA), www.slideshare.net
Taiwo, C.O. (1980). The Nigerian Educational System. Lagos: Thomas Nelson
Nigeria Limited.
Tikly, L. (2001). Globalisation and Education in the Postcolonial World;
Towards a Conceptual Framework. Comparative Education, 37(2), 151-171.
Odukoya, D. (2009) Formulation and Implementation of Educational Policies
in Nigeria, Educational Research Network for West And Central Africa
(ERNCAWA), www.slideshare.net .
Educationa in Nigeria has passed through two significant stages, the
colonial and post independence eras. Prior to the British conquest of the
area and the subsequent establishment of Colonial Government, most of the
area to the northern and western parts comprised empires, kingdoms and some
chiefdoms, while in the central parts and south eastern parts there were
small chiefdoms with some semi autonomous communities. In the northern
parts, Islam was deeply entrenched both in the religious belief and
educational orientation of the people who had a uniform Qur’anic education
policy (Ozigi and Ocho, 1981). In the southern parts, each ethnic group had
its own traditional form of education based on its own culture and
tradition, whose aims and objectives were similar (Taiwo, 1980). The
curricula which is informal comprises developing the child’s physical
skill, character, intellectual skills and sense of belonging to the
community as well as inculcating respect for elders, and giving specific
vocational training and the understanding and appreciation of the
community’s cultural heritage (Fafunwa, 2004). This was the scenario in
1842, when the Christian missionaries arrived on the coastal area of the
southern part of Nigeria and introduced western education. The aims of
education as given by the missionaries were to enable recipients to learn
to read the bible in English and the local language, gardening and
agriculture as well as train local school masters, catechists and
clergymen. Ozigi and Ocho (1981) noted that even though the Christian
missionaries’ major objectives of establishing schools were the propagation
of Christianity, their greatest legacy was their educational work and
development of indigenous languages into writing. However, it is the
amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates of Nigeria in 1914,
that brought people of different ethnic groups and faith together, as one
country thereby creating a pluralistic society that necessitated the
adoption of a federal structure for Nigeria. Also, British policy of
indirect rule restricted the activities of the missionaries in the
predominately Muslim. Northern protectorate thereby, curtailing the spread
of Christianity and western education (Fagbumi, 2005), leading to a
considerable educational gap between the northern and the southern parts of
Nigeria (Ogunsola, 1982). Also when grants in aid were given to missions
and voluntary agencies’ schools, the Qur’anic schools were excluded because
of their peculiar curriculum (Imam, 2003). The colonial government needed
vital personnel from amongst the natives and thus, the responsibility for
the provision of western education in the northern parts of Nigeria,
shifted to the colonial government (Ogunsola, 1982). In this set up, three
forms of education: Qur’anic, traditional and western education co-existed
side by side with the north and south each having a different pace of
development in terms of western educational attainment. This was the
scenario by 1944 which heralded the advent of globalisation in the post
Second World War period that coincided with the processes of democratic
transformation and national liberation from colonialism. Since then
educational policy in Nigeria has been shaped by the quest for national
development based on political, and socio-economic considerations.
Education policy issues continue to be a question of critical concern in
developing countries in Africa (Tikly, 2001) as a tool for development. The
relationship between education and development has been established, such
that education is now internationally accepted as a key development index
and it is in recognition of this importance that governments all over the
world have made commitments in their countries’ educational policies for
their citizens to have access to education (Odukoya, 2009). However, it is
essential that account is taken of political, economic and socio-cultural
factors in examining nations’ educational policies (Green, 1997). For
instance, considerations of consolidating the nation state have pride of
place among the origins and foundations of contemporary educational
policies (Hyland, 2000; and Green, 2000). Colonialism and Post-colonialism
is the conceptual framework which makes visible the legacy of British
colonial educational policy, the closealignment of Nigeria’s educational
policy’s philosophy of ‘the right of all people to education, material and
cultural well-being by seeking to change the way people think, and the way
they behave’, to reflect the dynamic process of nation building that is
continually being modified by new policy demands.
THE BASIC TERMS
SOCIALIZATION
The concept of socialization has been conceptualized by different scholars
in a different ways. Below are some of the definitions
According to Lundberg, socialisation consists of the “complex processes of
interaction through which the individual learns the habits, skills, beliefs
and standard of judgement that are necessary for his effective
participation in social groups and communities”.
Peter Worsley explains socialisation “as the process of “transmission of
culture, the process whereby men learn the rules and practices of social
groups”.
H.M. Johnson defines socialisation as “learning that enables the learner to
perform social roles”. He further says that it is a “process by which
individuals acquire the already existing culture of groups they come into”.
The heart of socialisation”, to quote kingsley Davis.” is the emergence and
gradual development of the self or ego.
Green defined socialisation “as the process by which the child acquires a
cultural content, along with selfhood and personality”.
Socialization is defined as a lifelong process of how an individual study
habits that include ways of life, values and social norms present in the
community to be accepted by society. The following definition of
socialization according to experts ;
Charlotte Buhler
Socialization is the process that helps individuals learn and adapt, how to
live, and thought his group so he can play and work with the group.
Peter Berger
Socialization is a process by which a person appreciate and understand the
norms in the community where he lived so that will shape his personality.
Paul B. Horton
Socialization is a process by which a person appreciate and understand the
norms in the community where he lived so that will shape his personality.
Soerjono Soekanto
Socialization is the process of communicating culture to the new citizens.
EDUCATION
Dushi (2009) defined education as the process by which society deliberately
transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation
to another. It could be through a formal educational setup, by mere
observance or via quasi formal or non formal means.
To Aderinoye (2015), Education can generally be thought of as the
transmission of values and accumulated knowledge of a society. It is a
societal instrument for the expansion of human culture
According to Prof. Herman H. Horn Education is a perennial process of
adjustment is higher for the creatures that have evolved physically,
mentally free and conscious of God as manifested in the environment,
intellectual, emotional and willingness of humans.
According to M.J. Langeveld Education is every interaction that happens is
every association that occurs between adults with children is a field or a
state where the educational work in progress.
To Prof.John Dewey Education is a process of experience. Because life is
growth, education means helping inner growth without being restricted by
age. The growth process is the process of adjusting to each phase as well
as adding in the development of one's skills.
Also, to Prof. H. Mahmud Yunus Education efforts that are deliberately
chosen to influence and assist children with the aim of improving
knowledge, physical and morals that can gradually deliver the child to the
highest goal. In order for the child to live a happy, and all what
dilakukanya be beneficial to himself and society.
wikipedia, Education is a conscious and deliberate effort to create an
atmosphere of learning and the learning process so that learners are
actively developing the potential for him to have the spiritual strength of
religious, self-control, personality, intelligence, noble character, and
the skills needed themselves and society.
According to Big Indonesian Dictionary (1991) Education is defined as a
learning process for the individual to attain knowledge and understanding
of the higher specific objects and specific.
FORMAL EDUCATION
Formal education is the process of integral education correlated stretching
from primary education to secondary education and higher education, and
that entails a systematic and deliberate intention that concretizes itself
in an official curriculum, applied with defined calendar and timetable.
It is therefore a type of education regulated (by different internal
regulations within the educational project of each College), intentional
(because they have the primary intention the educate and give knowledge to
students), and planned (because before each course, the college regulates
and plans all the educational action which will be transmitted in the same).
FormalEducation is a way, planned or unplanned, which elevates the man
towards its fullness, physical, intellectual, and especially ethics.
Wikipedia (2017), Formal learning is education normally delivered by
trained teachers in a systematic intentional way within a school , higher
education or university .
Sarah, E (2012). Formal education – Organized, guided by a formal
curriculum, leads to a formally recognized credential such as a high school
completion diploma or a degree, and is often guided and recognized by
government at some level. Teachers are usually trained as professionals in
some way.
CHARACTERISTICS OF FORMAL EDUCATION
Formal education is a term that broadly covers the education imparted in
schools and colleges and has the following characteristics –
1. It is purposeful, time-bound, syllabus-oriented, and professional with
identifiable objectives and specifications.
2. It is deliberately planned for the purpose of training the child.
3. Consists of imparting instruction through direct schooling and tuition.
4. It intends to prepare the child for any walk of life where he can take
up a suitable profession on attaining maturity and lead a life that is
socially desirable.
5. Conscious and well-planned schools and colleges are the specialized
agencies for imparting formal education in socially developed groups.
6. There is definite course to be covered within a definite time.
7. While teaching through formal education, specific norms and styles of
functioning within a fixed time-table are followed.
8. There is a syllabus, textbooks, and infrastructure like buildings,
laboratories, playground, etc. proper teaching aids and methods are
followed with attendance being marked, examinations and assessments done
and results reviewed.
9. Professional teachers with specific qualifications and training are
involved and fees have to be dully paid.
10. This type of education though universally followed, is actually
artificial, not deep-rooted, transitory, less effective, monotonous and is
often theory based and far removed from the practical world.
11. Formal education only prepares man to earn a living more specifically
for the white collared jobs.
12. Formal education concentrates on developing the 3R’s viz. reading,
writing and arithmetic and often does not realize the hidden potentials of
a child.
13. There is mental strain on the teacher and the taught.
14. It is covers only part of an individual’s life and is not a lifelong
process.
15. Education is centralized.
16. Student cannot earn and learn at the same time as it is a full time
course.
17. Teacher is considered superior to the taught.
18. It caters to all round development of the child.
INFORMAL EDUCATION
Informal education is the wise, respectful and spontaneous process of
cultivating learning. It works through conversation, and the exploration
and enlargement of experience.
Wikipedia (2017), Informal Education is a general term for education that
can occur outside of a structured curriculum. Informal Education
encompasses student interests within a curriculum in a regular classroom,
but is not limited to that setting.
Didactic encyclopedia (2017) Informal education is that which teaches
contents, is forming from habits, values, experiences and skills, outside
the institutions set up specifically for that purpose. It is spontaneous.
Informal education, on the other hand, is not institutionalized and does
not take into account within the scope of existing education curricula.
Informal education is seen as a diffused action because it has no defined
objectives and is randomly disseminated in full disarray, throughout life.
It is then an educational process that takes place without prior plan,
without a warrant, as a rain of cluttered concepts, chaotic but constant
rain.
CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMAL EDUCATION
1. Informal Education looks to create or deepen situations where people can
learn, explore and enlarge experiences, and make changes.
2. Provides an environment where everyone can learn together and can
scaffold off of one another.
3. Understanding that the activity can be based on any form of learning,
the teaching does not have to be deliberate, more so implied. We give
students the tools to do complex materials over time, rather than teaching
the complex material and then giving the tools.
4. Focuses on the social aspects of learning, and how important
collaborative learning is.
5. The tools students are given are tangible for the processes in which
they will be applied.
6. Bridges the gap between school and life.
7. Allows students a choice in learning, and how to approach the material.
8. Make learning accessible in every day life and in the future.
9. Informal Education is driven by conversation and interacting with others.
Informal Education offers the following:
1. Responsiveness when interacting with the environment.
2. Possibility to act freely in unknown situations.
3. Possibility for an individual to learn without any obligations or
restrictions.
4. Allows for free choice and changes in interests.
5. Ability to create ones own identity.
AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
Several institutional and other sources of socialization exist and are
called agents of socialization. They includes the following:
1. Family
2. School
3. Peer group
4. Mass media
5. Religion
6. Political parties etc.
FAMILY
Should parents get the credit when their children turn out to be good kids
and even go on to accomplish great things in life? Should they get the
blame if their children turn out to be bad? No parent deserves all the
credit or blame for their children’s successes and failures in life, but
the evidence indicates that our parents do affect us profoundly. In many
ways, we even end up resembling our parents in more than just appearance.
The reason we turn out much like our parents, for better or worse, is that
our families are such an important part of our socialization process. When
we are born, our primary caregivers are almost always one or both of our
parents. For several years we have more contact with them than with any
other adults. Because this contact occurs in our most formative years, our
parents’ interaction with us and the messages they teach us can have a
profound impact throughout our lives, as indicated by the stories of Sarah
Patton Boyle and Lillian Smith presented earlier.
The ways in which our parents socialize us depend on many factors, two of
the most important of which are our parents’ social class and our own
biological sex. Melvin Kohn (1965, 1977)Kohn, M. (1965). Social class and
parent-child relationships: An interpretation. American Journal of
Sociology, 68, 471–480; Kohn, M. (1977). Class and conformity . Homewood,
IL: Dorsey. found that working-class and middle-class parents tend to
socialize their children very differently. Kohn reasoned that working-class
parents tend to hold factory and other jobs in which they have little
autonomy and instead are told what to do and how to do it. In such jobs,
obedience is an important value, lest the workers be punished for not doing
their jobs correctly. Working-class parents, Kohn thought, should thus
emphasize obedience and respect for authority as they raise their children,
and they should favor spanking as a primary way of disciplining their kids
when they disobey. In contrast, middle-class parents tend to hold
white-collar jobs where autonomy and independent judgment are valued and
workers get ahead by being creative. These parents should emphasize
independence as they raise their children and should be less likely than
working-class parents to spank their kids when they disobey.
If parents’ social class influences how they raise their children, it is
also true that the sex of their children affects how they are socialized by
their parents. Many studies find that parents raise their daughters and
sons quite differently as they interact with them from birth. We will
explore this further in Chapter 11 "Gender and Gender Inequality" , but
suffice it to say here that parents help their girls learn how to act and
think “like girls,” and they help their boys learn how to act and think
“like boys.” That is, they help their daughters and sons learn their gender
(Wood, 2009).Wood, J. T. (2009). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and
culture . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. For example, they are gentler with their
daughters and rougher with their sons. They give their girls dolls to play
with, and their boys guns. Girls may be made of “sugar and spice and
everything nice” and boys something quite different, but their parents help
them greatly, for better or worse, turn out that way. To the extent this is
true, our gender stems much more from socialization than from biological
differences between the sexes, or so most sociologists probably assume.
SCHOOLS
Schools socialize children in several ways. First, students learn a formal
curriculum, informally called the “three Rs”: reading, writing, and
arithmetic. This phase of their socialization is necessary for them to
become productive members of their society. Second, because students
interact every day at school with their peers, they ideally strengthen
their social interaction skills. Third, they interact with authority
figures, their teachers, who are not their parents. For children who have
not had any preschooling, their teachers are often the first authority
figures they have had other than their parents. The learning they gain in
relating to these authority figures is yet another important component of
their socialization.
Functional theorists cite all these aspects of school socialization, but
conflict theorists instead emphasize that schools in the United States also
impart a hidden curriculum by socializing children to accept the cultural
values of the society in which the schools are found. To be more specific,
children learn primarily positive things about the country’s past and
present; they learn the importance of being neat, patient, and obedient;
and they learn to compete for good grades and other rewards. In this
manner, they learn to love America and not to recognize its faults, and
they learn traits that prepare them for jobs and careers that will bolster
the capitalist economy. Children are also socialized to believe that
failure, such as earning poor grades, stems from not studying hard enough
and, more generally, from not trying hard enough (Booher-Jennings, 2008;
Bowles & Gintis, 1976).Booher-Jennings, J. (2008). Learning to label:
Socialisation, gender, and the hidden curriculum of high-stakes testing.
British Journal of Sociology of Education, 29, 149–160; Bowles, S., &
Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in capitalist America: Educational reforms and
the contradictions of economic life . New York, NY: Basic Books. This
process reinforces the blaming-the-victim ideology discussed in Chapter 1
"Sociology and the Sociological Perspective" . Schools are also a
significant source of gender socialization, as even in this modern day,
teachers and curricula send out various messages that reinforce the
qualities traditionally ascribed to females and males, and students engage
in recess and other extracurricular activities that do the same thing
(Booher-Jennings, 2008; Thorne, 1993).Booher-Jennings, J. (2008). Learning
to label: Socialisation, gender, and the hidden curriculum of high-stakes
testing.
British Journal of Sociology of Education, 29, 149–160; Thorne, B. (1993).
Gender play: Girls and boys in school . New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers
University Press.
PEER GROUP
When you were a 16-year-old, how many times did you complain to your
parent(s), “All of my friends are [doing so and so]. Why can’t I? It isn’t
fair!” As this all-too-common example indicates, our friends play a very
important role in our lives. This is especially true during adolescence,
when peers influence our tastes in music, clothes, and so many other
aspects of our lives, as the now-common image of the teenager always on a
cell phone reminds us. But friends are important during other parts of the
life course as well. We rely on them for fun, for emotional comfort and
support, and for companionship. That is the upside of friendships.
The downside of friendships is called peer pressure , with which you are
undoubtedly familiar. Suppose it is Friday night, and you are studying for
a big exam on Monday. Your friends come by and ask you to go with them to
get a pizza and a drink. You would probably agree to go with them, partly
because you really dislike studying on a Friday night, but also because
there is at least some subtle pressure on you to do so. As this example
indicates, our friends can influence us in many ways. During adolescence,
their interests can affect our own interests in film, music, and other
aspects of popular culture. More ominously, adolescent peer influences have
been implicated in underage drinking, drug use, delinquency, and hate
crimes, such as the killing of Charlie Howard, recounted at the beginning
of this chapter (Agnew, 2007)Agnew, R. (2007). Pressured into crime.
After we reach our 20s and 30s, our peers become less important in our
lives, especially if we get married. Yet even then our peers do not lose
all their importance, as married couples with young children still manage
to get out with friends now and then. Scholars have also begun to emphasize
the importance of friendships with coworkers for emotional and practical
support and for our continuing socialization (Elsesser & Peplau, 2006;
Marks, 1994).Elsesser, K., & Peplau, L. A. (2006). The glass partition:
Obstacles to cross-sex friendships at work.
Human Relations, 59, 1077–1100; Marks, S. R. (1994). Intimacy in the public
realm: The case of co-workers. Social Forces, 72, 843–858.
MASS MEDIA
The mass media are another agent of socialization. Television shows,
movies, popular music, magazines, Web sites, and other aspects of the mass
media influence our political views; our tastes in popular culture; our
views of women, people of color, and gays; and many other beliefs and
practices.
In an ongoing controversy, the mass media are often blamed for youth
violence and many other of our society’s ills. The average child sees
thousands of acts of violence on television and in the movies before
reaching young adulthood. Rap lyrics often seemingly extol very ugly
violence, including violence against women. Commercials can greatly
influence our choice of soda, shoes, and countless other products. The mass
media also reinforce racial and gender stereotypes, including the belief
that women are sex objects and suitable targets of male violence. In the
General Social Survey (GSS), about 28% of respondents said that they watch
four or more hours of television every day, while another 46% watch two to
three hours daily. The mass media certainly are an important source of
socialization unimaginable a half-century ago.
As the mass media socialize children, adolescents, and even adults, a key
question is the extent to which media violence causes violence in our
society (Surette, 2011).Surette, R. (2011). Media, crime, and criminal
justice: Images, realities, and policies (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Studies consistently uncover a strong correlation between watching violent
television shows and movies and committing violence. However, this does not
necessarily mean that watching the violence actually causes violent
behavior: perhaps people watch violence because they are already interested
in it and perhaps even committing it. Scholars continue to debate the
effect of media violence on youth violence. In a free society, this
question is especially important, as the belief in this effect has prompted
calls for monitoring the media and the banning of certain acts of violence.
Civil libertarians argue that such calls smack of censorship that violates
the First Amendment to the Constitution, whole others argue that they fall
within the First Amendment and would make for a safer society. Certainly
the concern and debate over mass media violence will continue for years to
come.
RELIGION
One final agent of socialization is religion, discussed further in Chapter
12 "Aging and the Elderly" . Although religion is arguably less important
in people’s lives now than it was a few generations ago, it still continues
to exert considerable influence on our beliefs, values, and behaviors.
Here we should distinguish between religious preference (e.g., Protestant,
Catholic, or Jewish) and religiosity (e.g., how often people pray or attend
religious services). Both these aspects of religion can affect your values
and beliefs on religious and nonreligious issues alike, but their
particular effects vary from issue to issue. To illustrate this, consider
the emotionally charged issue of abortion. People hold very strong views on
abortion, and many of their views stem from their religious beliefs. Yet
which aspect of religion matters the most, religious preference or
religiosity? General Social Survey data help us answer this question (
Figure 4.3 "Religious Preference, Religiosity, and Belief That Abortion
Should Be Legal for Any Reason" ). It turns out that religious preference,
if we limit it for the sake of this discussion to Catholics versus
Protestants, does not matter at all: Catholics and Protestants in the GSS
exhibit roughly equal beliefs on the abortion issue, as about one-third of
each group thinks abortion should be allowed for any reason. (The slight
difference shown in the table is not statistically significant.) However,
religiosity matters a lot: GSS respondents who pray daily are only about
half as likely as those who rarely or never pray to think abortion should
be allowed.
POLITICAL PARTIES
Political parties attempt to seize political power and maintain it. They
try to win the support of the members of the society on the basis of a
socio-economic policy and programme. In the process they disseminate
political values and norms and socialise the citizen. The political parties
socialise the citizen for stability and change of political system.
TYPES OF SOCIALIZATION
Although socialisation occurs during childhood and adolescence, it also
continues in middle and adult age. Orville F. Brim (Jr) described
socialisation as a life-long process. He maintains that socialisation of
adults differ from childhood socialisation. In this context it can be said
that there are various types of socilisation.
1. PRIMARY SOCIALIZATION
Primary socialisation refers to socialisation of the infant in the primary
or earliest years of his life. It is a process by which the infant learns
language and cognitive skills, internalises norms and values. The infant
learns the ways of a given grouping and is moulded into an effective social
participant of that group.
The norms of society become part of the personality of the individual. The
child does not have a sense of wrong and right. By direct and indirect
observation and experience, he gradually learns the norms relating to wrong
and right things. The primary socialisation takes place in the family.
2. SECONDARY SOCIALIZATION
The process can be seen at work outside the immediate family, in the ‘peer
group’. The growing child learns very important lessons in social conduct
from his peers. He also learns lessons in the school. Hence, socialisation
continues beyond and outside the family environment. Secondary
socialisation generally refers to the social training received by the child
in institutional or formal settings and continues throughout the rest of
his life.
3. ADULT SOCIALIZATION
In the adult socialisation, actors enter roles (for example, becoming an
employee, a husband or wife) for which primary and secondary socialisation
may not have prepared them fully. Adult socialisation teaches people to
take on new duties. The aim of adult socialisation is to bring change in
the views of the individual. Adult socialisation is more likely to change
overt behaviour, whereas child socialisation moulds basic values.
4. ANTICIPATORY SOCIALIZATION
Anticipatory socialisation refers to a process by which men learn the
culture of a group with the anticipation of joining that group. As a person
learns the proper beliefs, values and norm of a status or group to which he
aspires, he is learning how to act in his new role.
5. RE-SOCIALIZATION
Re-Socialisation refers to the process of discarding former behaviour
patterns and accepting new ones as part of a transition in one’s life. Such
re-socialisation takes place mostly when a social role is radically
changed. It involves abandonment of one way of life for another which is
not only different from the former but incompatible with it. For example,
when a criminal is rehabilitated, he has to change his role radically.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE TRANSITION OF INFORMAL TO FORMAL EDUCATION IN
NIGERIA
TRADITIONAL EDUCATION
The historical antecedent of education in Nigeria is based on traditional
education with functionalism as a guiding principle. Like in any other
parts of the world, the modern education curriculum can be described as a
systemized and diversified version of the traditional or primitive
education which was or used to be the culture or the way of life of people
the world over. It can be categorically said that the theory and practice
of education anywhere is a universal instrument of society‟s policy and as
such modern day education can be seen as a deliberate evolution of
education which still has its umbilical cord strongly tied to the norms,
practices and aspirations of a particular group of people. Traditional
education has existed since time immemorial and been instrumental in
solving societal existential challenges in areas like sustenance,
governance, survival, etc. Children were raised, trained and put through
rituals of passage to become full-fledged members of their societies; and
they seamlessly fit in and continued with the works started by their
forefathers. Every society, whether simple or complex, has its own system
of upbringing and training of its young ones and members regarded as
life-long education. This type of education has persisted and permeated the
core of the human race giving it its nature, according to its geographical
coloration. However, the goals of traditional education and method of
approach, according to Fafunwa
(1974), may differ from place to place, nation to nation and people to
people, and as such the Greek‟s idea of an educated man was one who was
mentally and physically fit or balanced, the Romans on the other hand
placed emphasis on oratorical and military training while in traditional
Africa, the warrior, the hunter, the wise man who combined good character
with a specific skill was adjudged to be a well educated and well
integrated member of his community.
Invariably, the prehistoric African societies placed a great premium on
functionalism as the main purpose of education which was also seen as means
to an end. The traditional or indigenous education was meant for immediate
induction of the young ones into the society. and a preparation for
complete adulthood. Fafunwa (1974) also stressed the fact that such
traditional education emphasized social responsibility, job orientation,
political participation, and spiritual and moral values. As a matter of
fact, all the areas of the emphasis were core areas of human existence and
endeavours which, if not well developed in an individual, would negatively
impact him as well as the society he lives in. To this end, the values of
traditional or indigenous education cannot be overemphasized and as such,
the focus or the objectives deserve mentioning.
They are, according to Fafunwa (1974):
a. to develop the child‟s latent physical skills;
b. to develop character;
c. to inculcate respect for elders and those in position of authority;
d. to develop intellectual skills;
e. to acquire specific vocational training and to develop a healthy
attitude towards honest labour;
f. to develop a sense of belonging and active participation in family and
community affairs; and
g. to understand, appreciate and promote the cultural heritage of the
community at large.
Osokoya (2002) submits that the objectives of the Nigerian traditional
education were many and varied, but the ultimate goal was to produce an
individual who was honest, respectful, skilled, cooperative and who could
conform to the social order of the day. He goes further to say that each
social institution had a role to play in providing both moral and practical
teaching which would enable the younger ones to take up their rightful
positions in the community. Children, according to him, were encouraged to
explore their immediate environment, to observe as well as imitate the
adults and to discover new grounds and knowledge. Furthermore, children and
adolescents learnt the geography and history of their communities through
storytelling and full involvement in the communal activities. They knew
their local hills, valleys, rivers and plants. They knew when to expect
rain and when to plant, when to hunt, fish and harvest. The elders used
proverbs and riddles to develop intellect in the young ones. In all, huge
emphasis was placed on complete human development. This was the major
reason the traditional education was described as having a functional
nature.
Islamic education
Islamic education which was introduced around the 14th century in the
northern part of Nigeria was also going on alongside the traditional
education. It was introduced as a means of spreading Islam, and converts
were made to read and write the Arabic language in order to understand the
Islamic religion. The people learnt about Islamic law, Islamic poetry,
grammar and literature of Islam. The Islamic religion also suited the
people as it served their needs in the same manner traditional education
served the needs of the whole African communities. Islamic education was
fully entrenched in the northern part of the country, long before the
arrival of the western missionaries as evidently presented by Osokoya
(1995), that about 19,073 Qur‟anic schools were existing with an enrolment
of 143,312 students as at 1913, as against 41 western education schools in
Nigeria. In the views of Ijaduola (1998), Islamic education was basically
an orientation towards social stability hence, there was a great need to
obey the Holy Qur‟an which was believed to be the words of Allah given
through Prophet Mohammed. Islamic education can be rightly described as a
way of life of the people who subscribed to it. It spread through the
northern part of Nigeria to the southern and eastern parts. Islamic
education rests solely upon the Qur‟an and is divided into different
categories according to Adenokun (2004). The major source of information
and the major curriculum of Islamic education is the Qur‟an as well as the
Hadith which contains the prophetic traditions. The Islamic law (fiqh) and
the canon law (sharia) were all derived from the Qur‟an and the hadith. The
Islamic school has no age barrier as a student can join the level his
intellect allows him or her.Just like the traditional education which had a
clear cut objective, the Islamic education also has its aims and
objectives, some of which are listed by Ijaduola (1998) as:
a. balancing the growth of total personality of man through the training of
his mind, intellect, rational self and bodily senses. Faith is important so
that an emotional attachment to Islam is established through the learning
of the Qur‟an and the Sunnah;
b. creating of a good and righteous man who will worship Allah in truth,
build up the structure of his earthly life according to sharia law and
employing it to serve his faith;
c. promoting in man the creative impulse to rule himself and the universe
as a true servant of Allah;
d. producing men who are totally committed to the ideals of Islamic ethics
and preparing them for a life of purity and sincerity;
e. instilling piety and encouraging self purification as a means of
assisting man to realize the deep mysteries of the universe. Islamic
education in the opinion of Adenokun (2004) has survived tremendously, and
rather than being abandoned after the introduction of western education, it
has been integrated into formal education and still plays a role in the
life and education of many countries along the coast of West Africa.
Buttressing Adenokun‟s (2004) view, the Federal Government of Nigeria
(2004) says efforts shall be made by State governments to integrate
suitable Koranic and Islamiya schools within the formal education system
(NPE, Section 3, 11). The Arabic language used for the propagation of
Islamic education is still very much alive and relevant among the muslims.
The survival of Islamic education can also be traced to the fact that
graduates can become employed immediately as proprietors, editors,
chroniclers, local judges, preachers, etc., by virtue of the type of
education they received during training.Traditional and Islamic educations
have been observed to have limitations when viewed along the line of the
modern day education. Such limitations include:
a.Narrow interest: Islamic education is limited in view and may not allow
recipients to venture into other fields of knowledge. In the same vein, the
traditional education is geographically bound, i.e. it is limited to the
community of the recipient – not universal in nature;
b. Lack of proper documentation: The Islamic education has no prescribed
curriculum. The holy Qur‟an and the tradition of the Prophet are the only
available textual material used, while traditional education uses oral
tradition and storytelling as the major tools of teaching the recipients;
c. Indoctrination: Islamic education is a form of indoctrination, it closes
the minds of the learners to reason, as fear is mostly instilled in order
to get complete attention, obeisance and obedience;
d. Islamic education uses corporal punishment as a basic tool.
The Development of Modern Education
The global currents of the 15th century initiated European contact with the
indigenous societies. The Nigerian entity was not yet evolved even though
social, cultural and political units coexisted and maintained economics,
commercial and social relationships among themselves. Historically, the
first set of Europeans who made contact with Nigeria were the Portuguese
who came in order to establish trading relationship with the natives, and
along the line established schools and churches to promote trading
relationships. They maintained a trading relationship and used the Roman
Catholic Church creed to evangelize as well as give modern education to the
natives for almost a century, before the trans-Atlantic slave trade which
ravaged the African continent for almost three hundred years came to wipe
away all their efforts. The abolition of the slave trade by the British
government opened yet another opportunity of trading relationship with
Africa and Nigeria in particular. The freed slaves were settled in
Freetown, Sierra Leone and engaged in trading activities along the coastal
regions which made some of them to trace their route back to their homes
before enslavement. The reunion led to the invitation of the missionaries
to come for evangelical work in their towns in order to stop their kin from
the practice of worshipping idols and other traditional activities deemed
unreasonable. Such invitation led to the arrival of the Weslayan missionary
body at Badagry in 1842, and several other missions followed suit and
spread themselves to all corners of the country. These missionary bodies
built churches and schools at their arrival at any station, for preaching
the gospel and educating the natives in the modern method of education,
while the colonial government governed the colonies exclusively. Decisive
efforts were later made by the colonial government to participate in the
education of the natives, by enacting education laws to control the
activities of the missionaries especially in their school system. In the
latter part of the 15th century, the Portuguese arrived on the soil of
Nigeria through the Gulf of Guinea which bordered the coastal region of
South East and South South Nigeria. This expedition was mainly for economic
and commercial purposes, but it was not too successful as there was a
strong language barrier. The Portuguese did not lose hope as they were
determined to make their impact felt on the African soil. This
determination brought about the introduction of the Christian faith to
their trading partners and customers. In the early 16th century, precisely
in 1515, the Portuguese built a church and a school in the palace of the
Oba of Benin for his children and the children of his chiefs. The Roman
Catholic mission had been fully entrenched in Benin and other parts of
Nigeria because as at 1571, there were churches and schools as well as
several trading posts in Lagos, Benin and Brass. Another strong effort of
the Portuguese in spreading Christianity was the building of a seminary on
the island of Sao Tome which was off the Nigerian coast.The seminary,
according to Osokoya (2002), was mainly for the training of the Africans as
priests and teachers, to manage the churches and schools that were already
founded. Sadly enough however, the trans-Atlantic slave trade which began
in the 16th century and lasted for about three centuries wiped out all the
educational efforts of the Portuguese in Nigeria.
The Second Attempt at Modern Education in Nigeria
Slave trade became outlawed as the British government abolished it in 1833,
in what was then known as the British Empire. Freetown in Sierra Leone was
acquired as a colony where the liberated African slaves were settled. Some
of the freed slaves started trading along the coastal regions and found
their ways back to their roots in Abeokuta, Oyo, Lagos, Ibadan, Badagry,
etc., in Nigeria. Obviously the freed slaves while they were still enslaved
had been introduced to Christianity in the countries of their enslavement,
and this later became the foundation of the efforts they made to invite the
missionary bodies to their country, Nigeria, to come and preach the gospel
to their kin, in order for them to stop their crude ways of living which
then included making human sacrifice and the like. The Weslayan Methodist
Society was the first missionary body to honour such invitation with the
arrival of Thomas Birch Freeman and Mr. and Mrs. De-Graft to Badagry on the
24th of September 1842. The first school was opened shortly after their
arrival. The church missionary society also sent a group of people headed
by Mr. Henry Townsend to Abeokuta for evangelism and education, but did not
get to Abeokuta until 1846 and they immediately built two schools, one for
the boys and one for the girls. These two missionary bodies played a
fundamental role in the planting and nurturing of both Christianity and
western Christian education in Nigeria (Adenokun, 2004). The Roman Catholic
Mission impact was soon felt with the arrival of Padre Antonio in Lagos,
where he started evangelical work in earnest with the building of a school
in 1868. With the efforts of the Portuguese of the late 15th century and
the early 16th century still surviving, the Roman Catholic Church did not
have much problem in resuscitating the creed. The Presbyterian mission
arrived at Calabar in 1846 and made their impact felt by opening their
station. The Southern Baptist Convention started their own evangelical work
by opening a school in Ijaye in 1853, they continued to Ogbomoso and Lagos
where they opened a school each in 1855. In this same spirit of evangelism
and education, the Niger mission headed by Rev. Samuel Ajayi Crowther and
Rev. J. C. Taylor established schools in 1857 at Gbede and Onitsha, while
in 1864 another school was opened at Idda then in Akassa and Bonny. The
missionary bodies continued to wax stronger in their evangelical work by
moving inwards into Nigerian towns and regions, spreading Christianity by
building schools and churches. They all followed the same pattern i.e.
building churches and establishing schools which were mainly for the
production of preachers, catechists, teachers and clerks for spreading
evangelical work.However, the missionary schools started facing a lot of
challenges as they grew in number; they no longer served the evolving needs
of the native peoples and societies, as the content of instruction was too
limited to produce the kind of people needed for the work of ruling or
governing the country, as well as developing technologically; hence the
need for the colonial government to intervene in the education of the
people, by establishing ordinances and education laws, to control the
activities of proprietors of schools either government owned or missionary.
The Colonial Government Education
The major interest of the colonial government was political, and such that
by the year 1851 there was already a strong political alliance between the
British government and Lagos, and by 1861, Lagos had already become a
British colony. The education of the people was solely in the hands of the
missionaries even after the colonization. However, the colonial government
made an impact on education in the year 1872, by giving a paltry sum of
money to the three most prominent missionary bodies, to aid their
education activities in Lagos (The Church Missionary Society – CMS, the
Weslayan Methodist and the Catholic Mission).That first move marked the
beginning of grants-in-aid to education which according to Osokoya (2002),
formed the major educational financing policy of the colonial government.
The grant was increased in 1877 and remained like that until 1882, when the
colonial government felt that the entire running of the education system
should not be left in the hands of the missionaries alone. Such decision
thus led to the laying of the conditions for grants-in-aid; consequently
the education ordinances were established.
CONCLUSION
the system of education in Nigeria have undergo processes of transition
from one generation to another. These processes had played a significant
role in inculcating into the mind of the member of Nigerian society, its
norms, beliefs, customs, tradition, values and among others through the
process of socialization. It is evidence that, as the system gradually
shift from informal way of education to formal way, the society witness
more of development and give Nigeria it more better social structure.
REFERENCES
Adenokun, A. A. (2004). Functional Approach to History of Education in
Nigeria. Ijebu-Ode: Lucky Odoni (Nigeria) Enterprises.
Dushi, G. (2009), Notes on the Types of education: formal, informal,
non-formal
http://www.merinews.com/article/different-forms-of-education/15784144.shtml#sthash.QYYHuGE7.dpuf
Fabunmi, M. (2005). Historical Analysis of Educational Policy Formulation
in Nigeria: Implications for Educational Planning and policy. International
Journal of African and African American Studies, 4(2), 1-7.
Fafunwa, A. B. (2004). History of Education in Nigeria. Ibadan: NPC
Educational PublishersLtd.
Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004). National Policy on Education. Lagos:
Federal Government Press.
Green, A. (1997). Education and Globalization in Europe and East Asia:
Convergent and Divergent Trends. Journal of Education Policy, 14, 55-71.
Green, A. (2000). Converging Paths or Ships Passing in the Night? An
‘English’ Critique Japanese School Reform. Journal of Comparative
Education, 36(4), 417-435
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_learning
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informal_education
https://edukalife.blogspot.co.ke/2013/01/definition-of-formal-education.html?m=1
http://arieeoke.blogspot.co.ke/2012/05/definition-of-socialization-according.html?m=1
http://infed.org/mobi/what-is-informal-education/
Imam, H. (2003). A Survey of Pre-Colonial Almajirci Education in
Kanem-Borno and Hausaland. SAPHA- Journal of Historical Studies,1(1), 1-6
Ijaduola, K. O. (1998). Education in Nigeria: An Historical Perspective,
Ijebu-Ode, Lucky Odoni (Nig.) Enterprises.
Kumar, A. (2013), characteristics of formal education. Retrieved from
http://allbednotes.blogspot.co.ke/2013/05/characteristic-of-formal-education.html?m=1
Kash, S. (2016). Socialisation: The Meaning, Features, Types, Stages and
important.Retrieved from
http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/sociology/socialisation-the-meaning-features-types-stages-and-importance/8529/
Ozigi, A. & Ocho, L. (1981). Education in Northern Nigeria. London: George
Allen and Unwin Publishers Ltd
Odukoya, D. (2009) Formulation and Implementation of Educational Policies
in Nigeria, Educational Research Network for West And Central Africa
(ERNCAWA), www.slideshare.net .
Ogunsola, A.F. (1982). Legislation and Education in Northern Nigeria.
Ibadan: University Press Ltd
Odukoya, D. (2009). Formulation and Implementation of Educational Policies
in Nigeria. Educational Research Network for West and Central Africa
(ERNCAWA), www.slideshare.net
Taiwo, C.O. (1980). The Nigerian Educational System. Lagos: Thomas Nelson
Nigeria Limited.
Tikly, L. (2001). Globalisation and Education in the Postcolonial World;
Towards a Conceptual Framework. Comparative Education, 37(2), 151-171.
Odukoya, D. (2009) Formulation and Implementation of Educational Policies
in Nigeria, Educational Research Network for West And Central Africa
(ERNCAWA), www.slideshare.net .
Comments
Post a Comment