CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

          Adult education is not new in the history of man in Nigeria. Traditional adult education is the oldest from of adult education which started with the earliest history of any human community, this adult education may be said to be as old as creation. Adult education in Nigeria like other forms of education was never neglected in the traditional society though it hardly appeared as a topic for discussion. In the early 1920’s adult education was organized in the evening for working class adult. Even then, the progress made was quite slow, the result was, at the time of Nigeria’s independence in 1960 it was discovered that huge percentages of Nigeria adults were still illiterates. Adult education which was defined by UNESCO as;

          A process whereby persons who no longer attend school on a regular and full-time basis (unless full time programme are specially designed for adult) undertake sequential and organized activities with the conscious intention of bringing about change in information, knowledge understanding or skills appreciation and attitude or for the purpose of identifying and solving personal and community problems, went down in the history of Nigeria education as one of the most dynamic eras in Nigerians education innovation. Between 1950 and 1960, Nigerian leader made bold attempts not only to primary education to most children but also to most adults. After the Second World War, the need for mass education was felt by the government and the people of Nigeria. In 1949, the department of education in Lagos circulated a memorandum on fundamental education for adults employed in commerce and industry. The document was a sort of guidance for the organization, administration and curriculum of adult education mass education projects and community development schemes were organized in Ilano, Egbado, Ibadan, Ekiti and Ijebu divisions of the then western region and Udi and Afikpo divisions in the eastern region and Lagos.

          Making a case of enlightened citizens, chief Obafemi Awolowo states: To educate the children and enlighten the illiterate adults is to lay a solid foundation not for future social and economic progress but also for political stability. A truly educated citizenry is in my view one of the most powerful deterrents to dictatorship, oligarchy and feudal autocracy. In November 1951, the central board on education endorsed a national policy on adult education whose provision were that:

1.            The essential aim of adult education is to organize facilities for remedial primary education for adults, particularly in rural area.

2.            The first objective of all adult education activities is to help illiterate to read and write, in their language and thus enrich their own minds and take an intelligent part in social economic and political development.

3.            The programme on adult education should include such activities as home craft for women talks discussions and practical community improvement projects.

4.            Women should be given special consideration in the adult education programmes.

5.            Concerted efforts should be made by the regional government to coordinate the activities of the genesis concerned with adult education.

There was a considerable enthusiasm among the people and the government of the then three region (north, East and West) and adults education sprung up in many parts of Nigeria, particularly between 1950 and 1956. in the then western region production of Yoruba and Benin language readers and were started, film and strips were introduce via mobile film units and special classes were help for women. In the then Northern Region, adult literacy programme operated in fifty-three (53) areas with one thousand, four hundred and seventy seven (1,477) centres and an enrolment of over fifty three thousand (53,000) adults. In 1952, alone according to Baba Fafunwa (1974) six thousand five hundred and ninety one (6,591) literacy certificate were issued to successful adult students.

One of the early pioneers of adult literacy and community development in Nigeria was R. E. Chadwick, the then district officer in Udi division of the then Eastern Region, who organized literacy classes on market days with the assistance of local teachers. He also involved villages heads and leader in community activities. His efforts were recorded in early 1950’s in a popular. Film called “Day Break’ in Udi. This Eastern scheme was widely acclaimed in Nigeria and the East became a model for organized community development and self help for the whole in Nigeria. The free primary education scheme in the then western region and the half fees paying scheme in the East diminished enthusiasm for adult education scheme. This was due to the enormous cost of free primary education which left little money for adult education. The Northern Region had no free universal primary education scheme and consequently was in a position to spend more money on adult literacy. Thus while adult education scheme in the then East and West were at its lowest ebb in the 1960’s in the North, it was intensified. This situation posed a problem confronting Nigerian Government as they sought to modernize their society Ashiedu (1979) said the:

Prevalence of masses of illiterates citizens within the various countries of Africa Nigeria inclusive constitute a bottle neck in any country effort to develop and impedes political, social and economic progress. In full realization of this, Nigeria has over the years developed strategies for the eradication of mass illiteracy, campaign that will finally drive the nail through the head of the illiteracy problem in the country. In Nigeria, studies in the planning and implementation of literacy programmes have until recently not been considered a prestigious part of University work unit since 1970’s however, research on literacy has been encouraging, especially when UNESCO started to pioneer functional literacy project and as the provision of free adult literacy as contained in the 1979 Nigerian constitution following the government seriousness on the eradication of mass illiteracy was the release by the federal government, the national, policy o education which contained the following objectives;

a.            To provide functional literacy education for adults who have never had the advantages of any formal education.

b.            To provide functional and remedial education for thjose young people who prematurely dropped out of the formal school system.

c.             To provide further education for different categories of completers of the formal education system in order to improve their basic knowledge and skills.

d.            To provide in-service training on the job vocational and professional training for different categories of workers and professionals in order to improve their skills.

e.            To give an adult citizens of the country necessary aesthetic cultural and civic education for public enlightenment.

f.             To ensure the execution and implementation of the objectives of adult education as contained in the national policy on education.

The federal government launched a mass literacy campaign in the country in 1982 which was geared towards making the majority of Nigerians literate and towards promoting the causes of adult education in the country generally. Since the research study is an attempt to identify the problem affecting adult education programmes in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State, a background knowledge of the geography of the area is important Ovia North East Local Government Area is one of (18) eighteen local government area of Edo State a background knowledge of the geography of the area is important. It is almost situated at the beginning of Edo State, bounded by side to side with other local government area Ovia South West Local Government and Egor Local Government Area. It main tribe is Edo Language. Farming and trading are the main occupation of the people with staple food crop like yam, cassava, maize and vegetables etc.

Educationally, Ovia North East Local Government Area in Edo State has about 100 (hundred) primary school and about 52 secondary schools and one private university, one polytechnic and one College of Education, with these and other development her population become dense. To bring education the area in the early 1950 which on till now is facing a lot for its grass room implementation which the study intends to identify.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM 

          Ovia North East Local Government Area had made tremendously progress in one field of Western Education. Within the first three decades of this century, few primary schools were established by both government and the missionaries and today the local government has many primary and post primary school with tertiary institution inclusive. Despite these remarkable progress and improvement made in the local government area of Western Education the whole local population did not avail themselves of the opportunity offered to them with the result that about 60% of the adult both males and females are illiteracy, the local government limited adult education programmes which today is faced with many problems likes;

a.            Lack of professional qualified and experienced adult teachers.

b.            Inadequate primers and relevant text books.

c.            Irregularities in attendance of adult and the peer government (federal state and local) participation in the programmes.

The researcher will also like to recommend measures which will minimize, if not eliminate the problems hindering the improvement and progress of the adult education programme in the Ovia North East Local Government Area.

PURPOSE OF STUDY

          The purpose of this study is to examine the problem affecting the evaluation of adult education programme in Ovia North East Local Government Area with special reference to:

a.            Instructors/. Supervisors – The qualifications and experience of adult education instructors and supervisors.

b.            Primers/Text books – to find out how relevant are the primers and test books to the adult education programme.

c.            Library facilities – to find how equipped the library was.

d.            Teaching Aids- to find out how relevant the teaching aids are to the entry behaviour of the adult learners.

e.            Irregularity in attendance to find out the causes of adult participants, irregularity in attendance to classes.

f.             To assess the extent of government participation in the adult education programme.

BASIC ASSUMPTION

          The general assumption which underlines this study is that, There exists problems in the organization and teaching of adult literacy classes and in the attendance of classes by adult participants in Ovia North East Local Government Area. The study therefore is designed to test the following hypothesis.

HYPOTHESES 

1.            There are not enough qualified personnel for adult literacy programmes in Ovia North East Local Government Area.

2.            There are no relevant premier and textbooks for participants in adult literacy classes.

3.            There is no enough publicity or mobilization for participants in adult education programmes in Ovia North East Local Government Area.

4.            There are no enough teaching materials and aids provided for literacy classes.

5.            Occupational engagements lead to irregular attendance by adult participants in literacy classes.

 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

            The study will go to a long extent to expose the problems affecting adult education programmes in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State. The result and suggestions will contribute ways of solving immensely to the realization of the left effectives of adult education programmes, in Ovia North East Local Government Area in particular and Edo State I general. Thus, it is hoped or anticipated that, with the implementation of the suggested ways of solving the problem by the authorities concerned with the conduct and organization of the programmes, the adult participants will get the right quality of adult education programmes.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY  

            Nation wide various government and organization established various forms of adult education like the institution of continuing education, extra-moral classes functional literacy classes, community development and literacy classes. But since it is not easy to extend this research to all aspects of adult education and to all local government area in Edo State, this study is restricted to adult literacy classes in Ovia North East Local Government Area only.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS  

a.            Adult Education: IN this context, adult education mean – education given to these above the age of twenty one (21) years-male or female, who have not been previously exposed to any type of formal education or to those who could not complete their primary education.

b.            Adult participants – Those adult who attends literacy classes to receive lessons.

c.            Instructor – One who teaches adults?

d.            Organizer – A person whose sees to the smooth running of adult literacy or programmes.

e.            Functional literacy – The use of adult education to acquire knowledge and skills of different types to meet individual needs and fosters national development.

f.             Primers – These are reading books (readers) meant for adults and children showing every action on pictorial illustration.

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