The Relevance of Education to National Development

Abstract

<p>Although development analysts have long stressed that education in the economically underdevelopment countries (E.U.C.'s) must be relevant to the environment and 'practical' in nature, there is a great deal still to be done to determine better 'theory' of the role of education in developing the E.U.C.'s. Values need to be established, terms defined, the significant variables located, and hypotheses and generalizations must be suggested, tested and modified.<br /> With theses limitations in mind, this thesis includes a comparative analysis of the British and French educational policies in three West African colonies. The purpose of this analysis is to obtain some generalizations regarding educational policy which is suitable at the present time for West Africa. The thesis also contains an appendix in which the author looks closely at the traditional social structures in Northern Nigeria. An attempt is made to show the retarding effects of the failure to introduce formal educational institutions in the North, as they were in the South. The author concludes that there would be no point in restoring the Federation (assuming this were possible), once the civil war is finished, unless the approach to education in the North could be immediately revamped, that is, brought into line with the prescriptions for educational policy set out in the body of the thesis.</p>