ABSTRACT
The formal curriculum in schools will continue to be a critical lever for ensuring safety, welfare, dignity and respect in relation to personal understanding, citizenship and cultural understanding. In these interventions it will be important to limit the dangers of neutralizing and sanitizing diversity or minimizing difference if we are to avoid the risk of polite, superficial engagement with the issues and a failure to engender deeper trust and understanding. But beyond the formal curriculum, informal and adult education will also continue to play a vital part in developing the concept of citizenship. Non-governmental organizations, supported by agencies such as the National Orientation Agency have realized the value of this work for many years. Lessons on citizenship learnt in as a child in school need to be reinforced by informal and adult education to ensure that learning about citizenship is reinforced in all aspects of our lives. Adult education, youth and community programmes all play a vital role. It is the interconnectedness and reinforcement of positive messaging on citizenship that in the end makes it an authentic vehicle of social change in a post conflict society.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
According to some learned people, the word “Education” has been derived from the Latin term “Educatum” which means the act of teaching or training. A group of educationists say that it has come from another Latin word “Educare” which means “to bring up” or “to rise“. According to a few others, the word “Education” has originated from another Latin term “Educere” which means “to lead forth” or “to come out”. All these meanings indicate that education seeks to nourish the good qualities in man and draw out the best in every individual. Education seeks to develop the innate inner capacities of man. By educating an individual we attempt to give him some desirable knowledge, understanding, skills, interests, attitudes and critical ‘thinking. That is, he acquires knowledge of history, geography, arithmetic, languages and sciences. As an individual in the society, he has to think critically about various issues in life and take decisions about them being free from bias and prejudices, superstitions and blind beliefs. Thus, he has to learn all these qualities of head, hand and heart through the process of education. Also, on a lighter note, one can say that an educated individual is literate. Literacy to a layman is just the act of reading, writing and being able to do simple arithmetic. This could be equated with the basic literacy which is the minimum but adequate ability to read and write and when mention is made of basic literacy, it also describes the programme designed to achieve such basic skills.
It is, however, important to note that literacy goes beyond activities designed to teach adults to read and write simple sentences. This is because such restricted skills are of little utility (Titmus, 1989). The emphasis on literacy campaign now is functional literacy, which is focused on the achievement of a level of reading, writing and numeracy adequate for effective participation in the life of one’s community. Lack of functional literacy is seen as a consequence of exclusion from effective participation. This exclusion is seen as a product of social, cultural, economic and political conditions rather than educational ones. Improvements may be achieved by including training in life skills under the umbrella of literacy and numeracy which are generally designated ‘adult basic education’ (Titmus 1989). UNESCO (1978) made a frantic effort to distinguish between literacy and functional literacy. To UNESCO, a person is literate who can with understanding both read and write a short simple statement on his everyday life whereas an individual who is functionally literate is able to “engage in all those activities in which literacy is required for effective functioning of his group and community and also for enabling him to continue to use reading, writing and calculation for his own and the community’s development”. The above implies that when a person is functionally literate, he is able to acquire that skill which allows him to function well on the job he is performing on a day to day basis. This term functional literacy is in contrast with functional illiteracy which is a term used to describe reading and writing skills that are inadequate to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level (www.wikipedia.org). Illiteracy must be wiped off in Nigeria realizing that the persistence of illiteracy, which is a consequence of underdevelopment and also a major impediment to development, makes it impossible for millions of men and women to play an effective part in the shaping of their own destinies.
1.2 Problem of the study
Education is an instrument for social change or a veritable tool for solving societal problems and for achieving societal goals and aspirations. Education as an agent of change is the backbone of any developing country which provides solid vehicle for the transformation and empowerment of the individuals and the society. Adult education which is an integral part of education is a catalyst for national development and transformation. According to United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Ugwegbu (1992), adult education is the process by which men and women alone, in groups, or in institutional setting seek to improve themselves or their society by increasing their skills, their knowledge, their sensitiveness, any process by which individuals, groups or institutions try to help men and women improve in these ways. Adult education is the education provided for adults based on their social, political, cultural and economic needs or problems (Nzenri, 2002). These definitions of adult education underlie the fact that the adult populace form the human resource for national development and to contribute effectively in nation building and transformation, need to be given the required education. Adult education is change-oriented. It is the type of education planned to bring about positive change to the adult who will invariably bring positive change in the society especially in the area of peaceful cohabitation. It is in view of the important role of adult education in national development and transformation, that Nyerere in Ugwoegbu (1992) stated people must develop first before the nation can develop. He stressed that we must educate adults since children will not have immediate impact on the economic development of the nation. According to Egwu (2012), Nigeria is currently undergoing rapid changes economically, socially, politically, culturally and technologically and to meet the challenges in the fast-changing world, adult education becomes a vital instrument for a society undergoing such changes. One peculiar objective of the Adult education is to equip the adult with the right knowledge of getting things done with ease and most important live with fellow individual in a peaceful co-existence.
1.3 Objective of the study
Aims give direction to activities hence this study aims to examine in details the roles of Adult education in conflict resolution.
Specifically, the objectives are outlined below:
- To highlight the role of Adult education programmes
- The examine the relationship that exists between functional Adult education programmes and conflict resolution.
- To suggest or recommend methods for improving the quality of adult education programmes.
1.4 Significance of the study
The study is significant due to the constant conflict taking place in the society. These daily conflicts involve the adult category more than the children as such the adults are more of the culprits and victims. This study will highlight the importance of adult education and its role that will aid in reducing the increasing rate of conflict in the society. This is because the researcher agrees that if people know more, they will do better. This study will also help the peace policy makers in terms of adopting effective strategies using the adult education as a veritable tool for conflict resolution. This study also will be a reference tool for further studies.
1.5 Study Hypotheses
A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. This study developed and formulated for testing the following hypotheses:
H0: Adult Education Programmes do not play any significant role in Conflict Resolution.
H1: Adult Education Programmes play significant roles in conflict resolution.
H0: There is no significant relationship that exists between Adult Education Programmes and Conflict resolution in Obio Akpor LGA.
H1: There is a significant relationship that exists between Adult Education Programmes and Conflict resolution in Obio Akpor LGA.
H0: There is no significant relationship that exists between Adult Education Programmes and individual attitudinal changes.
H1: There is a significant relationship that exists between Adult Education Programmes and individual attitudinal changes.
1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study
This study integrates the concepts and empirical works focused on adult education and conflict resolution. The study accommodates the works of several scholars and gives due recognition to them all. The study is focused on the roles of adult education in conflict resolution. Other forms of education are not incorporated in the study. The conflict discussed in this study is not limited to personal conflict as a matter of fact, it is the community kind of conflict that is discussed in this study. However, the study is limited by time. This is because, the slight changes during the time of this study. The study was limited also by finance. In the sense that the logistics needed for effective undertaken of this project works was scare as the resources was truly unavailable. The study also, suffered the case of denied report. This is because, some of the respondents contacted for their responses through the use of the questionnaire was unwilling to give out helpful information while others did not return the questionnaire in good condition.
1.7 Definition of Study’s terminology
- Adult: An adult is a mature, fully developed person. An adult has reached the age when they are legally responsible for their actions.
- Conflict: is serious disagreement and argument about something important. If two people or groups are in conflict, they have had a serious disagreement or argument and have not yet reached agreement
- Resolution: is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution. The term conflict resolution may also be used interchangeably with dispute resolution, where arbitration and litigation processes are critically involved.
- Education: is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits.
