Education Beyond Certification: Rewriting Nigeria Narrative
In Nigeria today, having a certificate in any choice of course is one of the ways to ascertain that you have edge or can be valid at all. It now serves the purpose of relevance. Most people get education because they want to be certified, not because they love education or want to be educated but majorly for the purpose of relevance. Some even get certified because of family influence. This and more are the reasons Most Nigerians get education.
On the contrary, these reasons stated are not meant to be the basis of education and certification. Allow me to take you through the journey of enlightenment of the purpose of education.
One of the reasons one needs to be educated is for the purpose of knowledge. In-depth knowledge about a particular course of study in education is paramount and its usefulness cannot be overemphasized. Having an understanding about a profession that one is getting a certificate for is paramount. The knowledge you want to access in a particular field should serve as the major reason to be educated in that field of study. It aids functionality in that particular field. The purpose of being educated should be beyond getting the certificate. It should be more of getting the knowledge to act efficiently and effectively.
Moving on, there is need or place for passion in Education. Education should be born out of passion. When one has passion for whatever he/she does, there is this agility to do it well. Most people do not love education, so there is no passion for it. When you have passion for something, you would see reasons to put in effort and be intentional about every step you take in the process. It will create a place of relentlessness. Passion for education will make one discover and uncover a lot about the course one is getting certified for. Passion for education will also birth resilience which will aid us to see reasons to be educated beyond certification.
Might I also add, education is beyond certification because it is a skill. A skill is something you learn and acquire for the purpose of adding value to yourself and most especially for lucrative purpose. The moment we see education as something we need to learn and acquire, we begin to move from the edge of it serving the purpose of certification. Let us take this instance for example, an apprentice who wants to acquire tailoring skill or wants to be a tailor will not get into it because he/she wants to have the certificate. They would have to learn everything about the skill to a great length so that they can be successful in using the skill when they are done with the learning process. Education should be seen from this perspective and viewed as a skill one needs to be well vast in. Whichever course one studies should serve the purpose of being acquired. One should aspire to be educated because he/she wants to acquire the skills in education. It is not a gainsay that lots of graduate of some courses possess certificates of a skill they cannot execute, because often times, what they have in thier head is that they just want the certificate. Education should be a skill one learns to add to one's value, it's not something you engage in solely for the purpose of certification. The moment we see it as a skill we would yearn to be vast in it because one wants to be productive.
In conclusion, education is beyond the purpose of certification. Education should be born out of desire for knowledge, skills and passion for whatever course or profession one would get education for.
(c) Oluwatomisin Kayode writes from Lagos State University, Lagos.