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Students as active partners in the construction of their education: exploration of students’ leadership role in education innovation in Africa

Dr Nana Adu-Pipim Boaduo
University of the Free State
Bloemfontein, South Africa

Abstract

Societies educate their youth through the national system of education so that they are able to play responsible role in political, social, economic and industrial development in their communities when their time comes. At the responsibility level, education equips students with the most appropriate and relevant knowledge and skills. At the functional level, education provides students knowledge to develop and acquire creative and leadership skills, logical and analytical thinking so that when their time comes, they are able to play responsible role and bring about positive revolutionary changes in their communities. This paper argues that the provision of progressive education should be the preoccupation of the parties involved – students, educational administrators, parents and communities and that all students should be made to play some pivotal role in their education.

Introduction

‘The old order changeth yielding place to new . . . Lest one good custom corrupts the whole world’- this old adage holds good for the new millennium in relation to the provision of education to students. The time when the student had no active role to play in theirs education has come to an end. It is time education authorities recognise and admit that the monopoly that existed in the past millennium in relation to education provision without the active participation of students has lost its value. In the new millennium, students should be equipped with leadership, administrative, management, organisational and decision-making skills so that they are able to play active role in their education. Their voices should be heard. Schools should provide leadership training as part of the curriculum. Teachers and students should work and exist in tandem. D’Oyley et al. (1994:11) stresses that ‘Education and schooling as being instruments that can be used to the fulfilment of the aspirations of the people and contributing to their quality of their lives’ must be taken seriously by African national education system. In short the future school should be transformed through active innovative approaches that enable students to play active role and take leadership responsibilities which must be forged between the school authorities and the students on the basis of consultation in all decision that affect the education of the students.

Major problems facing education provision world over, particularly in Africa

Careful scrutiny of the current formal education provision world over and in particular in Africa from the primary through secondary and tertiary institutions reveal a very disturbing scenario that impinge on the welfare and wellbeing of students. The following problems are prevalent, especially in African national education systems.

All categories of students are recipients of education and are not participants in decisions that affect their schooling, subject choice and the kind of skills they would like to acquire.
Leadership training of students to be able to play responsible roles in their education does not exist.
There are high expectations that are unrealistic and the education system is not able to fulfil.
There is extraordinary increase in the number of learners at institutions of learning.
There is increasing financial unaffordability of education provision.
There is inadequate and or absence of facilities and infrastructure.
There is inadequate versus poorly trained and equipped teachers of all grades.
There is high unemployment among unemployable school, college and university graduates.
There is over-emphasis of academic-oriented education with no relevance to the needs of the business and industry world.
There is severe shortage of all categories of relevant humanpower in the face of mass unemployment.
There is neglect of applicable rural education provision that will encourage graduates to want to live and make use of resources available in their local rural communities.

The need for the reorganisation of national education systems in Africa

Education institutions as formally organised in African countries cannot meet the needs for appropriate and convertible education provision in the new millennium. Casual observation and in-depth scrutiny of the realities of the present African national education systems reveals that it cannot help to contribute towards the realisation of stable political environment, industrial and economic development. Some of the revelations are that schools produce graduates for unemployment and this has been going on ad infinitum. Consider for instance what happens to students who do not make the grades at the terminal stages of the school system when 13 years (for primary school leavers), 18 or 20 years (for secondary school leavers) have been wasted. There is therefore a need for rethink about strategies and implementation plans for a new national education system for Africa in which students, who are the main clients play pivotal role in decision making concerning curricula decisions as well as the overall governance of schools (Boaduo, 2008).

Presently, the African national education system alienates its graduates from their communities, especially those in the rural areas who tend to migrate to the urban areas upon receipt of a minimal level of education. Furthermore, African national education system does not prepare students to want to stay in their areas where their education was received. The education provided does not help to adapt them to explore their local environments and the available resources and make use of them on completion of their school education. One wonders about the African national education system and what comes to mind are some pertinent questions that need elaborate answers, for instance:

Is the African formal education system failing students and alienating them instead of empowering them with applicable skills for living?
Is African formal education fulfilling its functions towards the development and industrialisation of Africa?
What role do students in African formal school system play in decision-making concerning curricula and methods of delivery?
Why has African formal education system shy away students’ participation in matters that affect their very existence?
How can the African formal education system incorporate students’ participation in decision-making to be able to produce responsible, well-equipped, dedicated and balanced school graduate to carry on the development initiates of the African continent?

From this brief exposition there is no doubt that African formal education system needs urgent reorientation. This reorientation should take cognisance of students’ participation in matters that affect their education and future adult life. According to Van Rensburg (1967), formal school education should equip students at every termination point so that if the graduate, through no fault of theirs, are not able to continue for further studies; is able to make use of the acquired knowledge and skills to make a reasonable and responsible living.

Foundation for responsible African citizenry formal education provision

The major aim of education of all types, especially formal education, is prepare the student for lifelong living. The ideal of education is character building and human making. Education should develop the intelligence, train the emotions and instil intrinsic discipline and motivation to behave properly. That apart, formal education is supposed to equip students with convertible relevant and applicable living skills to make them live responsible life on completion of their school education.
It is time students are made partners of decisions that affect their schooling. Students should take part in discussions that help to lay a better foundation for responsible citizenry education. Education is an introduction to life’s principles. Its provision must not be sectarian. Decisions about curricula should not be made by few specialists who decide on what should be included in the curricula without the participation of the students’. Generally, students all over the world are asset of their nations. They should be made to understand the need for moral culture and the principles of basic spiritual and rightful living through the provision of education. The absence of an ethical basis of education for our students’ world over has created ripples in societies culminating into all forms of uncontrollable crimes. The consequences of lack of this ethical bases of education manifests itself in different ways – breakdown and uncontrollable spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, rape, violence and the display of behavioural traits like drinking, drug abuse, passion killing and family violence against both women, men and children.

Out of the painted dilemma, ‘What do we do under the current prevailing circumstances about formal education provision to be able to turn this tide of ferocious social dilemma?’

Courses of action to involve students’ in the governance of schools

What follows is an attempt to place this discussion in proper perspective by providing suggestions and recommendations that will help to make students leaders of their learning and lives by equipping them with life orientation skills so as to make positive contribution towards the advancement of formal school education provision.

Students’ voice and leadership capabilities: According to Sivananda (1990:96) ‘Our students have the capacity for pure, noble sentiments, sublime feelings and lofty ideals and have admiration for that which is high and heroic’. It is only progressive education provision that can unveil this potential in our students. Further to what Sivananda has expressed, in every respect, all students are hero-worshippers, look up to role models in their environments and have dreams for their future. This transforming element needs to be nurtured and directed positively through the provision of leadership training for students so that their voices could be heard when it comes to taking decisions that affect their lives in the teaching-learning environment. All schools must introduce leadership training and should provide such services from primary to the tertiary. In fact, if we are to succeed in our efforts to made students voices heard and provide them with leadership qualities, it should start at the initial stages of their schooling so that by the time they go to senior school and onwards to higher institutions they have something positive to offer in terms of leadership responsibilities. Youth is a precious period in life and if carefully and systematically directed and equipped with knowledge and skills, it can unmask a huge potential energy, greater than the Hiroshima atomic bomb, of creativity, skills and which can serve as an intellectual storehouse of possibilities (Boaduo & Babitseng, 2006).
Knowledge management and life skills development among students: Formal school provision should be regarded as a strategy for effective and efficient social transformation at all fronts in all independent African states. Furthermore, formal school education is primarily the most significant of all national investments. It is a knowledge production centre for students. It serves as knowledge and skills production system. It is also a complex multi-layered system for social, political, cultural and economic development system. In addition to these the school system is a formal institution vested with the responsibility of imparting and developing attitudes essential for individuals to fit into society and function progressively and contribute productively to its development (Boaduo, 1998; Boaduo, 2001; Boaduo, 2005). It is very unfortunate to observe, up to this time after over 50 years of the introduction of formal education in most African countries that African governments have consistently propagated school education that does not involve students in practically any decision made that affect students. It is unbelievable to further observe that African governments have forgotten that the formal school system is the fundamental method of social process and reform (Noble, 1995) and that its major characteristic lies in its role as the selection system for African states in terms of roles and responsibilities (Boaduo, 1998, Hurn, 1993).

In 1976 the Ministers of Education of African member states of the United Nations Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) met in Nigeria and in their deliberations declared as part of their recommendations that
‘ . . . A start be made in all African states on an all-round and complete reform and innovation of education systems with the effective participation of the masses… in order to adapt those systems to the real problems and preoccupations of the African community’ (UNESCO, 1976:35).
It is unfortunate to observe that for almost 32 years after this declaration was made no significant reform and innovation in the education system of African countries had effectively and efficiently responded to this declaration. The African national education system ignores in thousand ways the rules of healthy educational development (Noble, 1995). It is therefore of no wonder that Eiichi Kiyooka, in Noble (1995:78) in referring to the present formal education provision in Africa suggested that ‘The kind of learning without real relevance and immediate application should be left to another day, and that the best efforts in education provision should be given to education that is relevant, practical and immediately applicable to everyday use’.

At this point of the discussion, there is no doubt that there is absolute need for students to be provided with knowledge and skills that would make them to take decisions of their own concerning their education so that the learned skills they acquire could be used at school and also immediately upon completion of their education.

Description of school of the future transformed through student leadership

It will be ideal to provide a theoretical framework for leadership education where the students take pivotal role in their education. Theoretically, educational philosophers over the years have theorised and continuously insisted right from as early as AD 35 about the need for leadership training through the practical application of theoretical knowledge that the school provides. Several learned education philosophers have emphasised this and a few would be used to buttress this discussion.

Quintilian and others emphasized that ‘theoretical knowledge alone is of little use to the receiver without experience’ (Rusk, 1957:35-50). This is an indication that students need of the practical application of theory is necessary in the school setting. They also emphasised that students should be taught to take responsible leadership roles so that they are able to control their emotions.
Elyot, another 15th century educational philosopher was much concerned about the ‘upbringing of gentlemen’s sons’ (Rusk, 1957:53-60). He emphasised on practical skills training for all students in addition to the provision of leadership skills so that if they become office bearers during their adulthood, they are able to play responsible roles and make contribution towards the advancement of their communities.
Loyola, a Spanish educational philosopher and a theologian emphasized in his educational reform and innovation the need for the ‘Economy of resources pertaining to the training in life skills’ (Rusk, 1957:63-86). He was adamant and insisted that all education and training in life skills should take cognisance of the local leadership conditions in terms or roles and responsibilities and that all practical training and skills development should make use of available local natural resources and raw materials.
While Loyola was grappling with educational relevance in Spain, Comenius, a Czech was making his mark with leadership training and practical relevance of education. To him ‘Principles should be practically applied in practice . . . We need the reorganization of our educational institutions and a revolution in the training of educational leadership cadre in methods and practices. …To me education should prepare the educand for both the present and the future and should equip him with leadership skills for responsible living (Rusk, 1957:87-90). In his curriculum proposal he suggested the participation of all the beneficiaries of the curricula to make inputs and insisted that ‘All subjects to be studies should be arranged in such a way that practical knowledge and skills are provided to help the learner solve day-to-day problems on completion of his school education’ (Rusk, 1957:98)
Milton, a 17th century educational philosopher proclaimed that ‘To make the student fittest to choose and the chosen fittest to govern, will be to mend our corrupt and faulty education system’ (Rusk, 1957:107). In his treatise to the education authorities he indicated that if theoretical instruction is to be useful to the student it should be combined with practical instruction and aspect of leadership training so that the student is able to grow as independent decision maker.
Locke introduced a workhouse which has come to be known as laboratory or workshop in the United Kingdom. Workhouses were introduced in all schools. Locke believed in functional education where the student takes a certain level of responsibility for his own learning. His famous statement was that ‘No good could come to an education system which was not based upon the principles of utility’ (Rusk, 1957:124).

In different periods in the development of formal education in different countries all over the world, great educational philosophers’ views have been reverberating about the necessity for knowledge and practical skills acquisition by students with a pinch of leadership training so that they are able to make decision concerning the education that they receive. As complement to what have been discussed, modern educational philosophers like Wilms (1990), Rooth (1997), White (1990), Dekker and Lemmer (1996) agree with their views.

Conclusion

In this discussion, I have tried to reveal the need for knowledge and skills that are applicable for everyday living. I have also indicated and supported my exposition with references about the need for leadership training for students in our schools. In fact, leadership training will help to do several good to the students themselves, the school administrators and the communities in which the schools are located. Currently, that is not the case in the national education systems of most countries. It is my passionate suggestion that African national education provision authorities revisit the educational philosophers’ proposition to reinvent their national education systems so that something good can come out of them and our students would grow to be responsible leaders and play their rightful leadership roles during their adult lives.

References

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