Medieval education is about education that was conducted in the medieval period. Medieval education is seen as quite an unusual form of education. However, by the 15th century, there were options for a student to be educated further. Some schools even housed both genders, but this was during the day only. Children were taught their basics, such as how to read and write. This is because these were the basic requirements if they wanted to be accepted under apprenticeship in any guild.
Medieval education also consisted of peasant children going to school. However, they made up a very small number. They were taught how to read and write, and also studied basic math. This education for peasants was usually conducted at a monastery.
As part of medieval education, noble girls and even boys were sent to learn at nunneries. There, they would receive their basic education. The nuns taught these students how to read and write too. They would also teach them how to pray. Girls were additionally taught how to spin and do needlework amid other domestic skills. http://www. 360career. com  These were inculcated in order to prepare them for later life, as these were basic skills required when a woman got married.
If a child took his or her education seriously at a monastery, he or she would have a monastic life. However, this was quite rare for an average townsman or peasant. Also, these individuals would be carefully selected for these ranks. If they were deemed suitable according to their demeanour, they would be brought up by the monks.
Today, medieval education practices are still visible. The same monastery education students are given is a clear reflection of it. The education that children receive at missionary schools in various parts of the world also reflects similar forms of education. A major difference that is seen is the widespread existence of books. In medieval times, there were many schools that operated without the use of books. Students were taught by skilled masters, and were often educated for dubious benefits. The rich or others that did provide education in medieval times did so for their personal gain. There were very few that really wanted to educate people in the true spirit of enlightening more minds.

As time has passed by, some aspects of medieval education have faded while others have remained. It can be argued that the aspects of medieval education that were useful for the purpose of education have remained. Regardless of some characteristics remaining, the overall process has changed a great deal. This is because education could not have the same face as it did hundreds of years ago. Today’s education is different from medieval education in so many ways. For example, you have the inclusion of group work and activity based learning. You also have the inclusion of computers for education in this modern age. No one in the medieval period would have ever contemplated the use of such items.

Another important development to mention, and one that is used almost throughout the world is the Montessori method. This is something that did not exist in the medieval period, and it took many years for it to be popularized since Maria Montessori first used it. Indeed, the Montessori Method cannot be likened to any medieval method of education. It was developed independently as an innovative teaching method. In addition to the Montessori Method, there are other teaching areas today that have been developed without any medieval education influence.

Though medieval education has provided the fundamentals for formal education, some people prefer to deny medieval education methods the credit it is given. They believe that the formal method of students being seated in classrooms would have developed later anyway, whether medieval education used this arrangement or not. This does make sense because it is unthinkable for any other arrangement to be used. It is further argued that it is more likely that this would have been the case in modern education because student interaction is encouraged. For better student interaction, a classroom of a suitable number of students would have been recommended. Regardless of these arguments, we still find many traces of medieval education in our modern setups today.

For more about Medieval Education visit:  http://www. 360career. com/content/Medieval-Education. asp

Forms of Domestic Violence and Development of

Women through Education

 

                                                                                          

INTRODUCTION

            However much a mother may love her children, it is all but impossible for her to provide high-quality child care if she herself is poor and oppressed, illiterate and uninformed, anemic and unhealthy, has five or six other children, lives in a slum or shanty, has neither clean water nor safe sanitation, and if she is without the necessary support either from health services, or from her society, or from the father of her childen.
                                                          – Vulimiri Ramalingaswami, “The Asian Enigma”

            Women constitute almost half of the population in the world. But the hegemonic masculine ideology made them suffer a lot as they were denied equal opportunities in different parts of the world. The rise of feminist ideas has, however, led to the tremendous improvement of women’s condition through out the world in recent times. Access to education has been one of the most pressing demands of theses women’s rights movements. Women’s education in India has also been a major preoccupation of both the government and civil society as educated women can play a very important role in the development of the country.      

·                     India has world’s largest number of professionally qualified women.

·                     India has largest population of working women in the world.

·                     India has more number of doctors, surgeons, scientists, professors than the US.

What is Domestic Violence?

            Domestic violence is controlling behaviour and includes all kinds of physical, sexual, economic, psychological and emotional abuse within all kinds of intimate relationships. The perpetrators of domestic violence or abuse are usually men and the victims or survivors are usually women and children that they know. It includes:

• Punching and slapping.

• Kicking and hair pulling.

• Biting and pinching.

• Pushing and shoving.

• Being forced to have sex.

• Being beaten or cut with other objects.

• Disrespect, neglect and emotional blackmail.

• Verbal abuse and swearing.

• Being prevented from going out or seeing people – being isolated.

FORMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The following are the forms of Domestic Violence:

1.       Physical Abuse

2.       Sexual Abuse

3.       Psychological Abuse

4.       Emotional Abuse

5.       Financial Abuse

1. Psysical Abuse:     

            Physical abuse is the most visible form of abuse and most likely (with sexual abuse) to give rise to criminal charges. Injuries include black eyes, cut lips, bruising, fractures, deafness, blindness, internal bleeding, missing teeth, persistent ill health, miscarriages, and injuries to a foetus and death. Injury sites are often concealed by clothing or hair. It can include slaps, shoves, pushing, being thrown across the room or down the stairs, kicking, stamping, strangulation, burns and scalds, being attacked with weapons such as knives, household objects, firearms etc internally as well as externally.

2. Sexual Abuse:

            Sexual Abuse in an abusive relationship is another form of violence, control and degradation. It includes rape, sexual assaults (including with implements),enforced prostitution, enforced sexual practices including being forced to watch or engage in pornography.

3. Psychological Abuse:

            Psychological abuse examples include “Jeckyll and Hyde” behaviour, preventing contact with friends and families, constant belittling and humiliating things being said, claims that children will be removed if anyone is told of abuse, controlling behaviours, deliberately enforcing dependency, constant statements that the victim is mentally ill etc.

4. Emotional Abuse:

            Emotional abuse is an attack on victims’ personality and well being and is often described as worse than physical violence. It may be referred to as “mind-games”. It frequently amounts to the abuser assuming a tight and unhealthy control of all members of the family, which may become increasingly isolated in the community.

            Examples include threats of violence to all members of family, constant criticism of the victim saying she is ugly, ignorant or worthless, using the children as ammunition, family life and mood being dictated by abuser (abuser-centric) continual questioning, humiliation in public, playing on community and cultural fears, threats to have the children removed, threats to kill or have deported, threat that the abuser will commit suicide, threats and actual violence to family pets etc.

5. Financial Abuse:

            Financial Abuse is essentially the deprivation of and / or the control of money whether earned or benefits.

            An abuser may refuse to pay bills or prevent the victim from having any control over the family finances. The abuser may steal money belonging to the victim or children. Essential services such as gas and electricity may be cut off. The mother may be forced to support the children solely on what she can earn without assistance or child benefit if this is claimed by the abuser. An abuser may deliberately spend money on himself or sell the woman’s possessions and family furniture.

CRIME AGAINST WOMEN IN INDIA

·        One crime against women every three minutes

·        One rape every 29 minutes

·        One dowry death case every 77 minutes

·        One case of cruelty by husband and relatives every nine minutes

·        Once suicide every 4 hours

Source: National Crime Records Bureau

 

The main problems of Indian women:

·         Malnutrition: India has exceptionally high rates of child malnutrition, because tradition in India requires that women eat last and least throughout their lives, even when pregnant and lactating. Malnourished women give birth to malnourished children, perpetuating the cycle.

·         Poor Health: Females receive less health care than males. Many women die in childbirth of easily prevented complications. Working conditions and environmental pollution further impairs women’s health.

·         Lack of education: Families are far less likely to educate girls than boys, and far more likely to pull them out of school, either to help out at home or from fear of violence.

·         Overwork: Women work longer hours and their work is more arduous than men’s, yet their work is unrecognized. Men report that “women, like children, eat and do nothing. ” Technological progress in agriculture has had a negative impact on women.

·         Unskilled: In women’s primary employment sector – agriculture – extension services overlook women.

·         Mistreatment: In recent years, there has been an alarming rise in atrocities against women in India, in terms of rapes, assaults and dowry-related murders. Fear of violence suppresses the aspirations of all women. Female infanticide and sex-selective abortions are additional forms of violence that reflect the devaluing of females in Indian society.

·         Powerlessness: While women are guaranteed equality under the constitution, legal protection has little effect in the face of prevailing patriarchal traditions. Women lack power to decide who they will marry, and are often married off as children. Legal loopholes are used to deny women inheritance rights.

            India has a long history of activism for women’s welfare and rights, which has increasingly focused on women’s economic rights. A range of government programs have been launched to increase economic opportunity for women, although there appear to be no existing programs to address the cultural and traditional discrimination against women that leads to her abject conditions.

GOVERNEMNT ROLE TO MINIMIZE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN INDIA

            Overall, a crime against women is committed every three minutes in India, according to India’s National Crime Records Bureau. Despite the scale of the problem, there had been no specific legislation to deal with actual abuse or the threat of abuse at home. Domestic violence, under the new law, includes “actual abuse or the threat of abuse whether physical, sexual, emotional or economic,” a statement from the federal ministry of women and child development said.

            “We have been trying for long to protect women from domestic violence. In India alone, around 70% of women are victim of these violent acts in one or the other form,” junior minister for women and child development Renuka Chowdhury told the Press Trust of India news agency. They say a bill alone will not help in preventing domestic abuse; what is needed is a change in mind sets.

            In January 1992, the National Commission for Women (NCW), was set up as a statutory body under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 ( Act No. 20 of 1990 of Govt. of India ) to review the constitutional and legal safeguards for women; recommend remedial legislative measures, facilitate redressal of grievances and advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women.

            There are so many government and non-government organizations are working for the benefits of women. Both Central and State governments are continuing so many programmes for the development of women in the country.

 DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN THROUGH EDUCATION

            You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women.
                                                                                                                 - Jawaharlal Nehru

Female Literacy in India:

            According to last census held in 2001, the percentage of female literacy in the country is 54. 16%. The literacy rate in the country has increased from 18. 33% in 1951 to 65. 38% as per 2001 census. The female literacy rate has also increased from 8. 86% in 1951 to 54. 16%. It is noticed that the female literacy rate during the period 1991-2001 increased by 14. 87% whereas male literacy rate rose by 11. 72%. Hence the female literacy rate actually increased by 3. 15% more compared to male literacy rate.

Factors Responsible for Poor Female Literacy Rate:

Historically, a variety of factors have been found to be responsible for poor female literate rate, viz.

·         Gender based inequality.

·         Social discrimination and economic exploitation.

·         Occupation of girl child in domestic chores.

·         Low enrolment of girls in schools.

·         Low retention rate and high dropout rate.

The main strategies adopted by the Government for increasing female literacy in the country include:

1.       National Literacy Mission for imparting functional literacy

2.       Universalisation for Elementary Education

3.       Non-Formal Education

History of Women’s Education in India: Although in the Vedic period women had access to education in India, they had gradually lost this right. However, in the British period there was revival of interest in women’s education in India. During this period, various socio religious movements led by eminent persons like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar emphasized on women’s education in India. Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Periyar and Baba Saheb Ambedkar were leaders of the lower castes in India who took various initiatives to make education available to the women of India. However women’s education got a fillip after the country got independence in 1947 and the government has taken various measures to provide education to all Indian women. As a result women’s literacy rate has grown over the three decades and the growth of female literacy has in fact been higher than that of male literacy rate. While in 1971 only 22% of Indian women were literate, by the end of 2001 54. 16% female were literate. The growth of female literacy rate is 14. 87% as compared to 11. 72 % of that of male literacy rate.

 

Importance of Women’s Education in India: Women’s education in India plays a very important role in the overall development of the country. It not only helps in the development of half of the human resources, but in improving the quality of life at home and outside. Educated women not only tend to promote education of their girl children, but also can provide better guidance to all their children. Moreover educated women can also help in the reduction of infant mortality rate and growth of the population.

Obstacles: Gender discrimination still persists in India and lot more needs to be done in the field of women’s education in India. The gap in the male-female literacy rate is just a simple indicator. While the male literary rate is more than 75% according to the 2001 census, the female literacy rate is just 54. 16%. Prevailing prejudices, low enrollment of girl child in the schools, engagements of girl children in domestic works and high drop out rate are major obstacles in the path of making all Indian women educated.

            According to the Women and Child Development study, 45 percent of Indian women are slapped, kicked or beaten by their husbands. India also had the highest rate of violence during pregnancy. Of the women reporting violence, 50 percent were kicked, beaten or hit when pregnant. About 74. 8 percent of the women who reported violence have attempted to commit suicide. It shows the importance of education. Educated woman has more strength and power to face the challenges when compared to uneducated woman.

            Kumud Sharma of the Centre for Women’s Development Studies in New Delhi traced the correlation between education and domestic violence to patriarchal attitudes. “Educated women are aware of their rights,” she said. “They are no longer willing to follow commands blindly. When they ask questions, it causes conflicts, which, in turn, leads to violence. In many Indian states, working women are asked to hand over their paycheck to the husband and have no control over their finances. So, if they stop doing so or start asserting their right, there is bound to be friction. “

            It is necessary to establish some more colleges and universities in India.   The number of Residential Schools for SC/ST and BC’s is not sufficient today. So, increase the number of these schools in the both rural and urban areas. Today’s children are tomorrow’s citizens. Take care about future generation. Then only India will become developed country in the future.

CONCLUSIONS

            Now we are living in the modern and technological world. Women are also entering in all the fields like men for doing job. Educated women have better opportunity compared to uneducated women in the society. They are facing so many problems in the society. With the help of education and law and order it is easy to escape from those problems. So it is necessary to educate all types of women in the society. Education gives strength, wealth, health and power to the individual.

 According to Swami Vivekandanda:

“We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind increased and intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one’s own feet”.       

            The plight of women in medieval India and at the starting of modern India can be summed up in the words of great poet Rabindranath Tagore:

“O Lord Why has you not given woman the right to conquer her destiny?
Why does she have to wait head bowed,
By the roadside, Waiting with tired patience,
Hoping for a miracle in the morrow?”

References:

1.       National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2001). The National Reading Panel: Reports of the Subgroups.

 

2.       UNESCO Institute for Statistics: Literacy rates, youth (15-24) and adult (15+), by region and gender (September 2006 Assessment).

 

3.    Child and Women Development Report, (2006), Ministry of Women and Child  

      Development, Government of India, New Delhi.

 

4.     National Family Health Survey, (2006), Government of India, New Delhi.

 

5.     National Crime Records Bureau, (2007), Government of India, New Delhi.

 

6.    Census of India, (2001), Government of India, New Delhi.

 

 

.

*****

 

World Development Report 2004: through the lenses of Marketing of Education Service in India 

Dr. Amalesh Bhowal,Professor, Department of Commerce, Assam University.

E-mail: amalesh_b1@rediffmail. com

 1. 1     Introduction:

Article 10, contained in the Declaration On The Responsibilities Of The Present Generation Towards Future Generations, mentions that  “The present generations should ensure the conditions of equitable, sustainable and universal socio-economic development of future generations… Education is an important instrument…”

There is a new looking at the world of education using the lenses of marketing. Evidence is the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It aimed at deregulating international markets in services, including education. Corollary: Education is a commodity too which can be traded; in other words, there exists ‘Educational Service Market. To operate in that market, we need Principles and Theories for Marketing of Education Service. ] “The idea behind these principles is the creation of a open, global market place where services, like education, can be traded… GATS covers the educational services of all countries whose educational systems are not exclusively provided by the public sector, or those educational systems that have commercial purposes. ”

In the mean time, the World Bank has published “World Development Report 2004 – Making Services Work for Poor People”. It provides a practical framework for making the services that contribute to ‘human development work’ for poor people. The report included services that have the most direct link with human development – education, health, water, sanitation, and electricity.

1. 2     Main Objective of the paper:

In the backdrop of the above-mentioned International Prescriptions, the paper attempted to explore about the rationality of application of Principles of Service Marketing and lessons to be learnt from World Development Report 2004 regarding Marketing of Education Service.

1. 3     Rationality of the study:

This type of study may lead to the understanding of the debate whether “Marketing of Education Service” is synonymous with the “Commercialisation of Education Service”.

2. 1     Marketing of Education Service [MES]:

            Marketing of Education Service refers to performing of activities [either with profit motive or service motive] which directs the flow of educational goods and services from the producer, provider and developer to the consumer of goods and services to satisfy the needs of parties involved [i. e. policy makers, provider and customers] like Psychological, economic and safety, Social, esteem and self-actualisation needs.

2. 2     Current Failure of MES:

 Current Education Services to the poor are failing poor people due to: –

[1] Diversion of large share of the education budget spending towards the non-poor,

[2] Non-reaching of the share of the budget, directed to the poor, to the front line service providers

[3] Disincentives to service providers, Prevalence of public corruption and undesirable political influence in education,

[4] Lower level demand for education because of cultural factors.

Thus, education failed because of over dominance of Finance function; and under importance of Marketing Function.

2. 3     Rationality Of Adopting The Principles Of Service Marketing In MES:

            The report asks “putting poor people at the centre of the service provision”. This is akin to the thinking of Customer centric marketing of Srvices. The societies, generally, choose the long route because there are evidences of market failures. Similarly the societies feel traditional short route [i. e. consumers’ power over providers] is inadequate viewed from equity-dimension. But there exists evidences of the “government failures” associated with the long route; and, “they may be so serve that, in some cases, the market solution may actually leave poor people better off”. This is necessary for balancing the problems associated with the long route of accountability with the short route.

2. 4     Dimensions Of MES:

 Dimensions in respect of the Marketing of Education Service are of two types:

[A] Marketing functions related to educational goods: – These functions include [1] Marketing Research and [2] Targeting customers with appropriate Market Mix i. e. Developing, Pricing, Promoting, and, Distributing Educational Goods or Educational product.

[B] Marketing functions related to educational services: – These functions include [1] Marketing Research and [2] Targeting customers with appropriate Market Mix i. e. [a] Developing Product, [b] Pricing, [c] Promoting, [d] Distributing, [e] Orienting in-house People, [f] Processing, [g] Providing Physical evidence, [h] having and following policy, and, [i] Ensuring Peoples Participation in Education Service.

Interestingly, the report seems to be absolutely silent in respect of ‘Marketing functions related to educational goods’.

2. 5     Relationships, Triangle And Types In MES:

The report argued for three key relationships in MES: [a] Between poor people and providers, [b] between poor people and policymakers, and [c] between policy makers and providers. Thus, there exists Education Service Marketing Triangle. Policy Makers, service providers and customers/poor people in fact, should work together for MES [from diagram]. But they require three different types of marketing -

[a] Internal marketing between Policy Makers and Providers-to enable service promise.

[b] External Marketing between Policy Makers and Customers/poor people – to make promises.

[c] Interactive Marketing or Real–time Marketing between Providers and Customers – to keep promises made. There must be perfect alignment in the three different type of Marketing.

 

 

EDUCATION in Africa has a history reaching back many centuries. Certainly the achievements of the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Ethiopia are well known. Then, early in the first millennium of the Common Era, the Moors and other peoples on the northern fringe of Africa made notable contributions to world education and culture. And during the past 1,000 years the Saharan and sub-Saharan peoples had several centers of learning—Timbuktu, Agadez, Gao, Katsina and Borno, where books written in Arabic were in great demand.

More than 800 years ago at Timbuktu, in Mali, colleges provided advanced education. Katsina, in northern Nigeria, has been a center of learning since before the sixteenth century. It was there that, about 200 years ago, Muhammed ibn Muhammed became noted as a specialist in numerology.

The aforementioned cities were dominated by Moslem culture, and mosques were the centers of learning. However, the cost of learning under the tutorship of the mallams was very high and so few persons could afford it. The educated minority exercised tremendous influence, and were the key administrators, lawyers and clerks. But the majority remained illiterate.

In the non-Moslem, sub-Saharan cultures, education was largely nonliterate, by oral instruction rather than by use of reading material. Educational systems varied from tribe to tribe, and there were different degrees and levels of training, depending on the social and cultural development of a particular tribe. The training covered a fairly wide range, with specialized instruction at different age levels. Each educational system had specific forms of preparation for the roles of individuals in society. A look at the system of education among the Yorubas in precolonial Nigeria illustrates this.

The Yoruba System

Among the Yorubas, training in obedience, etiquette, speech and counting came early in the child’s life and was given within the family circle. Children quickly learned to express themselves in their language. Progressively, they mastered the proverbs, poetry and folklore of the community or tribe. In this way they learned the history and the moral and philosophical attitudes of their people. They had to learn a variety of greetings, recognition of levels of social seniority and the proper etiquette in connection with these. Religious education included training in rituals, sacred festivals and the roles of diviners.

At an early age, children were taught to count up to 20 on their fingers and toes and to do simple addition and subtraction with the aid of stones. As they progressed in knowledge, they were taught weights and measures, the use of cowrie shells (which served as money) and the art of bargaining.

Specialized training for boys focused on farming, working in metals and wood, hunting and the use of herbs and drugs in medicine. Skills were passed on from father to son. Inclination and natural abilities also were considered, and children were encouraged to develop their aptitudes. Therefore, many were apprenticed to artisans outside the family clan.

Girls received training in weaving and dyeing cloth. They learned to make pottery, to plait mats and baskets and to produce cosmetics for use in beauty treatments and hairdressing. They were taught the art of cooking, of brewing beer and of extracting oil from the kernels of the palm nuts. Thus they were prepared for their role as women in the family and the community.

The tribes that had a rural, pastoral or bush culture concentrated more on farming, herding and hunting or fishing. Some educational systems restricted progress into new fields of knowledge by preserving a closed society. Membership usually was restricted to those of certain ethnic origins or religious beliefs. This circumstance contributed toward a stagnation of knowledge. Nevertheless, the education that was provided amply served the needs of those societies.

The Colonial Era

In the wake of the missionary explorer David Livingstone, European missionaries began to increase their activities in Africa in the second half of the nineteenth century. Mission schools started to be set up in towns and villages, and right out in the bush, where students attended in simple loincloths or were completely naked.

These schools were set up on sectarian lines, with Catholics having their own schools and the Protestant religions theirs. This tended to segment the people religiously, and whole areas came to be regarded as the province of a particular religion. Divisions in social levels developed between the literate and the nonliterate segments of each community, and there was a gradual undermining of family influence. Other imbalances were created because traditional patterns of education were being uprooted and were not replaced by any uniform standard.

Still, a start had been made toward widening the horizons of knowledge in Africa. As more people learned to read and write, the knowledge of the world, contained in books, became available even to the remotest tribes. The literate history of non-Moslem, sub-Saharan Africa began to be revived.

Although the people showed aptitude in learning, there were obstacles to overcome. The missionaries usually had to learn the local languages first. Then they had to teach the children in their own European languages, in which books were available. Some did good work in formulating alphabet systems and compiling dictionaries so that many of the local languages could be put into writing. This provided the basis for translating the Bible into many African languages.

In some areas an obstacle was posed by the custom of barring girls from institutional education. When, over 40 years ago, one of the emirs from northern Nigeria visited England, he was impressed at seeing a large girls’ school. He desired a similar provision for the girls of his people. Since the custom was to keep women away from public life, he realized that this would be opposed. So he told his council that he was opening a school in his palace for educating the girls in his household. Within a year the school had 30 pupils, and many of the leading citizens were petitioning the emir to allow their children to attend. A year later, on the pretext that he could no longer tolerate the noise of a school in his palace, he “turned the pupils, teachers, and equipment out into the open town and lodged them in a house adjoining the boys’ school. ” (African Challenge, p. 63) Now every primary school in that section of the country is coeducational.

Since children were part of the labor force in each farm family, there was reluctance to lose them to the schools. Gradually, however, as the people recognized the value of the printed page and the advantages of reading and writing, more children were sent to school. So it was in mission schools that many of the outstanding educators and leaders throughout Africa got their early training.

The colonial governments, and the later sovereign governments of each independent state, encouraged the establishment of mission schools, giving financial and administrative help. Provisions were made for more uniform systems of schooling, and additional public and secondary schools and universities were established.

New Education Policies

Since 1970, in a further effort to ensure a more uniform standard of education, the Nigerian government has taken over control of private schools, including mission schools. This has given rise to the problem of adequate moral education in a totally secular school system. Therefore, the authorities have encouraged parents and teachers to provide moral guidance. Efforts have also been made to coordinate the Moslem and indigenous traditional systems of education with modern methods. It is hoped that this will stem the growing tide of unrest, immorality and drug abuse among youths.

In 1976 the Universal Primary Education scheme (UPE) was introduced to provide for free universal education throughout Nigeria. This will give children the opportunity to receive free primary schooling for six years, as well as junior secondary and senior secondary schooling for three years respectively. More schools are, therefore, being provided, and immediate plans are afoot to increase the number of universities to 13.

Adult Education

Because the majority of the adult population is illiterate, the various governments are giving increased attention to adult education. In Nigeria, where the literacy rate is 20 percent for a population of 70 million, the government has established adult education centers in most villages and towns. Many men and women are availing themselves of this opportunity to learn to read and write.

Much progress also is being made in adult literacy programs operating in Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s Witnesses. By means of such classes, between 1962 and 1976, in Nigeria alone, 15,156 persons have been taught to read and write. Many of these were elderly and thought that they no longer had the ability to learn. They were mostly people from rural areas—farmers, hunters, fishermen, housewives. Their determination to obtain Bible knowledge and to be able to impart Scriptural instruction reawakened their desire to learn. Now they can read and write, and can help in teaching God’s Word to others in their own language and also often in English.

For example, Ezekiel Ovbiagele was trained according to the traditional system of education, but was not taught to read and write. After he received oral Biblical instruction from Jehovah’s Witnesses and was baptized in 1940, he saw the value of learning to read. He enrolled in one of the literacy classes and soon was reading the Bible to others. With further specialized training, he was qualified in 1953 to serve as a traveling overseer, having the responsibility to instruct many congregations in the territory assigned to him. Many others have made similar advancement.

When Jackson Iheanacho first attended meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses, he was literate only in Efik, his native language. He saw the need to learn to read in English, too, since the meetings were conducted in that tongue. With the aid of the congregation’s literacy class, he achieved this and went on to learn other languages as well. He is now able to read and write seven languages!

The literacy rate among Jehovah’s Witnesses is better than 77 percent. Most of the remaining 23 percent are attending literacy classes, either at their Kingdom Halls or at government centers, and so are in various stages of learning to read and write. They appreciate this program, which is reaching out to more and more people.

Purposeful Education

The value and necessity of education cannot be denied. An editorial in the Daily Times of December 29, 1976, spoke of education as “the greatest investment .  .  . for the quick development of .  .  . economic, political, sociological and human resources. ” However, not just education, but purposeful education is essential. Modern methods have tended to establish materialistic goals, rather than productive ones. To many youths, the purpose of schooling is to obtain a certificate that will guarantee a prestige job and great financial reward. Parents should guide youths in carefully evaluating the purpose of their schooling. The goal should be to acquire real skills and thinking ability so as to ensure productivity in their adult careers.

It should be remembered, however, that the period of formal schooling is not all there is to the process of education. Parents can make use of preschool and out-of-school periods to instruct their children morally and in other ways that will build their personalities along wholesome lines. Much good can be achieved by using the Bible in inculcating decency, honesty and loyalty in the children.