24. THE NEED FOR A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO EDUCATION IN AFRICA: THE NIGERIAN CASE STUDY
Dorothy Oluwagbemi-Jacob, Ph.D
Department of Philosophy
University of Calabar, Nigeria
Abstract
The pan-African vision is to have a developed Africa. One of the key tools for realizing this is education. However, Eurasian approaches to education have, in great measure, directed African educational system, resulting in unsustainable development in Africa. This is evident in the level of poverty in different parts of the continent. This paper, therefore, argues that though some of these approaches may contain some kernels of truth, none of them exclusively has what it takes to address the issue of unsustainable development in Africa. It submits that the appropriate educational approach for realizing the pan-African vision in Nigeria should be one that basically involves a whole development of an individual. The paper recommends a curriculum review that places emphasis on humanistic education, African value system, acquisition of relevant skills and transference of developmental skills rather than one that focuses on the transmission of knowledge. It prescribes more investment in the capacity building of the educators in Nigeria. The method of the paper is essentially expository and evaluative.
Keywords: Africa, Nigeria, development, education, holistic, pan-African vision, Eurasian.