PROBLEMS AFFECTING THE EVALUATION OF ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMME A CASE STUDY OF OVIA NORTH EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

This research work was undertaken in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State in order to identify the problem affecting the evaluation of adult education programme in the area. In the course of the study,the findings where made; 1. That adequate fund should be pumped into the programme by the local government council. 2. The local government council should try to recruit more qualified adult education. 3. The functions of both the instructors/organizer, supervisors and the coordinator should be well defined so that one does not perform the function of each other. 4. In-service training mostly for the teaching sta concerned with the programme should be given to them in order to improve the quality of their teaching work. 5. More teaching equipment and gadget should be supplied by the local government council to enhance teaching and learning in the literacy centre. 6. Adult instructors monthly salary should be increased from the little salary to the federal government accepted minimum wages of one hundred and twenty-five naira with all its huge allowances following it so that the adult education will be motivated towards the jobs.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

Adult education is not new in the history of man in Nigeria. Traditional adult education is the oldest from of adult education which started with the earliest history of any human community, this adult education may be said to be as old as creation. Adult education in Nigeria like other forms of education was never neglected in the traditional society though it hardly appeared as a topic for discussion. In the early 1920’s adult education was organized in the evening for working class adult. Even then, the progress made was quite slow, the result was, at the time of Nigeria’s independence in 1960 it was discovered that huge percentages of Nigeria adults were still illiterates. Adult education which was defined by UNESCO as; A process whereby persons who no longer attend school on a regular and full-time basis (unless full time programme are specially designed for adult) undertake sequential and organized activities with the conscious intention of bringing about change in information, knowledge understanding or skills appreciation and attitude or for the purpose of identifying and solving personal and community problems, went down in the history of Nigeria education as one of the most dynamic eras in Nigerians education innovation. Between 1950 and 1960, Nigerian leader made bold attempts not only to primary education to most children but also to most adults. After the Second World War, the need for mass education was felt by the government and the people of Nigeria. In 1949, the department of education in Lagos circulated a memorandum on fundamental education for adults employed in commerce and industry. The document was a sort of guidance for the organization, administration and curriculum of adult education mass education projects and community development schemes were organized in Ilano, Egbado, Ibadan, Ekiti and Ijebu divisions of the then western region and Udi and Afikpo divisions in the eastern region and Lagos. Making a case of enlightened citizens, chief Obafemi Awolowo states:

To educate the children and enlighten the illiterate adults is to lay a solid foundation not for future social and economic progress but also for political stability. A truly educated citizenry is in my view one of the most powerful deterrents to dictatorship, oligarchy and feudal autocracy. In November 1951, the central board on education endorsed a national policy on adult education whose provision were that: 1. The essential aim of adult education is to organize facilities for remedial primary education for adults, particularly in rural area. 2. The first objective of all adult education activities is to help illiterate to read and write, in their language and thus enrich their own minds and take an intelligent part in social economic and political development. 3. The programme on adult education should include such activities as home craft for women talks discussions and practical community improvement projects. 4. Women should be given special consideration in the adult education programmes. 5. Concerted efforts should be made by the regional government to coordinate the activities of the genesis concerned with adult education.