Since September 8, 1967, UNESCO has been celebrating World Literacy Day considered a giant attempt to reduce the scourge of illiteracy worldwide.
Nations are making meaningful headway towards educating their nationals in line with the demands of the 21st century. Of course, many developing nations are still grappling with the right policies to rejig their education sector. There is a also the part of ‘The Will’ of government officials to implement policies in line with modern times and realities.
Many developed nations can trace their success to the investment they made in quality education. Looking at the economics of migration all over the world, one factor seems crucial: the quest for a better standard of living. Every metric used to measure the standard of living of a nation is directly proportional to that nation’s investment in education.
Quality education, by all means, is one of the unique selling points of many advanced nations. To a large extent, education has projected the image of many advanced nations to the third world or developing nations, making it a lifelong dream for citizens of the third world nation to strive so hard to leave their base in the pursuit of happiness in the land of ‘greener pastures’.
There are many people who are desirous to get a piece of the proverbial pie of prosperity, but the question is can everyone really get it? For many, the over-arching goal is to secure quality education, at least for their children.
There are a set of people that are bright and beautiful, unfortunately, are sandwiched in a state of inadequacy and limited exposure. They are often bereft of ideas and opportunities to make giant leaps in their lives. Only an infinitesimal number of them soar high and achieve their dreams, or something close to it. This is the fate of many who live in the inner city or what we often regard to as ‘slums’.
There is an urgent need for change agents in our nation. Good enough many youths are leading the vanguard by being catalysts of change in some sectors and locations, still, something can be done. Africa is so blessed with human and material resources, but the major plague that undermines this blessed continent is the inability to look inward and use the resources in a judicious manner that would make tremendous impact. While it is great to model the achievements of other great nations and bring innovations that would improve society, it is worth knowing how to make sustainable development and localised as well, just the way UAE and Singapore are doing.
There is a dearth of mass literacy and education in Nigeria and it is really evident in the slums. We tend to turn a blind eye on the fact that every child ignored in a slum is a potential bandit. It is a recipe for disaster in the future. While it is easy to argue that slums are typical characteristics of any major city in the world, it is also pertinent to note that with intentionality, some slums can be turned to a promise land that flows with milk and honey.
In the Carribean Island, nation of Bahamas, a certain area once known as Hog Island due to its decrepit features and heavy presence of pigs was transformed into a hub for tourism. Some people saw the big picture when they saw Hog Island and transformed it to a center for hospitality. There’s no gainsaying the fact that one of the finest hotels in Bahamas is located in a piece of land once reserved for pigs.
Slums have great pool of human resources ready to be nurtured, if given the right opportunity and exposure to quality education. If it is about energy, they have it in tonnes! The need to survive is enough to make a resident in this area apply more pressure on himself to make ends meet or figure out a way to make progress, whether negatively or positively.
I have thought about this and had meaningful conversations with some advocates for mass literacy and education, prominent among them is Mr Austin Nwaeze, the convener of Garden City Library, a hub for learning for inner city youths in Port Harcourt, Rivers state
Some of the thoughts and ‘policy ideas’ that can improve the impact of mass education in low opportunity areas or slums are that the legislature can raise bills on the sponsorship of mass education in the slums, the executive, through the instrumentality of the Ministry of Education, can set up a task force to identify all learning hubs in the slums to fit the standard set by UNESCO or any other leading internationally recognized educational standards regulator.
Also, a policy think thank should be set up by the government or well meaning philanthropists to host education advocates, administrators and library professionals on a monthly or quarterly roundtable discussion, convention or conference geared towards the improvement of quality education in states and the nation. Funding should be allocated to education advocates so that they can lead the conversation by using effective and meaningful tools and resources to promote the idea of quality education and its impact in society. In the same way, the role of mass media should be utilised as a tool to enhance behavioural change.
Ultra modern libraries, ICT- driven centres and innovation hubs which will be powered by driven youth leaders within the community with support from the government or other well meaning external bodies can also be set up.
The government has a role to play, no doubt, but as a patriotic citizen, it should be intentional and not agonising to the challenges of the society.
Ibeleogute Ibodeng is a training consultant and public relations personnel