AN ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANITY ON THE EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION (NIGERIA AS A CASE STUDY)
ABSTRACT
The development of education is a very essential matter that the society needs to take care of being a major investment in human capital development and plays a critical role in long-term productivity and growth of the nation. The government and all non-governmental bodies in the nation must ensure its development at all levels. Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to assess the effects of Christianity on educational development of the nation Nigeria. This study adopted as its study population 100 learned people. Randomly selected from schools in Educational District IV Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State. Three hypotheses were developed. Policy and educational development proper funding of education and missionaries, Christianity and education. The research however contend that there is a significance relationship between policy and educational development, proper funding and educational development, proper funding of education by the churches in Nigeria, and that there is a significance relationship between Christianity and educational development in Nigeria.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv-v
Abstract vi
Table of content vii
Chapter I:
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Statement of the problem 9
1.3 Purpose of study 10
1.4 Research Questions 10
1.5 Significance of the study 11
1.6 Scope Limitation of the study 11
1.7 Limitation of the study 11
1.8 Definitions of Term 12
Chapter II: Review of Literature
2.0 Introduction 14
2.1 The Concept of Christianity 14
2.2 The Advent of Christianity in Nigeria 19
2.3 Achievement/Contributions of the Missionaries 25
2.4 The Concept of Education 27
2.5 Types of Education 31
2.6 The Role of Education in National Building 34
2.7 Current problems of educational development 56
in Nigeria
Chapter III: Methodology
3.0 Introduction 78
3.1 Research Design 79
3.2 Population of the study 79
3.3 Sample and Sampling Techniques 79
3.4 Research Instrument 74
3.5 Validity of the Instrument 80
3.6 Reliability of instrument 81
3.7 Administration of instrument 81
Chapter IV: Data Analysis and Presentation of Result
4.0 Introduction 83
Chapter V: Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation
5.1 Summary 102
5.2 Conclusion 104
5.3 Recommendations 107
5.4 Suggestion for further studies 110
References 111
Appendix (Sample Questionnaire) 116
CHAPTER ONE
- Background to the study
Education is a crucial sector in any human society or nation. According to kingdom (2013), it is a major investment in human capital development, it plays a critical role in long-term productivity and growth at both micro and macro levels. This explains why the Christian missionaries who brought the gospel to Nigeria in the 19th century penetrated and succeeded. It also explains why the state of education in Nigeria continues to be national discourse at all levels.
Etymologically, the word education is derived from two Latin’s words ‘educare’ and ‘educare’ means to train, to for or mould. According to them it means that the society trains, forms or moulds the individual to achieve the social needs and aspirations. ‘Educate’, on the other hand it means to build, to lead, or to develop. This is mostly favoured by the humanities who argue that the function is to develop the natural potentialities in the child to enable him function in the society according to his abilities, interest and needs.
Ordinarily, education is exclusively used for the development of human being in the cognitive, affective, psychomotor and psycho productive domains. from the above, education according, according to Amaele et al (2011:7) is seen as the total development of the individual child through acceptable method and techniques according to his abilities and interest to meet up the needs of the society and for individual to take his rightful place and contribute equally to the enhancement of the society.
The catholic church as quoted by Nwose (2012) stated that true education is directed towards the formation of the human person in view of his final and the good of the society to which he belongs and in the duty of which he will, as an adult, at foaming the child’s character and of aiding him to attain the purpose of existence. Also, cardinal Arinze described education as the development of the whole man: soul, body, intellect, will, emotion and physical well being.
Every Christian educational institution stands to proclaim that man is radically wounded by sin and hence in need of inner transformation which consists of the right relationship with God, with one’s neighbor and with the universe around. All human beings are children of God and belong to the one family of God and hence equal in dignity and worthy of respect and mutual service. The Christian world view is radically determined by the person of Jesus Christ, his love, mercy, pardon, forgiveness, acceptance and service to all. This theological, philosophical and ideological presuppositions of the Christian world view if not always fully lived explains the dynamics behind the impact of Christianity in the education of humanity (J.Anikuzhikattil 2010).
The need to assess the effect of Christianity on the educational development of the nation remains an overwhelming mission, especially when one considers the period and scope of the missionaries’ activities. Historical analyses of researchers have brought facts which in turn argument the understanding of many with the aim of assembling more explicative and conclusive models. The presence of international Christian organization and their earlier pressure on getting the attention of members of a community has always been accompanied with community service including establishment of schools.
It is worthy of note that direct aid through education, primarily through missionaries and later by churches/ Christian groups, have had an overall positive influence on the nation and they are generally conducive for the development of the nation. Most missionaries were seen to be committed to educational projects directly or indirectly, therefore assessing the effects of Christianity in educational development of the nation is essential. Carrying out this research work has need of spanning its look into Africa though Nigeria is a case study. Here, it could be seen that colonization scared Africa economically, directly and indirectly, especially through the shifting of accumulation process of factors of production and creation of ethnic disparities and political instability (Bertocchi and canova, 1996). Indeed, the flight of Africans was impelled by the economic transformation of the African society as it came into contact with western society. A society permeated by Christianity brought a new social and economic dimension in the twentieth century. From that point some kind of western education was perhaps the best start Africa had to attempt to adjust to a position in the world economy.
Suffice it to say that the goal of the church right from its inception has been the propagation of the gospel. She also has been concerned with the well being of her members. however, her concerns in recent time have gone beyond the narrow confines of the well being of her members to embrace the larger society (Onwuliri, 2008).to meet up with her concern for larger society, she created agencies and arms involved in various aspects of developmental needs spanning various sectors, such as education, health, housing, care for the poor, conscience formation, as well as other social and political needs. In contemporary society, especially Nigeria, where these are perceived ambiguities and perception of competition of this rather than co-existence, Acer illustration of this is the attitude of the state to church built schools taken over by the state in the early 1970’s (Onwuliri, 2008). With this perspective, it has become imperative to assess the effects of Christianity to the educational development of the nation.
As previously stated, most Christian groups/missionaries presence was associated to direct and indirect educational projects. Therefore, regardless of the idiosyncrasies of each educational system, relying on Woodberry’s analysis (2004) and on does and Woodberry (2006), Christian missionaries especially Protestants had strong influence on a hypothetical casual clan leading to development and improvement of the socio-economic scenario. Jones (1991) attests to those results in that conditions found in areas where missionaries have opened schools and maintained them.
Nevertheless, attention should be given to the fact that there is a widened western educational gap between the north and the south of Nigeria with the predominantly Muslim areas of the north lagging behind due to some historical antecedents. In the colonial era, the British educational policy did not address the aspirations of the people leading to a clamors change in the post-independent era resulting in the first indigenous national policy on education in 1977.
Changes have resulted in three revised editions of the national educational policy.
The government of the country (Nigeria) at different times has come up with national policy on education and some people and groups have said it seems to satisfy the desire of those who hold the view that religion should be excluded from education in its philosophy and purpose of education, the national policy on education is silent on the place of God (Christianity) education. It emphasizes secular education. This has caused most Christian groups to maintain that there should be no separation between secular subjects and religious education because if the two are separated the education which will be received will be incomplete. For the total development of the individual, education should be a combination of both the secular and religious aspect. This has pushed Christian groups to weight into the educational development of Nigeria, hence this research work to assess its effects.
- Statement of the problem
The issue of educational development is an important one in every nation. If a nation is to develop spiritually, physically, economically and otherwise conducive for citizen’s life and property. It must depend on its achievement in education which is an eye opener and a light to the part of the nation’s feet.
Therefore, assessment of educational development in Nigeria becomes a crucial issue. Every sector in the nation has a role to play. Religion most especially has its own functions to perform in the development of a nation’s education. Therefore, it is important to assess the effects of Christianity on the educational development of the nation Nigeria.
- Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study among others shall include the followings:
- To examine the relationship between proper funding and educational development
- To access the relationship between proper funding and educational development
- To examine the importance of proper policy and educational development
Research Question
- To what extent will the educational development of Nigeria be attributed to Christianity?
- Is there any relationship between educational development of Nigeria and proper funding of the missionaries?
- To what extent does educational policy affect its development?
- Significance of the Study
The study is going to reveal the possible effect of Christianity on educational development of Nigeria. It will be a guide to educational ministries at federal and state level as heads of Christian groups will see it as an encouragement to contribute more to the educational development of Nigeria.
- Scope Limitation of the Study
This research work will limit to the assessment of the Christianity on the educational development of the nation. This research will strictly focus on the contribution of Christianity to the development of education in Nigeria.
- Limitations of the Study
This research work is limited by finance and time. Time needed to take the research work to different state in the country and finance needed to engage this task in terms transportation, stationary etc. so this work is limited to teachers in some selected schools within Lagos mainland.
Definitions of Term
Christianity: It is the religion based upon the person, teaching and miracles of Lord Jesus Christ.
Education: This is the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the power of reasoning and judgment, and generally or preparing oneself or others.
Educational Policy: This is a written decision of government or a group on the running of educational programmes in the country or state or by the group.
Development: Is a process or act of developing and it involves gradual advancement. Through progressive stages of equivalent value, standard and of more expanded form.
Assessment: This is the act of making a judgment about something, an idea or opinion about something. It is the action or an instance of assessing or appraisal.
Nation: A group of people that shares boundary under one government.
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