The Nigerian Learner: Past, Present and Future

Abstract

Education has been variously defined as the process of acquiring knowledge and skill. Basically teaching and learning
constitute education which has existed in one form or another since man existed. For learning to be successful, the learner
should be interested and committed to the subject matter, and the teacher experienced and effective, and learning environment
appropriate. Our British colonial masters alongside the early Christian Missionaries bequeathed Nigeria with a formal education
system in mid 19th century that was so rich and solid as opposed to the present day mockery. Gratefully the colonial legacy of
formal education came along with strict enforcement of moral discipline that ushered in a new dawn of self-consciousness and
good conduct. Those learners were solidly baked in good character and in learning. But with the departure of the British in 1960
making way for Nigerian independence, education plummeted from that peak to this awful depth owing to several sinister factors
ranging from endemic corruption, greed, hypocrisy and nonchalance, etc. Today’s reluctant learners, parents, education
managers and relevant government agencies are equally guilty of crippling education. The paper therefore sets out to do a
comparative review of the past and present educational achievements and prospects for future revival.