The Role of Functional Education in

Tackling Economic and Security Challenges

Introduction

Normally, this day is a day of celebration. It is a day the Zaria Educational

Development Association marks its thirtieth anniversary. A rare feat in this part of
our country, where private community development initiates are not as widespread as
in the south. As has been the tradition of this association, this gathering is a gathering
parents, students and well wishers. So, it is a gathering of leaders of yesterday who
are still alive, the leaders of today and those of tomorrow.
Presently the serious dilemma Nigeria facing is the comparatively low level of
education among majority of its citizens, which to some extent accounts for some of
the economic and security challenges, which include high rate of poverty leading to
rise in the rate of crime. Therefore, the theme of this gathering is very important
given theses current challenges. Moreover, there is no better place to host this
discussion than Zaria, given its preeminent position and longstanding reputation as a
centre of learning both in the past and in the present. During the 19 th century Zaria
was celebrated as a great centre of Islamic Education boasting of some hundreds of
schools and other centres of advanced Islamic education. As a matter of fact it was
one of the leading Islamic scholars of Zaria, Mallam Musa Bamalli who was
appointed by Shehu Usman Dan Fodio, leader of the Sokoto the flag-bearer of the
Islamic revolution in the Kingdom of Zazzau. Indeed after the colonial conquest of
Zazzau in 1902, Zaria continued in this role. It is here in Zaria that some of the first
formal western education schools were established early in the 20 th century. These
include the earliest elementary schools, down to the establishment of such prestigious
secondary schools such as the Barewa College, Al-huda huda College, the Kufena
College etc. Zaria also harbors tertiary institutions like the Nuhu Bamalli
Polytechnic, Federal College of Education, several schools of nursing and public
health as well as many other tertiary institutions and specialised centers. Earlier, the
Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, was established in 1962 to provide educational
training up to the graduate and post graduate levels to Nigerians of all backgrounds as
well as the nationals of other countries of the world.

The student intake of all these schools and institutions reflects a high ethnic and
cultural level of diversity. It’s not an exaggeration to say that every Nigerian
community is represented in Zaria. Surely, from as early as 1902, if not earlier,
generations of Nigerians were born in Zaria and went to school there, and a sizeable
number of them have inter-married and are still intermarrying cross ethnic and
religious divides, there by facilitating social integration and cultural fusion. This is
an outcome of functional education. There is no doubt this Zaria example which has
since developed into a national initiative has contributed immensely to the promotion
of social integration in Nigeria in particular, and to the project of nation-building in
general. Evidently, nation building is the best proof of peaceful coexistence and
development.

The meaning of education

Education is the means through which societies reproduce themselves ideologically,

socially and culturally. It is through education that a community acquires the
knowledge about how society functioned in the past, how it functions in the present
and how it can function better in the future. Any community deprived of education is
denied the capacity to draw lessons from the experiences of other societies and their
future prospects. As an organic and integral part of society itself, education occupy’s
a central place in the social structure. There is no gainsaying the fact that all societies
have systems of educating their people. This is all the more important because
ultimately the survival of any society depends on its system of education. This is for
the simple reason that it is through the system of education that a society transmits to
future generations the art of living and surviving in their peculiar environment and
transforming that environment for the betterment of the lives of both the present and
future generations . Nyerere succinctly captures this, when said and I quote,
“The purpose of education is to transmit from one generation to the next, the
accumulated wisdom , knowledge, skills, values and attitudes of the society…to
enable the young live and serve society and to prepare them for the future
membership of the society…it involves the active participation of the young in the
maintenance and development of society (Nyerere, 1967).”

It is therefore imperative for any society to provide good education for its members.
Failure to do so could be disastrous as that society could not survive or or even
make any progress. The need for education is however not one sided. The same way a
society needs education to survive and make progress so also the individual members
of the society. It could, perhaps, be argued that the individual benefits from education
more than the society. This is due to the fact that education stimulates human intellect
allowing individuals to develop the potentials of their faculties to the fullest. In the
final analysis, this process increases the capacity of individuals to live effectively,
efficiently and creatively. It is these qualities or capacities that enable individuals to
adapt to the peculiar circumstances of their existence in the society and also
transform these circumstances in the attempt to maximize the benefits they derive
from society. What this means in essence, is that, it is also incumbent on the
individual to work towards the preservation of the society and its social institutions.
This, therefore, makes education a partnership between the society and the
population, as Nyerere posited, “it involves the active participation of the young in
the maintenance and development of society.”

Vocational Education
Vocational education provides an individual with knowledge and technical skills
which he needs to be gainfully employed and become useful to himself and to the
larger society. As an important aspect of the educational training of an individual,
vocational education also develops abilities, positive attitudes and behavior that
contributes to a satisfactory life. The major emphasis of vocation education therefore
is skill acquisition and development. Vocational education has two principal
objectives. The first is to meet the manpower needs of society. Secondly to provide
and individual citizen the opportunity to be useful to himself and to serve society. As
one scholar observed, “work brings many rewards. The working individual earns
money to buy food, clothing, shelter, medical services, transportation and other
necessities, which contributes to his well-being and happiness. Through work, and
individual merits the respect of his fellow citizens and enjoys the satisfaction of
accomplishment, responsibility and purpose. To work and be seen-supporting fosters
pride, dignity and self respect in the individual.”

Civic Education

Civic education promotes the pursuit of defence and security needs of the society.
Civic education is used to broaden the horizon of the citizen by neutralizing negative
tendencies such as sectionalism, intolerance, recourse to violence, religious
fanaticism and other extremisms, which are capable of endangering state security.
Civic education is used in instilling discipline and patriotism right from elementary
school. It teaches citizens to love one another and be a brothers keepers, to protect the
environment and uphold public good in general. Civic education is used to inculcate
respect for the rule of law, the need for laws to be obeyed and maintain public order,
safety and security. It is used to teach the citizens how to reach out to the law
enforcement agencies where necessary, how to defend themselves and the nation and
what to do in case of external aggression.

While civic education is social conduct oriented, vocational education is industry

oriented. Usually it is the dialectical interaction between these two important aspects
of education that results in functional education, which if properly mobilized by the
society goes a long way in solving both economic, security and other social
challenges.

How function education tackles economic and security challenges.

There is also high rate of ignorance about the history, geography and cultures of
Nigeria. Many Nigerians are exposed to false propaganda and stereotyping of other
Nigerian peoples and cultures. In recent times there has been a rise in the misuse of
social and other media in compounding the ignorance of Nigerians leading to mutual
suspicions and intolerance, which often degenerate into conflict engendering a
situation of insecurity in the country. Of recent insurgency by armed groups operating
under various labels such as Boko Haram in the northeast, rural banditry in the
northwest has heightened the problem of insecurity in Nigeria. For example the
degree and frequency of different kinds of violence across the country is posing
significant risks for school children. Many schools both secondary and tertiary have
been destroyed by armed non-state armed actors. Instances are more prevalent in
Nigeria's northeast zone, where the insurgency has been well over twelve years. In
the northwest and northcentral zones, banditry continues to pose significant threats to
education due to incidences of widespread kidnappings in schools and other places in
both urban and rural areas. In the southeast zone, school activities are disrupted by
criminally imposed curfew by the outlawed imposed by Indigenous People of Biafra
(IPOB).

Normally, the widespread terror arising from the activities of these violent non-state
state actors has become damper on school enrollment in Nigeria. It has been claimed
that Nigeria has an out of school population of children estimated at 18.5 million.
According to UNICEF this rise in the out of school children is associated with this
act of terrorism in the northeast, northwest and north central parts of Nigeria. Many
children live in conflict zones. Education suffers the most under this humanitarian
challenges.

Failure to arrest this situation will certainly continue to put constraint in accessing
education by school -aged children, which will worsen the statistics. If the younger
population is denied educational opportunities, it will affect the their self-
development, productivity, self-reliance of this section of the Nigerian population.
Given the proliferation of non-state armed groups, recruits are needed to fill up their
rank and file. Evidence suggest that out-of-school, unskilled and unproductive
population are vulnerable to the manipulations these violent groups. To provide
educational services to millions of deprived children in Nigeria means to sustainably
address widespread problem of economic and security challenges.

One of the ways of solving this problems is through the provision of functional
education, which comprise both vocational and civic education.

What then is functional education. It is is the application of knowledge in solving the

various problems of society. It is a combination of different aspects of high quality
education, which includes vocational education and civic education while vocational
education helps to give definite purpose and direction to a person’s education through
relating it to occupational goals thereby contributing to economic development. Civic
education on the other hand helps to inculcate sense of responsibility in the citizens
and by so doing ensuring a stable and more secure social environment.
Significantly, the Nigerian national education policy has incidentally emphasises the
larger role of vocational and civic education in national development. The
establishment of schools from primary and secondary schools to tertiary institutions
and the system of education administration, is contained in the philosophy of national
development. Within the larger context of national development policy the national
educational objectives, which include the inculcation of national consciousness and
national unity, the inculcation of the right type of values and attitudes for the survival
of the individual citizen and the Nigerian society, and the training of the minds of
Nigerian citizens to understand the world around them.

Ladies and gentlemen, the above objectives of the Nigerian national education policy
aim art creating an ideal situation in which functional education could be put to use in
tackling the serious economic and security challenges facing the country.
The imparting of appropriate skills and competencies, both physical and mental to
equip Nigeria citizens to live in and contribute to the development of the nation,
socially and economically.