CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to the Study
The importance of education in individual and
national economic life has been well recognized in some economic literatures of
recent. At the individual level, education forms the foundation of one’s
professional career and well impacts, among other things, life-time income,
health, level of socialisation and his wellbeing over the whole life-cycle.
Similarly, education at the national level is vital for civilization, technology
adoption, and effective political participation and for brining societies out
of poverty which are very fundamental for a sustainable economic progress of a
country. Apart from the level of educational attainment, equity in access to
education has also received the attention of researchers and policy makers. It
is argued that unequal distribution of education among various groups within a
country can prevent education from unfolding its welfare enhancing effects
entirely and can lead to persistent income inequality among the populace. This
can be said of the northern regions (North East, North West and North Central
geopolitical zones in Nigeria) where most of the secondary school students
cannot be academically compared those of the other words regions. This also
shows in a vocational and technical subject like Home economics. The government
needs to act fast in this area and create a balance.
In order to investigate effectively the actual role
of education in development process of an economy, we need not to only focus on
averages but must ensure the investigation of both the absolute and the
relative dispersion of education. A measure of the education dispersion and
interference between geo political zones in the country appears very useful
both for analytical purpose and for necessary policy actions. Certainly, this
is what this study is going to focus on. Nigeria serves as a case of study for
interesting topics when it comes to the dynamics of educational opportunities. In
the first instance, its educational system has been seriously experiencing
changes through several educational policy reforms. One of such changes occurred
in the late eighties when the ‘6 3 3 4’ system was introduced. In 1999
specifically, Universal Basic Education (UBE) program was launched with
explicit commitment of the government in providing education for all. Access to
education, reception capacity in schools and universities and education quality
remain the major drawbacks facing the system. The economic theory of
inequalities can be related to Nigerian case of educational system. For over
three decades now, Nigeria had considerable success in economic growth: its
growth rate in the last decade averaged 7% annually. The country is really doing
worse in terms of income inequality when compared with most developing
countries in the world. Additionally, it has been found that income inequality
in Nigeria is very high with a coefficient that ranges between .46 to .60,
despite the expansion of the economy in terms of government revenue and GDP
growth.
The issues of regional development are multidisciplinary
both in approach and analysis, spreading from the primary focus of politics,
economics, sociology, public policy to environment. The concept of a region is
usually explained using a wide range of criteria that will involve issues of
geographical or spatial elements, and other social or cultural indices which
play up the essentiality of identity and attachment to a place or location.
Thus, regionalism could be viewed as the political manifestation of regional
identity (McCall, 2010). As a sub national peripheral entity, with strong
indicators of an economy as well as political and cultural identity, regions
within a national framework are driven by the need to respond to pressures from
political dynamics and economic activities in a strong bid to construct comparative
advantages. Sorenson (2010) opined that a common thread for regional
development concerns that usually focus on economic and social improvement,
would most likely encompass such matters as more and better quality of
infrastructure, improved political governance and community services, increased
volume of economic production, lower unemployment rate and growing number of
jobs (in the formal and informal sectors), need for rising purchasing power and
improved quality of life. The debate has always been the parameters of engaging
the regional development policies to achieve improved economic and social
conditions of living is it Bottom Up, that is, to allow the liberal perspective
by allowing the market to rule, or Top Bottom, that is, to ensure government
deliberate intervention to moderate the market forces and instigate
developmental processes through provision of hard and soft infrastructural
facilities to create the enabling environment for growth.
There
are several approaches to regional development policies but the traditional
ones revolve around the twin theoretical perspectives of neo-classical
economics and interventionist development. In the former, governments are
encouraged to stay away from active intervention and allow the operations of
the market. The latter case is prevalent in developing economies like Nigeria. The
essence of the political economy framework is hinged on three major platforms,
namely that there is close linkages between political and economic structures
in the society in Nigeria; that the political and economic structures of a
society affect its general values, cultures and norms as well as the practice
of political governance; and that a better understanding of the society, and a
region specifically, could be provided by analyzing the synergy between the
economy and politics, and their dialectical interrelations with other social
institutions (Alemika and Chukwuma, 2005).
1.2
Statement of the Problem
At this stage, Nigerian educational
development is supposed to be of high quality and good standard due to the
eagerness the learners showed in the olden days. Their academic performance in
secondary then was of high value in the country. Secondary school education was
enough to earn one a living back then, but reverse is the case now.
Unfortunately, the general public seems to be highly disappointed in the
present educational system. It now generally known that the standard has
considerably fallen and quality is no longer there again. Government of today
are not helping matters but rather worsening the situation. This can be said of
the recent issue making round the wave in the country whereby the federal
government is planning to reduce the cut-off mark (from the initial 200 to 120)
for admission into the university. This was accepted by some institutions in
the northern states but was sternly rejected by some institutions in the South
Western, South Southern and South eastern states in the country. This shows the
level of disparity in academic performance of students in different geo
political zones in Nigeria. This is a drastic situation that needs drastic solutions.
However, this research work on the effects of geopolitical interference in the
study of Home economics in secondary schools in Nigeria will provide reasonable
solutions to the problem.
1.3 Research
Questions
This
research will be carried out to answer the following research questions:
i)
what are the
reasons for geopolitical interference in the study of Home economics in
secondary schools in Nigeria?
ii)
what are the
effects of geopolitical interference in the study of Home economics in
secondary schools in Nigeria?
iii)
what is the
prevalence of geopolitical interference in the study of Home economics in
secondary schools in Nigeria?
1.4 Objectives of the Study
The broad objective of this study
is to investigate the effects of geo political
interference in the study of Home economics in secondary schools in Nigeria. The
specific objectives include:
i)
to determine the reasons for geopolitical interference in the study of Home economics
in secondary schools in Nigeria
ii)
to establish the effects of geopolitical
interference in the study of Home economics in secondary schools in Nigeria
iii)
to analyse the prevalence of
geopolitical interference in the study of Home economics in secondary schools
in Nigeria
1.5 Significance
of the Study
This study investigates on the effects of geopolitical interference in the study
of Home economics in secondary schools in Nigeria and therefore will be
beneficial to the educational practitioners to identify some of the problems
that stand as impediments to the successful implementation of the educational
policy. This study will also contribute to academic knowledge and serve as
a foundation upon which further research can be made.
1.6 Scope
of the Study
This study will be carried out among selected secondary schools in
Surulere local Government Area, Lagos State, Nigeria.
Information collected from these workers shall be subjected to further analysis
and the results got from it shall be final.
1.7 Limitation of the study
The researcher was faced with time constraint of
getting the targeted respondents to get the desired information. The researcher
was also faced with the problem of reading the questions to some students as
some of them did not understand the questions very well. Some of them were
unwilling to give adequate information needed for this research work. This was
tedious and time consuming.
1.8 Definitions of Terms
The following terms were used in the course of this study:
Geopolitical zone: a major division in modern Nigeria,
created during the regime of president General Sani Abacha . Nigerian
economic, political and
educational resources are often shared across the zones.
Home economics: field
of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community. It
deals with the relationship between individuals, families, communities, and the
environment in which they live.
Secondary school: is
the next step up from primary school. Secondary schools are often called
high schools in
the United States. In Britain, secondary schools may
be public schools, grammar schools or
comprehensive schools.