Has politics affected our education system?
Answers
Since independence, our education system has gone through a number of significant changes, some of which according to my opinion were necessary and some were not.
As we obtained independence, it was necessary to make some changes from the colonial education system to fit our political and economic orientation.
The Education for Self Reliance (ESR) policy booklet published in March 1967, argues that the policy aimed at re-defining the purpose of education. It aimed at eliminating colonial education system which aimed at inculcating colonial attitudes of human inequality and domination of the weak by the strong.
The ESR policies therefore, aimed at changing the elitist education system and therefore enable a wider part of the society access education. Moreover, to inculcate in people the sense of valuing work as an integral part of education.
This paradigm shift from colonial education to our own system of education seems to have strong justification.
However, there are a number of political decisions which were made during the implementation of ESR which had significant impact on our education system.
For example, mass recruitment of teachers under the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme. In the name of shortage of teachers, Standard Seven leavers were recruited and given short training including distance learning or out of college to obtain basic skills and thereafter were allocated to primary schools all over the country especially in rural areas....
Hope this helps u