Nigeria’s educational ecosystem has been described as unsustainable as it continues to produce people who either immigrate to economies with better prospects or others who remain but have largely been described by some employers as unemployable.
Education for sustainable development is being advocated as a means to inject some substantial dose of sustainability thinking into curriculum formulation and design. This includes developing employability skills in students of public secondary schools.
Sustainability means meeting the needs of today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Embedded in most definitions of sustainability are also concerns for social equity and economic development.
Experts say Nigeria’s educational ecosystem is designed to produce people for developed economies and that without historical consciousness, Nigeria’s educational system will continue to be unsustainable.
An organisation, the Leadership, Effectiveness, Accountability and Professionalism (LEAP) Africa in association with Citi Foundation through the iLEAD programme (formerly YDTP) is changing this narrative by transforming mindsets and equipping youth to be value creators and change agents. iLEAD aims to inspire, equip and challenge teachers to be role models of leadership to their students and provide a platform for secondary school youth to acquire skills which are critical to a meaningful and productive existence.
“Only one in four students who graduate from the secondary make it to the university in Nigeria, this is why we believe more attention needs to be paid to this stage in the education of the Nigerian youth,” Femi Taiwo, executive director at LEAP Africa said at a recent event designed to engage stakeholders on how to localise the sustainable development goals in Lagos public schools. “In partnership with public secondary schools across Lagos, Akwa Ibom and now Abuja we deliver weekly curriculum to students on leadership and life skills.”
Chizoba Imoka, Ph.D and chief executive officer, Unveiling Africa made a passionate argument to show how any education in Nigeria that does not promote historical consciousness is doomed to be unsustainable because Africa’s most populous nation does not have a clear national philosophy that promotes multiculturalism and that also develops indigenous knowledge systems. This entails trans-disciplinary, passion-centred and problem-solving oriented education.
“We need to create a truly multicultural nation, entrench secularism and re-conceptualise schools to help students appreciate and solve local problems,” Imoka said. “We need pilot projects for project-based learning. Everybody’s knowledge is an important starting point.”
It is held among education experts that once a country’s human capital is ready for the Twenty-First century, every other thing falls into place. But there cannot be an improvement in education by paying lip-service to it. If Nigeria is not careful, the country may be sowing seeds that will be dangerous for future generations, that is, unsustainable experts have said. Nigeria needs to be globally competitive through better education. This means aligning human capital development and schooling with industry needs and needs of the economy in a sustainable manner.
