Introduction
According to Merriam and Sharan (2007), adult education programme is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. It can mean any form of learning adults engage in beyond traditional schooling, encompassing basic literacy to personal fulfilment as a lifelong learner. In particular, adult education programme reflects a specific philosophy about learning and teaching based on the assumption that adults can and want to learn, that they are able and willing to take responsibility for that learning, and that the learning itself should respond to their needs.
Adegoke (2006)stated that adult education can be formal (structured learning that typically takes place in an education or training institution, usually with a set curriculum and carries credentials) or informal (learning that is organized by educational institutions but non credential) In general terms, the purposes of adult education programme may vary but can be summarized to include education geared towards social, recreational and self-development purposes. One of its goals of adult education programme may be to help adult learners satisfy their personal needs and achieve their professional goals. In the opinion of Onyia (2008), adult education in Nigeria is aimed towards personal growth and development as well as career preparedness and self-realization. This form of education is usually organized as primary, secondary and tertiary education.
Conceptual framework
According to Lieb (2011), adult education is a form of educational system which includes a range of instructional programs that help adults to get the basic skills they need to be productive workers, family members, and citizens. These programs emphasize basic skills such as reading, writing, mathematics, and English language competency. Adult education programs also help adult learners gain the knowledge and skills they need to enter and succeed in professional or educational careers.
Nesbit (2011) defines adult education is an education, life and career pathways system that enables adults to be prepared for acquired life skills, employment, career preparation and enrichment. It involves all educational programmes which provide a range of instructional services to help adults develop the skills for further educational opportunities, job training and better employment, and to realize their full potential as productive workers, family members and citizens
Spencer (2006) asserted that adult education empowers individuals to become self-sufficient, with skills necessary for future employment and personal successes by assisting adults to become literate and obtain the knowledge and skills necessary for employment and self-sufficiency while completing a their education. He further stated that this form of education is designed to expand the educational opportunities for adults and to establish programs that will enable adults to acquire basic skills necessary to function in society and allow them to secure training that will enable them to become more employable, productive and responsible citizens as well as allowing them to continue their education to at least the level of completion of secondary school.
Historical background of adult education in Nigeria
The history of adult education in Nigeria dates back to the 1940s when Holy Trinity Anglican School started evening classes in Kano in 1940. In 1942,Chadwick, E. R. experimented adult education in community development and literacy under the umbrella of an association known as Adult Education Students Association(Ezeneri, 2008).
The association constituted what was called an Interim Committee in their conference at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1948. The Committee was charged with the preparation for launching of a national body and a constitution to be examined in a conference proposed to hold at University of Ibadan in December 1967. Unfortunately, the civil crisis in the country made the realization of their dream impossible until 1971 when the Association was transferred into a National body called Nigerian National Council for Adult Education (NNCAE). The aim of the council was to achieve 100% literacy rate in Nigeria (Okafor, 2007).
In the same 1971, Chief A. Y. Eke the then Minister for Education called for a ten year 1974 – 1984 mass literacy campaign and served as the founding chairman of the National Mass Education Commission. Following the pressure as the federal government for recognition of adult education, a unit called Adult Education was created at the Federal Ministry of Education in 1974. This is why many scholars in adult education argued that the history of adult education in Nigeria should be dated 1974 (Nwobi, 2008).
The administration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1982 following call by the United Nations Economic Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for total eradication ofilliteracy from the world declared 1982–1992 as a ten year mass literacy campaign period. In 1987, the Federal Government directed all State Governments in the Federation to establish adult and non-formal education agencies to execute literacy education. In 1990 a decree was promulgated establishing a National Mass Literacy Commission. To buttress the unseasoned effort of government to respond to the global call towards Education For All (EFA) in line with the United Nations declaration, the Universal Basic Education was launched on September 20, 1999 (Njoku, 2010).
Purpose of adult education programmes
In the 21st century, adults’ education has increasingly become important. The massive psychological, social and political changes transforming the structure and nature of most institutions have rendered outdated the idea that people can learn adequately only in their youth (Knowles, 2014). Changes in the political, economic and social systems have made it important for adults to advance their education levels. The purpose of adult educational programmes as identified by Spencer (2006) is to help adults to probe, identify and change assumptions, beliefs and values that shape how they learn, act, think and meet their needs.
According to Ezeneri (2008), the purpose of adult and non-formal education of the Nigerian National Policy on Education includes:
- To produce functional literacy education for adults who have never have the advantage of any formal education.
- To provide functional and remedial education for those young people who prematurely developed out of the formal school system.
- To provide further education for different categories of completers of the formal education system in order to improve their basic knowledge and skills.
- To provide in-service on-the-job vocational and professional training for different categories of workers and professionals in order to improve their skill.
- To give the adult citizens of the country necessary aesthetic, cultural and civic education for public enlightenment.
Kunga and Machtmes (2009) listed the purpose of adult education to include:
- Improve work performance
- Improve family life
- Improve personal lives
- Teach about culture
Improve work performance
Adult programmes help improve work performance of adults at their workplaces. Adults learn through informal and structured formats such as seminars and conferences or structured formats of training. Through these sessions, the employees learn and improve their knowledge of how to work according to the management team’s specifications. Seminars and conferences provide adults with additional and advanced training in different fields to perform better within their work places (Kunga & Machtmes, 2009).
Improve family life
Adult education programmes helps to improve the family life of adults, who adapt to new situations by default but sometimes need guidance on how to adapt to the situations. For example, adults can get better employment by increasing their level of education. This may improve their financial status, which in turn improves their family lives. The programmes help adults develop and shape their family lives (Kunga & Machtmes, 2009).
Improve personal lives
Adults take education programmes can help to improve the personal lives adults. Challenges that people face may require education and guidance, for example, immigrants can take English classes to communicate and better understand their surroundings. People can advance their education to get salary raises or promotions at their workplaces. In these instances, education programmes for adults serve as devices of change and social action (Kunga & Machtmes, 2009).
Teach about culture
Adults can learn from those around them during recreational activities, media, faith, popular culture and friends. Adult educational programmes can help them learn about culture by engaging them in theoretical thinking as they determine the sources of their beliefs, look for similarities and contradictions, and determine the personal beliefs they want to change (Kunga & Machtmes, 2009).
Challenges facing adult education in Nigeria
The factors which militate against the successful administration in Nigeria are uncountable. Some of these challenges as identified by Eke (2009) include:
- Inadequate funding
- Poor attention
- Poor professional development
- Lack of accurate data
- Inactive involvement of government
- Weak adult education implementation boards
- Superficial approach to adult education awareness
Inadequate funding
That inadequate funding has been a great impediment to the implantation of adult and non-formal education programmes in Nigeria. Funding required for implementation of adequate education in the state level are diverted into other area or mismanaged by the state adult education board (Eke, 2009).
Poor attention
Education in Nigeria generally which includes adult education is not receiving adequate attention as required due to poor management of widespread corruption. Most state governments even with different fabulous programmes in order to ensure adequate education has proven to be political gimmicks or lip service to educations. The sincerity of government attention is questionable since all the programmes usually end in the television screen and newspapers and do not have any effect in real life (Aderinoye, 2012).
Poor professional development
Poor professional development resulting to predominantly unskilled manpower in adult and non-formal education sector is a big problem. There is a total shortage of skilled manpower to effectively manage adult education in the country. A large percentage of education professionals are trained to handle normal educational programme and they largely lack the skills to effectively carry out the management of adult education (Nwachukwu, 2008).
Lack of accurate data
Lack of accurate data on adult and non-formal education leads to poor planning and implementation in adult education sub-sector. Eke (2009) stated that government do not have a comprehensive data of people who are in need of adult education programme in the country, consequently, planning for them has become problematic.
Inactive involvement of government
The level of involvement in adult education according to Okafor and Onah (2012) is that the National Mass Education Commission (NMES) Zonal Offices are not actively involved in dissemination of information and coordination of all activities of the member states.
Weak adult education implementation boards
The State Agencies Boards are all weak or are non-existence, thereby denying agencies of the political will they would otherwise have been enjoying (Okafor & Onah, 2012).
Superficial approach to adult education awareness
The approach to awareness creation on adult education is Nigeria is grossly superficial. For example, Nwobi (2008) stated that conferences, seminars and workshops for the adult and non-formal education in Nigeria are organized in the cities and universities as a result most adults especially those who resides in the rural areas do not have the opportunity to attend. Worse still these conferences are organized for the association members, the members of the educational boards and leaving behind those who actually need the awareness.
Strategies to promote adult education in Nigeria
To promote adult education in Nigeria and reduce the shameful level of illiteracy in the country, the following measures can go a long way:
- Conferences and workshops on the importance of adult education should be carried out at the grassroot level in way that illiterate adults living in the rural areas of the country can benefit from it (Nwachukwu, 2008)
- Adult Education Centres should be located in the length and breadth of the country and the illiterate population should be informed of the existence and importance of adult educational centres in their locality (Okedara, 2006).
- The effort government in the promotion of adult education in Nigeria should be complemented by Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs) in other to assist the government to eradicate illiteracy among adult (Okedara, 2006).
- The government should take advantage of the tenets of the Universal Basic Education (UBE)to drastically reduce the level of illiterate adults in the population. This will help school age children and youths will not be allowed to grow into adult as illiterates (Njoku, 2009).
- The role of the press in the dissemination of information in general and in the administration of adult education cannot be overemphasized. The mass media has a very high ability to be to keep people informed adequately of the world in which they live and can therefore be used as a direct instrument of education. The mass media can stimulate a nation’s capacity to create future wealth enlightening the “human” factor, such as improved skill and better education (Ogunu, 2010).
References
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