ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION AS A PANACEA FOR UNEMPLOYMENT IN MANGU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

            Education and its importance cannot be over-emphasized in this twenty-first century, every parent’s wants to see his or her child thrive well in school. The educational systems of every country have set goals relevant to the citizens need, and national aspirations.

The educational systems have the task on how to expose the talents embedded in its citizens. To prepare them to utilize those skills through trainings that will equip them with relevant skills and knowledge for, viable functionality and ability to cope with changes, such as intellectual and cultural changes which the rapidly changing environment may demand in future (National Policy on Education, 2004)

            Education as defined by oxford advanced learners dictionary is ‘’the systematic training and instructions of people especially the young ones in schools and colleges”. It can also be defined as the aggregate of all process by which a child or young adult develops the abilities, attitudes and other forms of behaviors which are of positive values to the society in which he lives’’ (Fafunwa,2004). 

For an individual to view his society as ‘’good’’ The need for entrepreneurship education especially in our secondary schools becomes obvious. It is also needed and important in food, textile and pharmaceutical industries, people talk about entrepreneurship at home, schools and sometimes in their places of work and therefore phrases and questions like: what is entrepreneurship? Did we really understand the knowledge we acquired in entrepreneurship class? How can we convert this knowledge we have acquired to wealth? has being raised at the process, but what is entrepreneurship about? (Bagley, 2004)

            The growing problem of unemployment in plateau state especially Mangu L G A has contributed to the worsening problem of poverty. This in turn has deteriorated to the rising cases of crimes such as kidnapping, robbery and theft. Unemployment according to Olaitan(2006) leads to frustration and disillusionment, which may result in crime or drug abuse. The high rate of poverty amongst Nigerian population especially amongst youth as a result of lack of entrepreneurial skills, innovation and creativity, even shortage of entrepreneurial individuals in the society. This is because the society eagerly waits for the white collar jobs after graduation which never comes or take so long a times to come, resulting in frustration after attending countless interviews with no fruitful results. In a futile attempt to escape and forget the pains and humiliation of poverty and lack individuals resorts to crimes in order to get rich by all means.

            The future of the Nigerian society lies in knowledge, but the ability to generate new knowledge and use it innovatively depends upon having a scientifically literate population. The ability of teachers to organize classrooms, manage behavior of their students and use instructional materials effectively in their teaching is critical to achieving positive educational outcomes; although sound behavior management does not guarantee effective instruction possible, proper assessment of the awareness of teachers concerning entrepreneurial topics in the senior secondary curriculum becomes eminent.

            Achor(2001) and Ibe (2010), defined curriculum as an organized knowledge and learning activities which the society presents to learners in order to achieve predetermined goals. In the entrepreneurship education curriculum, teachers are supposed to be highly competent and full of iniatives in order to enrich the content with relevant materials and pieces of information from their immediate environment (Ajaja,2009). One out of the emerging issues in education is teacher understanding of the philosophy and objectives of curriculum as opined by Flick and Bell (2006). The overall objectives of Nigerian curriculum are to assist the students to contribute to the development of their society, acquire basic knowledge and skills, applying their knowledge and skills to meet societal needs, take advantage of numerous career opportunities, prepare for further studies and prepare for career choice after school (FME,2005& 2010).

            In order to achieve the objectives of the entrepreneurship curriculum, teachers need to understand why they teach entrepreneurship education and how they can teach it so as to develop in the individual the necessary skills needed to be self-reliant after graduation. Entrepreneurship is the effective manipulation of human intelligence as demonstrated in a creative performance, choosing to assume risk, identify business opportunities, gathering resources, initiating actions and maximizing opportunities(Ikeme and Onu,2006). Entrepreneurship is more than mere creation of business. It is characterized by seeking opportunities, taking risk beyond security. Stinnoff and Burges(2003) opined that entrepreneurship occurs when an individual develops a new venture, a new approach to an old business or idea, a unique way of giving the market place a product or service by using resources in a new way under conditions of risk.

            Entrepreneurship education as a panacea for unemployment is well demonstrated by the experience of industrialized societies, as employers look for graduating students who do not only have solid education but can stand out from the rest by making things happen. With the economy more globalized, it is important to have a background and a skill that allows graduates to become immersed in the global economy right from graduation (Cote, 2007).

The objectives of entrepreneurship education centers on producing individuals who are not job seekers but job creators, which is in line with the attainment of the broad goal of secondary education as outlined in the National Policy on education (NPE,2004), which is to prepare the individual for useful living in the society. Due to unemployment, entrepreneurship education has attained a unique position in the curriculum, it is linked with self development and independence of an individual.

            The need for entrepreneurship education in this contemporary world cannot be overemphasized as there lies so many things to be discovered, with adequate understanding of entrepreneurship education a student would explore his environment, taking the necessary risk during exploration, putting his creative ideas into action and being innovative, making things that would be useful to society which will in turn enable him be self-reliant.

1.2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The increasing rate of poverty in the society especially in Mangu local government area of Plateau state is a bone of contention. Mangu is a land that is abundantly rich in the production and huge yield of Irish potatoes and maize and yet, people especially the youths lack knowledge on basic principles on how to preserve and transform these farm product into new products that will generate wealth and help them become self-reliant this would have been possible if the people had the knowledge of entrepreneurship education. This lack of entrepreneurship education on how to generate wealth within their community has led to mass unemployment and has turned a lot of youths into robbers, kidnappers, thieves and ritualist all in the name of trying to make money. It is the researcher’s view that entrepreneurship education can serve as a panacea for unemployment in Mangu Local Government Area.

1.3. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

            The main purpose of this study is to determine Entrepreneurship education as a panacea for unemployment in Mangu Local Government Area. Other specific objectives of the study include:

The study is designed to:

1. Find out the causes of unemployment.
2. Examine how entrepreneurship education can serve as panacea for unemployment.
3. Determine the factors that hinder the implementation of entrepreneurship education curriculum in secondary schools in Mangu.
4. Evaluate the measures government can take to enhance entrepreneurship education in senior secondary

1.4. RESAERCH QUESTIONS

            The following research questions guided the study:

1. What are the causes of unemployment?
2. How can entrepreneurship education serve as panacea for unemployment?
3. What are the factors that hinder the implementation of entrepreneurship education curriculum in secondary schools in Mangu?
4. What are the measures government can take to enhance entrepreneurship education in senior secondary curriculum?

1.5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

            Given that entrepreneurship can positively impact economic growth and development, the report by the European commission 2004, regards education as a fundamental and necessary means of creating employment among individuals. In the light of this, this study shall be of benefit to the students, teachers, curriculum planners, government and future researchers.

To the students, they will benefit from this study as it will bring to limelight the challenges confronting the implementation of entrepreneurship curriculum. Therefore, they will put in their best in order to acquire the necessary skills in order to be financially independent.

Teachers on the other hand will benefit from this study as they will see where they are lacking in the area of teaching be it in the use of instructional materials or teaching method. This will therefore, enhance the teaching and learning of entrepreneurship education.

The curriculum planners will as well benefit from this study as the challenges identified in the course of the research will be an eye opener to where they are lacking.

Government who are charged with the responsibility of building workshop and providing materials for the proper implementation of entrepreneurship education in secondary schools in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Finally, when this study is completed, it will add to the already existing body of research on entrepreneurship education. Therefore, it will serve as reference materials to future researchers who will want to venture into further studies in this area.

1.6. SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

            The researcher is aware of problems confronting Nigeria as a nation, however this study covers entrepreneurship education as a panacea for unemployment. The study is restricted to some selected secondary schools in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State. The findings of the study will be generalized to other parts of the state and country at large.

1.7. OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Entrepreneurship is the willingness and ability of an individual to seek out investment opportunities, establish and run an enterprise successfully.

ENTREPRENEURSHIPEDUCATION: they are simply the things an individual learns in other to be creative and innovative with the ability to manage risk. In order to combine people, money and resources to meet identified needs and thereby create wealth.

CURRICULUM: it is defined as an organized knowledge and learning activities which the society presents to learners in order to achieve predetermined goals.