Repositioning Nigerian Education for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: A postmodernist Perspective
1. By
Dr Saheed Olanrewaju Jabaar
+2348053580951
saheedjabaar@gmail.com
Department of Arts and Social Science Education,
Faculty of Education, Northwest University, Kano Nigeria
2. Introduction
Problem statement
Modernism & Postmodernism
Basic assumptions of Postmodernism
Postmodernist view of education
Implications for Nigerian Education
Conclusion
Suggestions
3. Sustainable development (SD) is a global initiative
aimed at finding solutions to the challenges of
contemporary civilization . The challenges include:
- excessive consumption,
- greater access to information,
- big changeability around jobs and professions
- greater influence of media which creates artificial
reality and a growing crisis of identity
The SDGs like the MDGs recognises the important
role of education in the achievement of global
development.
4. Human Development index (HDI) for Nigeria stood at
0.514 which puts the country on the low human
development category (UNDP, 2015).
One of the reasons why Nigeria failed to achieve the
MDGs is lack human capital for implementation
(Oleribe, 2014).
Human capital development encompasses knowledge
acquisition, skill acquisition and inculcation of positive
and desirable values.
Excessively bookish nature and the question of
relevance poses a serious challenge to producing
youths who are equipped with knowledge, skills and
attitude to be creative and innovative to confront the
contemporary challenges facing the nation.
5. In the historical sense to indicate what follows the
medieval – that is, renaissance culture and its sequels.
The knowledge produced by science as truth and is
eternal
Reason is the ultimate judge of what is true
is fundamentally about order, rationality and
orderliness.
Totality, stability and order are maintained in modern
societies through the use of grand narratives or master
narratives.
Grand narratives are stories a culture tells itself about
its practices and beliefs.
6. It is often considered as a critique of or
reaction to modernism.
Morality and truth are constructed by society
Individuals are shaped by cultural forces
Rejection of individuality, that is, identity is
collective as people exist as members of a
group.
There is no universal humanity since every
culture constitutes it own reality
7. Postmodernism goes against grand
narratives.
it favours mini – narratives that explain small
practices, local events, rather than large scale
universal or global concepts.
It makes no claim to universality, truth,
reason, or stability.
Emphasis is on every culture and society
constituting its own reality
8. * knowledge should be functional, so educational
policy in contemporary times should put
emphasis on skills and training.
Electronic computer technologies has
revolutionized the modes of knowledge
production, distribution.
Knowledge is invented or constructed in the
minds of people.
Knowledge and ideas are created by people not
because they are true but rather because they
are useful.
9. Nigeria cannot be said to be well placed in a world
which is characterized by information explosion,
superlative use of science and technology and
information technology.
Achieving the SDGs is dependent on using focusing
on social - cultural development of the people.
Copying anything and everything from other
nations would not enable us to compete in the
global economy.
Need to look inwards to search and develop what is
uniquely ours in term of knowledge, skills,
technology as opposed to relying on what belongs
to others.
10. Technology transfer may not be applicable as it
used be as industrialized countries are now wise
Solution lies in reorganisation of our education to
make it more oriented towards development of
creativity and skills in harnessing indigenous
knowledge and technology for national
development.
11. It has been shown that while the SDGs may
appear incompatible with the spirit of
postmodernism, some aspects of postmodern
worldview can be useful in repositioning
education in Nigeria for relevance,
functionality and quality.
12. Academic subjects should be taught the
ground of their usefulness and what they have
to offer in enriching our contemporary life.
Nigerian education should not just include
computer literacy, but should be computer
based.
Indigenous knowledge and technology should
occupy a central place in what is learnt in
schools. education should prepare the young to
invent and construct new knowledge
