Effectiveness of Basic Education in Equipping upper basic school final year students in Kwara State with Employable Skills

By

Dr. OWOLABI, Henry O. Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education University of Ilorin, Ilorin Faculty of Education henryowolabi2000@yahoo.com 08033733311 OLORUNLERO, Jumoke I. Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education University of Ilorin, Ilorin Faculty of Education jumokeolorunlero@gmail.com 08182576924 AROKOYO, Oluwatosin A. Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education University of Ilorin, Ilorin Faculty of Education tosinarokoyo@yahoo.com 08030661249

A Paper Presented at 15th Annual National Conference of Nigerian Association of Educational Researchers and Evaluators Held Between 8th - 12th July 2013 t University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.

Abstract
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Assessing the extent to which upper basic school final year students in rural and urban areas acquire skills for employment, this study adopts a descriptive research design. The sample for this study was 60 JS 3 students selected from upper basic schools in Irepodun and Ilorin South LGA of Kwara State respectively; using the stratified random sampling technique. A NECO-standardised literacy test was adopted and a numeracy test standardised by measurement experts were administered to the selected students to measure the extent to which they are literate and numerate. Also, a life skill checklist equally expert standardized was administered to the selected students to measure their employment related skills proficiency level. Descriptive statistics was used in analyzing the collected data in answering the research questions while t-test comparing means was employed in testing the hypothesis generated for the study. Findings revealed that students are most proficient (fair to advanced skills) in literacy, communication and interpersonal skills while they have either no skills or at best rudimentary skills in numeracy and ICT while the skill proficiency in numeracy and ICT skills of students in the rural and urban areas was significantly different except in literacy, communication and interpersonal skill as shown using the t-test statistics. Key words: Literacy skills, Numeracy skills, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Communication skills, Interpersonal skills, Upper basic school final year students and Functional education. Introduction Education has remained a social process in capacity building and maintenance of society for decades. It is a weapon for acquiring skills, relevant knowledge and habits for surviving in the changing world (Adepoju and Fabiyi, 2005). The concept of basic education came to the fore following the adoption of the World Declaration on Education for All (1990). In its Report presented to UNESCO Learning: The Treasure Within (1996), the International Commission on Education for the Twentyfirst century, stated that Basic education is the first step in attempting to attenuate the enormous disparities affecting many groups women, the rural and urban, population, poor, marginalized ethnic minorities and the millions of children not attending school and working. The concept of basic education has led to broaden the magnitude of the right to education: extending from basic education to lifelong learning (UNESCO, 2007). Consequently, education is in recent times pointing to making education not only available and accessible but also functional. Functional education is seen as education that comes from the childs needs, and that uses the childs interests as a mechanism for activating him towards his desirable activities. The purpose of functional education is to develop the life of the
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mind that acts from the wholeness of organic life, with relation to practical life in the present and in the future. Furthermore, contentions were made that functional education enables the learner to gain thinking habits and develop the technical means needed in solving practical problems. The purpose of education if it must hold any meaning is therefore to acquire the skills of understanding life situations, adapting to it and acting to influence it by contributing to its development (Obanyan, 2003). The functional context education says that the situation in which the child is growing, and the one he is going to live in, should determine the way education is carried out, including what is taught and how it is to be taught and learned. This is in concert with the fourth National Education goal which is the acquisition of appropriate skills and the development of mental, physical and social abilities and competencies as equipment for the individual to live in and contribute to the development of his society (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1998). Formal education in Nigeria is structured into six years of primary and 3 years of junior secondary schooling which has been designed to be free and compulsory and one of its major goals is to ensure the acquisition of appropriate levels of literacy, numeracy, manipulative communicative and life skills as well as the ethical, moral and civic values needed for laying a solid foundation for the life-long living. It is envisaged that education can be terminal at this point could be terminal as students would have been equipped with what they need for a meaningful livelihood. Attempts at driving functional education is not limited to Nigeria but also universal. A retrospective study carried out by Frank, David, and Golden (1999) reveals that USAID/Zimbabwe began the Basic Education and Skills Training program (BEST) in 1999, being one of the first attempts to provide non-project assistance (NPA) on a significant scale to the education sector. The goal of the Basic Education and Skills Training Sector Assistance Program (BEST) is to contribute to Zimbabwes economic and social development by providing additional budgetary resources to assist the government of Zimbabwe to implement its planned program to expand its educational and employment skills training system with special emphasis on improving cost-effectiveness and equity within the overall system. Ombech (2003) reports that as many as 500,000 youths enter the labour market in Kenya; a great number of them graduates of the 8-year primary education and most
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of them without survival skills. Three reasons were identified to support the importance of good quality education; there are the core skills provided by basic education, education can help alleviate negative features of life and education has a powerful role in empowering those like children and women who suffer from multiple disadvantages. A Life Skill is a capacity acquired over a period that contributes to productive co-existence with other members of a community. In response to this challenge, primary education now attempts to develop life skills through teaching of curriculum subjects like languages, mathematics, and science, among others. Development of these skills is closely linked to pedagogy of active learning. Through participative teaching methods, such as role play, debates, situation analysis, and oneon-one problem solving, education programs are expected to actively engage school children in their own acquisition of life skills. Recognising the fact that it is the skills useable long after schooling that determines whether knowledge was impacted from schooling; the Kenyan curriculum identifies other emerging lifelong issues like HIV/AIDS, Adolescent Reproductive Health, Malaria, etc that are to be infused in the other subjects or taught separately. In the hope to achieve the required relevance and quality of education, the Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA) of Tanzania adopted a Competence Based Education and Training (CBET) delivery approach. The approach is outcome based, giving room for integrating all necessary skills to enable a graduate perform at a prescribed learning objective. At macro level, the approach is flexible enough to package learning content to address different learning objectives such as skills and competences specific for rural subsistence producers, or for the urban informal sector operators to enable them to enter gainful economic activity. This is intended to reduce poverty, and give specific skills, for example, for hotel services or textile workers to enable Tanzania to compete effectively in the global market. At the individual level, the approach is designed to maintain formal employment, or otherwise enhance income for a subsistence producer or open opportunities for the unemployed and informal sector operator. Education for most of the population in China took place through social cultivation. Family, community and the whole society played important roles in educating the masses. The school, as a specialized agency for education, was available
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only for a small number of people and just in recent centuries. Currently, the broad sense of education includes both formal schooling and the non-formal learning forms. With the widespread popularity of notions such as lifelong education, education for all and the learning society, the value of non-formal learning has been reemphasized in China. From the ability to do reading and writing a certain number of characters, literacy is now seen as effectiveness of using literacy using the knowledge, skills and beliefs that literacy learning brings to solve practical problems in everyday living, to adapt to society and to improve the quality of life. Functional literacy and education therefore emphasize the all-round development of basic skills and the effective use of these skills in individual development and societal improvement. The objective of functional literacy and education is to conduct training for people who will undertake various social and economic tasks in order to reach the goal of reducing poverty and improving the quality of life. In India, education is based on the national culture and civilisation. It aims at making a child self-reliant by enabling him to use his acquired knowledge and skills in practical affairs of life. Basic education has close relationship with the basic needs and interest of the education as the child is the focal point of education. The central point of education is some handicraft, whose teaching will enable the student to solve the problems of his livelihood and at the same time develop qualities of good citizenship. The various initiatives in providing basic education are because the development and survival of any society is a function of the quality of its human capacity. The functionality of the Nigerian education system is therefore worthy of being looked into with a focus on basic education being the bedrock of the formal education system in the country. The labour market is the final destination of learners in the various levels of education; be it primary, secondary or tertiary. How much of the key skills needed in the world of work learnt from school. Thomas (2005) skills gap report in Washington D.C. revealed that in addition to shortages of various types of employees, manufacturers surveyed reported they are also dissatisfied with the skills of their current employees. Among respondents to this national survey, nearly half indicated their current employees have inadequate basic employability life skills such as attendance, timeliness and work ethic while 46% reported inadequate problem solving
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skills among employees and 36% indicated insufficient reading, writing and communications skills. A similar opinion by Moser (1999) holds that an estimate of 7 million people had life skills below rudimentary the level in the UK, and it was claimed that people with poor literacy, language or numeracy skills are less productive at work, earn lower wages; are more likely to suffer from ill health and experience social exclusion. Tackling this skills problem was given a high priority and in 2001 the Government launched its Skills for Life Strategy for improving the nation's skills in literacy, language and numeracy. The bane of education in any Nation is therefore to equip her citizens with not just the book knowledge that characterize education delivery but in addition; employable skills. Considering the mission of providing basic education in Nigeria being that at the end of the nine years of continuous education, every child that has passed through the system should have acquired appropriate levels of literacy, numeracy and life skills to make them employable, useful to him/her self and also society at large by possessing relevant ethical, moral and civic values. The main purpose of this paper is to therefore to look into: a. The skills required for employment acquired by upper basic school final year students in Irepodun and Ilorin South LGA of Kwara State. b. Identify the strength and weaknesses in skills acquired among upper basic school final year students With the above purpose in view, the following research questions are generated for this study: i. ii. To what extent do upper basic school final year students in Irepodun and Ilorin South LGA of Kwara State acquire skills required for employment? What is the nature of the distribution of scores in the skills required for employment demonstrated by upper basic school final year students in Irepodun and Ilorin South LGA of Kwara State? To determine the extent to which the answers to these questions can be used in generalising the entire population, the following hypothesis was formed:
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There is no significant difference in the employment skills acquired by upper basic school final year students in rural and urban areas. Methodology A descriptive survey design was adopting for this study. Employing the use of stratified sampling technique, 60 junior secondary school students were selected from a junior secondary school in Irepodun (rural) and another in Ilorin South LGA (Urban) of Kwara State. A total of 120 students constituted the sample for the study. A NECOstandardized literacy test and a measurement expert standardized numeracy test was administered on the students selected from urban and rural areas to evaluate the proficiency level in literacy and numeracy while a life skill checklist also standardized by a measurement expert was administered on the students to determine the extent to which they are proficient in ICT, interpersonal and communication skills using a five point Likert rating scale as follows; No skill: 0, Rudimentary skill: 1, Fair skill: 2, Efficient skill: 3, Advanced skill: 4. Each of the skills were graded over a 100 percent. The instrument was validated for both content and faces validity and its reliability was obtained through a test-retest method. A reliability coefficient of 0.87 was obtained. The analysis of their test scores was carried out using descriptive statistics (Mean, Median, Mode, skewness and Kurtosis) while t-test was employed to test if significant relationships existed between the skills possessed by students in rural and urban areas and this was computed using Statistical Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 16. T-test was used as this method will enable the comparism of the mean of the students drawn into the two independent groups from the rural or urban and urban areas of the study. The statistical significance of this study was set at p < 0.05 to measure if the level of confidence observed in the sample also existed in the general population. Results Of these 120 sampled respondents, 106 students had their scripts correctly answered and returned, that is; 53 from students in the urban area (Ilorin South LGA) and 53 from students selected from the rural area (Irepodun LGA). Analysis from the scores obtained is displayed based on the research questions and hypothesis generated for the study in tables below.
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Research Question 1: To what extent do upper basic school final year students in Irepodun and Ilorin South LGA of Kwara State acquire skills required for employment? The skills in focus are literacy, numeracy, ICT, interpersonal, and communication skills. The extent to which students have these skills is determined using measures of central tendencies; mean, median, and mode as shown in table 1. Table 1: Mean, Median and Mode for Literacy, Numeracy, ICT, Interpersonal, and Communication Skills
LITERACY Mean Median Mode 66.7736 80.0000 80.00 NUMERACY 31.4245 29.0000 .00 ICT 36.8208 29.0000 .00 INTERPERSONAL 66.6415 75.0000 75.00 COMMUNICATION 57.4811 60.0000 80.00

Table 1 show that the students are most proficient in literacy skill with a mean of (66.8) and least skills in numeracy (31.4) and ICT (36.8). The median shows that students score highly in literacy (80), interpersonal (75) and communication (60) skills while others have low scores in numeracy (29) and ICT (29) skills. The highest mode value (80) is recorded in literacy and communication, followed by interpersonal skills (75), and numeracy and ICT with no values (0.00). This shows that the mean, median and the mode describes the students in similar ways as the proficiency level of students in the tested skills is generally high on literacy, interpersonal and communication skills while it is on the other hand generally low on numeracy and ICT skills. Research Question 2: What is the nature of the distribution of scores in the skills required for employment demonstrated by upper basic school final year students in Irepodun and Ilorin South LGA of Kwara State? Table 2: Skewness and Kurtosis for Literacy, Numeracy, ICT, Interpersonal, and Communication Skills

Skewness Std. Error of Skewness Kurtosis Std. Error of Kurtosis

LITERACY -.960 .235 .47 .816 .465 .93

NUMERACY .296 .235 .47 -.433 .465 .93

ICT .247 .235 .47 -1.542 .465 .93

INTERPERSONAL -.867 .235 .47 -.102 .465 .93

COMMUNICATION -.413 .235 .47 -.934 .465 .93

To determine areas the strength and weaknesses in employment skills acquired, skewness is used. As shown in table 2, students scored highly in literacy, communication and interpersonal skills with negative skew values of -.960, -.867, and -.413 respectively with positive skew values of .296 (numeracy) and .247 (ICT) respectively connoting that they are weakly skilled in these areas. Furthermore, the kurtosis analysis as displayed on table 2 shows negative values for numeracy, ICT, interpersonal and communication skills connoting that they all have a flat distribution lower than the mean (platykurtic) while literacy shows a positive value connoting that it has a peaked distribution (leptokurtic) higher than the mean. However, considering kurtosis scores relative to its Std. Error shows that communication, numeracy, interpersonal and literacy skills fall within the expected range of chance fluctuation (Standard Error of Kurtosis: sek) and so the distribution of scores in these skills are significantly normal in terms of Kurtosis. ICT is the only skill that falls outside the expected range of chance fluctuation (sek) and so the distribution of scores in this skill is non-significantly normal in terms of Kurtosis. Research Hypothesis Ho1: Ho2: Ho3: Ho4: There is no significant difference in the literacy skills acquired by upper basic school final year students in rural and urban areas. There is no significant difference in the numeracy skills acquired by upper basic school final year students in rural and urban areas. There is no significant difference in the ICT skills acquired by upper basic school final year students in rural and urban areas. There is no significant difference in the interpersonal skills acquired by upper basic school final year students in rural and urban areas.
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Ho5:

There is no significant difference in the communication skills acquired by upper basic school final year students in rural and urban areas. To test the hypothesis for this study, t-test was used in comparing the mean of

the students performances in rural and urban areas (53 students in each group) on tests on literacy, numeracy, ICT, interpersonal and communication skills. The t-test for the difference in means is an hypothesis test that tests the null hypothesis that the means for both groups are equal, versus the alternative hypothesis that the means are not equal (2-tail) or that the mean for one of the groups is larger than the mean for the other group (1-tail). Using Statistical Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 16, a hypothesis test at a p < 0.05 level of significance was set to measure if the level of confidence observed in the sample also existed in the general population. Results are shown in table 3.

Table3: Samples Test)

T-test

for

Equality

of

Means

on

Literacy Numeracy ICT Interpersonal Communication

skills by Area

(Independent

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Levene's Test for Equality of Variances SKILL

t-test for Equality of Means Sig. Std. (2Error taile Mean Differenc d) Difference e 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper -6.94108 -7.36278

F Literacy Numeracy Ict 11.119 .445 .808

Sig.

Df

.001 -3.551 .506 -7.818 .371 -9.874

104 .001 -15.71983 4.42692 -24.49858

-3.736 91.604 .000 -15.71983 4.20755 -24.07687

104 .000 -28.99856 3.70900 -36.35364 -21.64348 104 .000 -49.52011 5.01523 -59.46551 -39.57472

-7.768 97.458 .000 -28.99856 3.73326 -36.40761 -21.58952 - 103.69 .000 -49.52011 4.95092 -59.33832 -39.70191 10.002 0 Interpersonal .216 .643 -4.057 -4.061 Communication .028 .868 -5.409 104 .000 -21.44397 5.28623 -31.92677 -10.96117 100.70 .000 -21.44397 5.28094 -31.92030 -10.96763 5 104 .000 -29.77083 5.50371 -40.68489 -18.85677

-5.390 98.874 .000 -29.77083 5.52292 -40.72969 -18.81198

The results from t-test statistics as shown in table 3 reveals that a significant difference were found in literacy (F = 11.119, p < .001) and ICT (F = .808, p < .371) skills possessed by students in the rural to those possessed by those in the urban areas. The null hypothesis is therefore rejected for the alternate hypothesis. On the other hand, the result show that no significant difference exist found in Numeracy (F = .445, p < .506), communication (F = .028, p < .868) and interpersonal skills (F = .216, p < . 643) skill possessed by students in the rural to those possessed by those in the urban areas. Therefore, in respect of numeracy, communication and interpersonal skill, the null hypothesis is accepted.

Discussion of Findings This study assessed the employment skills acquired by upper basic school final year students in Irepodun and Ilorin South LGA of Kwara State and their areas of
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strength and weaknesses in skills demonstrated. Skills in which students are most proficient (fair to advanced skills) are literacy, communication and interpersonal skills while the students have either no skills or at best rudimentary skills in numeracy and ICT; skills that are mostly learnt in school. Similarly, the highest mode value (80) is recorded in literacy and communication, followed by interpersonal skills (75), and numeracy and ICT with no values (0.00). The study reveals that students are strongly skilled in literacy, communication and interpersonal skills while students were not proficient in numeracy and ICT skills. The study also revealed that students in the urban areas are more proficient compared to those in rural areas in numeracy and ICT skills while between the two groups. Conclusion Conclusions from this study will be based on its purpose being to find out to what extent students in rural and urban areas acquired employable skills from schooling and their areas of strength and weaknesses in the skills they have demonstrated proficiency in; the main purpose being to assess the functionality of the basic education being received. Students proficiency level in Literacy, communication and interpersonal skills are appreciable however these are skills that can be acquired by cultural background and parental upbringing. Skills where they are deficient numeracy and ICT are those which must necessary be learnt. As related by Ololube, Ubogu and Ossai (2011); information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are advances in technologies that provide a rich global resource and collaborative environment for dissemination of ICT literacy materials, interactive discussions, research information, and international exchange of ideas, which are critical for advancing meaningful educational initiatives, training high skilled labor force, and understanding issues related to economic development. ICTs highlight innovative efforts and partnerships and promote ICTs literacy, and facilitate interaction between all sectors of a national economy including external spheres. If students are going to school under the basic education programme
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where no

significant difference was found in literacy, communication and interpersonal skills

which could be terminal at this point, school should not fail in their duty of impacting these skills to students. This is especially true or important in those skills were students weakness lie (numeracy and ICT) which are skills that are in high demand in todays 21st century world of work. Furthermore, the location of students have been revealed to affect the levels quality of the skills possessed by students in schools located in either rural or urban areas. Recommendations The fact that employees with poor literacy, language or numeracy skills are less productive at work, earn lower wages, are more likely to suffer from ill health and experience social exclusion points to the fact that not having excellent employable skills has bearing on even the quality of life an individual would live not just at the present time but also in the future. Efforts should therefore be geared towards ensuring that the formal schooling system with its foundation designed to be basic education in Nigeria be upgraded so as to guide the students in acquiring skills that could sustain them throughout life bearing in mind that the development and survival of any society is a function of the quality of its human capacity. This task majorly rest on teachers in core and vocational subjects while the governments role in this is ensuring that instructional resources and facilities are adequate in quality and quantity. Efforts by the government and well meaning individuals in the society should also be geared towards opening up more areas by driving the establishments of more infrastructural facilities such as cyber cafes, computer learning centres and more importantly, electricity without which these facilities cannot be powered. This is believed to give students in the rural and urban areas equal learning opportunities thereby solving the problem of unequal skill levels acquired from schooling.

REFERENCES Adepoju, A. and Fabiyi O. (2005). Universal Basic Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects. Federal Republic of Nigeria (1998). National Policy on Education. Lagos: NERDC Press.
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Federal Government of Nigeria (2004). The Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education and other related Matters Act (2004). Frank M., David E. Golden C. (1999). Retrospective Study of Basic Education and Skills Training (BEST) USAID Assistance to Sector Reform in Zimbabwe. Africa Bureau Information Centre (ABIC). Innovative Approaches to Functional Education for Poverty Alleviation in China. Introduction to Wardha Scheme of Basic Education (1937). Retrieved from on 27th April, 2013from: http://www.kkhsou.in/main/education/wardha.html Moser, C. (1999) Improving literacy and numeracy: a fresh start. The report of the working group chaired by Sir Claus Moser on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills, available online at: http://www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/mosergroup/index, accessed on 28/04/13: Annex A paragraphs 17-19. Obanya, P. A. I. (2003). Functional education for liberating Africa. J. Nig. Acad. Edu., 1(1): 21-39. UNESCO Operational Definition of Basic Education (2007). Ombech, A. (2003). Critical Perspectives on Education and Skills in Southern Africa on Basic and Post-Basic Levels: BASIC EDUCATION FOR LIFE SKILLS THE KENSIP EXPERIENCE Pages 82-84. Ololube N. P., Ubogu A. E. and Ossai A. G. (2011). ICT and Distance Education in Nigeria: A Review of Literature and Accounts. 2nd International Open and Distance Learning (IODL) Symposium. Phyllis E., Jerry J. J. and Richard K. (2005). 2005 Skills Gap Report A Survey of the American Manufacturing Workforce. American National Association of Manufacturers and The American Manufacturing Institute. UN System Task Team (2012). Education and skills for inclusive and sustainable development beyond 2015. Thematic Think Piece: UNESCO With valuable contributions from DESA, ITU and UNITAR.

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