To What End is the Pressure Ride?

 

Photo credit: alfonsa ojeda

By Babalola Blessing 

My Lord if I may

Let's start with the law that binds chemical combination and gaseous exchange before we engage the concept of mapping on the map of our dear Country, Nigeria.

Boyle's law states that “the pressure of a given mass of gas is inversely proportional to its volume, provided the temperature remains constant. That is , as the volume decreases, the pressure increases. And as the pressure decreases, the volume increases. Let me give a summary, pressure and volume affect each other inversely, not directly. 

If countries that enjoyed sporadic waves of education emergence and evolution are to be mentioned, our dear Nation can't be exempted. Universal Basic Education was launched in 1999 due to the government willingness to reduce illiteracy within the shortest possible time. One of the goal of these is reduction of the dropout rate. At the inception it smells nice, untill certain unnecessary condition began to spoil the soup.

Back to Boyle's law

Take the pressure as the requirements to attain certain educational qualifications.

Take volume as the percentage of the population enjoying the supposed quality of education.

And the temperature, as the state of the country which has over time remains constant.

One of the philosophy of education in Nigeria is that Education maximize the creative potential and skills of individual for self fulfillment and general development of the Society. Same society? Yeah. Same individual? Yeah Same educational standard? Absolutely no!

Years ago, white collar job was the order of the day. As soon as the British gave the blacks the liberty, it became a soft life for all. Just earn a certification, a degree or any certification and get ready to be worshipped even by your household, as long as you have the practical skill necessary for workplace adaptation. Where were you then? Still coming forth, had you known maybe you would have made your entry to planet earth earlier. Jokes on me. 

History and documentation had it that, students were equipped with skills needed to fit them into available spaces in the government workforce. An automatic employment it was for them. You should also see and hear what it feels like to be in the University. Freely it came for them but a bureden it has been for us.

The pressure 

Let's do the calculation. Pick your calculator and make a tough estimate of your school fees in the last ten years of your academic journey. Done? If I had asked that you calculate as far back as your pre-primary classes, you'd realize your parents are potential millionaire but for you, the milking machine. Yes, You. 

The pressure keep rising. No body want their children to be left behind in the “Education for All” movement which wasn't really for all after all. If it were for all, public schools should be entirely free. If free, they should meet the needed standard for quality output. If they meet the standard, the products should shape the nation. And if they had met the standard, private schools wouldn't have erupted in the first place talkless of their spread like wild fire.

Here's is where the pressure lies, those who can afford the struggle of sending their children to private schools would, those who cannot send them to public schools and except for exceptional cases product of both cannot or have never been equalized for lower stages of education. It may not be same for the tertiary level of education.

The pressure keeps rising, when the struggle wouldn't pay off in the end. Back then, jobs waited for them. Now we chase after a job which seems to be on the run, passing the baton on the lane of unemployment, a race that seems not to be ending soon. And then to what ends is the pursuit from years past. 

We never have it the way they had it. They read under stable and sane condition, while we are still carrying placards, pleading that they make affordable what they got free. They must have used the first set of school facilities, and yet we are subjected to the dilapidated and faulty ones. Once heard they enjoyed free meal. Ask if I've eaten today, then judge by my response.

But the end thereof, is the hot job opportunity chase. And if you're lucky to find one, it doesn't even pay bills. I don't blame them, those who leave literacy and numeracy to who it helps and think sitting with goods and rendering services does not make you lesser than the supposed learned.

The volume.

‘The population of educated people has saturated the uneducated, what would you have government do?’ I'll wait for you to enter labour market and generate your answer.

“Ohun to ban duni, ni po loro eni” meaning you prioritize your worries no matter what. And that exactly what happened to those who were uneducated as that time when white collar job was yet to turn yellow. Those who didn't have the required qualifications to fit into the job roles available then, decided to invest in their children.

At the time when school entry was under smooth and less rigorous process, they enjoy good academic journey, the population was quite low. Several other were still in the market place avoiding the clerk table or perhaps because they don't have all it takes like the few other behind desks. Remember, the inverse relationship; As the pressure decreases the volume increases. They chased after it because, it was easy to climb the social ladder with educational qualifications then. There was a great influx, because everyone wanted to be called learned. Had they known, they would have stayed glued to the market and let the clerk desk be. The space became saturated.

But as the demand took a mountain climbing adventure, it became unbearable. The struggle to get educational qualifications became the order of the day. And at the end of day, a larger percentage end up shelving the certificate and they will tell you “it's better to have it, so you have something to show when they call for the educated” How much has your parents spent on your education by the last calculation I asked you to make? That should answer the opinion above.

To what ends is now all the sleepless night? Brain drain, that's the answer, leaving the country state constant over the year. Her sons gas found no reason to stay behind after all she made them go through in school.

If I were you, and if you can multitask as a student. Acquire skills, “soft and hard”. If you have a business, shuffle it and balance it well with your academics. The struggle is real out there.

Now let's restate the law, “the pressure in the process of attaining a feat in the educational horizon, is inversely proportional to the percentage of the population who sees their future in the sector, provided the state of the country remains constant.