ABSTRACT
Education has been identified as one of the most important ways to achieve national development. With three million non-literate adults in Lagos State, radio becomes a veritable medium to teach such adults who, as a result of their economic activities, may not have the opportunity of formal schooling. The study assessed theeffectiveness of educational radio broadcasting for adult literacy in Lagos State, Nigeria.
The study adopted survey design. The population of the study comprised 604 non-literate adult participants in Lagos is Learning project. Total enumeration was used to include all the 604 adult learners for the study. Two executive personnel of the project were purposively selected for interview and three learning centers were purposively selected for observation exercise. Validated questionnaire, interview guide and the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) standardized observation form were used to collect data for the study. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients for the constructs in the questionnaire were: perceived literacy skills (0.64) and radio instruction (0.76). Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential (T-test, One-way ANOVA procedure and regression analyses) statistics. The interview and observation were content-analyzed.
Findings revealed that there was a significant influence of instructional radio broadcasting techniques on literacy skills acquisition among adult learners in Lagos State (R²=.065; p<0.05). Results also indicated that there was a significant influence of frequency of use of the radio instructional programme, Mooko Mooka on literacy skills among the participants (F(2,498) = 4.322, p<.05). However, there was no significant influence of gender (T (453) = -0.812, p>.05) andage (F(2,502)= .102, p> .05)on literacy skills acquisition among the study participants. Findings from observation revealed that Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) was found to have been used in classroom but the degree of use differed from one classroom to another. Findings also showed that majority (62.4%) of the study participants used the instructional radio programme, Mooko Mooka to prepare for classroom instruction, while 53.5% of the study participants used the programme for revision. Findings from interview indicated that cooperation existed among the different agencies involved in the project, while learners’ participation was encouraged.
The study concluded that radio instructional techniques were effective in promoting adult literacy in Lagos State. The study recommended that educational radio programmes targeting adult learners should be geared towards participation.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
One major problem that has continued to affect the issue of development in most Third World countries is literacy level of the citizenry. This problem can be attributed to other problems like poverty and a national development that has failed to meet international standards. To achieve worldwide human development, 189-member states of the United Nations came together to develop eight international development goals known as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The aim of the MDGs was to promote development by improving social and economic conditions in the world’s poorest countries. Beyond setting the goals, the United Nations also set 2015 as dates for achieving the goals. The second goal on the MDGs targeted children, with the hope of ensuring that they complete a full course of primary schooling.
With prospect of education in Africa looking gloomy, world leaders again gathered in 2015 at the United Nations in New York to adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The fourth agenda on the 2030 agenda for sustainable Development is “quality education for all”. With this agenda Lagos State (and by extension Nigeria) is once again given the opportunity to redirect its focus on education. But, if the country is to improve on its poor performance towards achieving education for all, it must avail itself of the use of every available channel to bring education to its entire citizenry.
As observed by Crossroads (2003) in a publication of the United Nation Embassy in Nigeria, education is the most “important way to approach community (national) development. A sound educational system is (the) prerequisite to achieving progress, from the individual to the society to the economy” (p.3). By implication, the quality of human resource of a nation is judged by the number of its literate population. This is to say that education is a must if a nation aspires to achieve growth and development and more importantly sustain it. Perhaps the most captivating view of the role of education in the reformation process is captured by Licuanan (2003):
