Education beyond meal ticket

[Mirror]

Over six decades ago, I had hoped to attend the famous Fourah Bay College and earn a degree. But my life's trajectory steered me elsewhere.

Today, I am pleased to be made an honourary alumnus of the historic and prestigious institution which nurtured Ajayi Crowther, Ransome Kuti an a host of other distinguished Nigerians who have made immeasurable contributions to our development and progrees in Nigeria and indeed in West Africa since the inception of this "Athens of West Africa" in 1827.

While thinking about these awards you have conferred on me, I want to ask all of us parents, teachers, leaders and opinion leaders to think about the kind of education we are imparting on our youth today. It is a paradox that, the colonial masters gave us education that served colonial objectives and purposes while it would appear that today's education, which we designed for ourselves and by ourselves, gives nothing short of a meal ticket – a well-crafted and ornamented certificate by itself which cannot fetch them a meal today I have therefore titled my brief speech "Education Beyond Meal Ticket".

Down through the ages, it is known that education is the antidote to poverty and ignorance and the key for unlocking natural resources and human potentials. There is a compelling body of research concluding that education is the main plank for economic development and for transforming the man or woman to a responsible, self-reliant citizen.

The pertinent question that comes to mind is: What is the value and purpose of education?

There is no doubt that whether formal or informal, education has its core values which include self reliance, honesty, diligence, respect for rule of law and dignity in labour. Bundled with these knowledge and skills that education impacts on the learner and when education is well-rounded, all the ingredients for success in life are delivered to the learner.

Sadly, education for must African youths is far from well-rounded as it is devoid of training for the world of work and the realities of contemporary life.

University education is seen by many as a mere pathway to obtaining a certificate which they erroneously take to be a meal ticket that will guarantee jobs and the good things of life. Few hours after leaving the university, they are hit with the realisation that the beautiful certificate cannot fetch them even the ugliest meal.

The frustration that results has severe implications for national stability as we see by the day in youth restiveness all across the world.

Education beyond meal ticket means delivering the curriculum in a way that will lead to the production of persons who are self-reliant, creators of jobs and responsible members of the community.

It means preparing our youth and adult communities to contribute to assuring human security especially food and nutrition, environmental, health and employment security and to peace building. It means preparing our youths for future leadership positions for a strife-free continent. In sum, it means delivering education that will not just be for paper qualification- a meal ticket, but education for self-reliance- a life ticket!

It must be education for citizenshio of the world as a good citizen of the world will be a good citizen of his or her own country. Some of the pathways to achieving these goals include reforming the curriculum at all levels to embed a strong slant of entrepreneurship.

We must ensure a blend of training of the head, heart and hands and inculcate the value of hard work in our youth. We should train our youth to detect small business opportunities in villages, towns and cities and prepare them from school with entrepreneurial skills to take full advantage of such small business opportunities, which over time, will grow into large-scale businesses.

As a practicing farmer and based on the huge potential of agriculture to national development and to youth employment, I canvass education that will tool our youth for farming and make them active partakers in agribusiness.

Why should our faculties of Agriculture not become Faculties of Agribusiness and Food Production? We must think out of the box and more out of the box.

National Mirror