The national policy on education and self-reliance: a histophilosophical perspetive

Abstract

Education is the process of transforming the raw human resources to the expected quality and standard, to live and contribute effectively to the development of the society. This could simply be called education for self-reliance. The policy on education in any society ought to be laid on the above foundation; otherwise such society is bound to exist under the dictates of foreign human and material resources. The paper takes a histo-philosophical study of policies consciously or unconsciously made in Nigeria from pre-colonial era to the present time and tries to balance them with the reality at each given time. It observes that the National Policy on Education launched in 1997 and revised in 19981 and 1998 provide enough theoretical frameworks for actualizing self-reliance through education in Nigeria, but expresses doubts if such objectives are met, considering the rate of the nation's dependence on foreign human and material resources. As a way forward, the author strongly recommends the full implementation of the 6-3-3-4 system of education in Nigeria. He further stresses on the importance of counseling service at all levels of our school system.

The Nigerian Journal of Guidance and Counselling Vol. 9(1) 2004: 54-70