Education is the process of receiving systematic instruction that causes positive behavioural change.
The Nigerian educational sector is now a shadow of itself, the glory is long gone. It used to be one of the most envied nations originally when it came to education. There are many reasons for this. I would like to discuss the reasons for the fall in standard as a teacher.
There is a high rate of indiscipline in our schools, Many of these students have joined cults, and there is a record of killings in many tertiary institutions. I was also privileged to witness a case of four female and two male junior secondary school students, where one of the females was lecturing the other three girls and the two male students on how to engage in sex. These students were caught in the act in a nearby bush after a tip-off by some students.
These students forgot that discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment, according to Jim Rohn.
Poor parenting is also causing a lot of havoc in the lives of these students, it's affecting the Nigerian schools, especially in the public schools. Parents are supposed to show support and care for their children but many of these students are raised by a single parent or have been abandoned by both parents to their aged grandmothers, who are not able to take proper care of these students.
According to O.A Battista, "The best inheritance a parent can give his children is a few minutes of his time each day". There was another occasion when the students in School A were fighting with those in School B, I suspected one of our students, upon a tip-off, I instructed him to empty his bag, and to my surprise, we stumbled on a powdery substance in his bag, upon interrogation in the office, he confessed to having brought "Amudo" (This is a Yoruba charm used by men to deliberately, to have sex with a woman they think will naturally never want them to have it together).
The Government also politicizes Education in Nigeria, competition exists between the local, state and federal levels of Government, and each of the levels wants to outdo each other, due to this many institutions have sprouted out, which is not easy to manage. There is now a decline in the quality of education. The sector has become "a jack of all trades, master of none".This has made many schools, especially private schools, to be owned by inexperienced people.
This has also led to poor funding, examination malpractices and poor salaries for teachers. This problem has made many job seekers see the educational sector, and teaching as the last hope of the common man due to lack of job opportunities.
Nelson Mandela once said," Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. All hands must be on deck to change tides before the educational sector causes the nation to wreck.