Don makes case for adoption of non-formal education options 

The National Assembly has been urged to raise the institutional mechanism for the delivery of non-formal education so as to create the framework for the adoption of the inherent attributes of non-formal education by the Federal Government to enhance the educational development of the nation.

Delivering the 105th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) recently, professor of Adult Education and Extra Mural Studies, Dr. Patrick Nathaniel Chukwu Ngwu, stated that, “non-formal education requires a strategic system framework, which is built on the natural development of the individual at his pace.”

Ngwu, in the lecture, “Non-Formal Education and the Promise of Development,” posited that the strategy implies a situation whereby all the components of a fully functional education system can be used to integrate and streamline the right standard for educating people for different learning needs.

The don noted that development could not take place without 40 per cent of a geo-political entity, like Nigeria, being literate, unfortunately, more than half of the people of the country are not literate.

While recommending that the country should soft pedal on the 6-3-3-4 education system and encourage people to learn at their pace, he observed that “non-formal education was an option for the poor and the less-privileged who form the majority of the population. They deserve a peculiar education system while the elite embrace the option of formal education system.”

Meanwhile, a member of the House of Representatives, representing Igbo-Etiti/Uzouwani Federal Constituency, Mrs. Stella Ugwu, while admitting that appropriate legislation would strengthen the non-formal education sector, said that the adoption of non-formal education would improve the skills of artisans and enhance their ability of self empowerment.

Senator Chuka Utazi, (Enugu North), pointed out that the recent clashes between cattle rearers and various communities in the South East especially, would easily abate if there had been an effective non-formal education process in place.

The UNN Vice Chancellor, Professor Benjamin Ozumba, who was represented by deputy vice chancellor, Professor Edwin Igbokwe, noted that the theme of the lecture was chosen because of its contribution to the development of the education system and the country.