Child Education; A Key to Societal Development

Human beings as individuals and groups survive based on the knowledge and skills they acquire formally or informally. Education is a process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially in an organized structure such as a school. Education is all about teaching, learning skills and knowledge. It is also about helping people to learn how to do things and encourage them to think about what they learn. Through education, the knowledge of societies, countries, and people of the world has been passed on from generation to generation.

Children are highly malleable and they are shaped by what they learn, the knowledge they gain and the skills they acquire. This provides them with the power to unlock their lives and opportunities to achieving success in pursuits of their life goals. Children are made responsible and independent through education; characteristics that are essential components of a strong and viable society.

Education can be provided to children in a formal, non-formal or informal manner by teachers, pastors, imams, parents/caregivers, siblings, community members etc. Either ways a child will learn the skills and knowledge needed to boost his/her creativity which will help in attaining their life goals.

It is commonly said that children are the leaders of tomorrow. I hereby pose a question, can a child without access to quality formal education be a leader? If the answer is YES, then what kind of leaders will that be? If the answer is NO then what kind of future are we anticipating?

In Nigeria today, most children are not in school. About 11 million children are not attending schools in the country due to a wide range of factors with the present security challenge contributing to the highest percentage of out-of-school children. The girl child is predominantly affected because of their involvement in domestic labour, early child marriage and the low perception of value for education for the girl child especially in the northern part of the country. This statistics is overwhelming as the future of our country and the hope of our nation is becoming dim each passing day.

The primary responsibility of providing basic needs such as health care, education, food, shelter etc. lies in the family. Every parent/caregiver is mandated to provide education for their children. In the face of economic instability and little or no educational provision in most parts of the country, what more can a parents do?

The government owe the people a duty to ensure that children are educated to make education a RIGHT and not a privilege. Free quality education should be provided especially for those in vulnerable households. Teachers should be trained, employed and deployed to schools especially in rural areas. Infrastructures such as classroom, libraries, sick bays, play grounds etc. should be constructed to aid formal education of children. The yearly budgetary allocation for education should be increased to the UNESCO recommended 20% to aid educational development and in turn SOCIETAL DEVELOPMENT.