EDUCATION IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS- ANIEBIET FRANCIS

EDUCATION IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS- ANIEBIET FRANCIS

In my early days in life, I was made to believe that people who embraced skills acquisation as an alternative to classroom education were either not intelligent or from poor homes. This was the pattern untill the intelligent and privileged kids returned from National Youth Service with their BSc and signed up for skills acquisation under the unintelligent and not privileged kids who could not afford formal education.

Today, most graduates from fileds like Economics, English and Literary Studies, Engineering, Mass c

Communication, law etc are now Caterers, make

-up artistes, Fashion Designers, Interior Decorators, Paint producers, Hair stylists, Shoe makers, carpenters etc.

Is she now condemning education? Not in any sense; I am condemning our approach and system of education. Our parents were wrong to stereotype people who learnt skills as poor and unntelligent people, our education system were wrong to seperate skills acquisations from the classroom. The classroom produces job seekers, skills acquisition centers produce job creators.

" EDUCATION IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS" - this phrase is largely arguable. First in the sense that it was misunderstood by our parents to mean "classroom education' and second in the sense that it was

flaunted without a proper understanding that education of any kind was and still is only a means to an end - the good life. The zenith of success is financial Independence (those who would argue this are only being sentimental) and this can only be achieved through a sustainable avenue of wealth creation and If education can't give one financial Independence, it should aleast give financial stability/comfort.

Bitter truth: our system of education cannot achieve this, unless it starts addressing wealth creation through job creation. Hence, the need for our society to marry both classroom and skills acquisition for a more effective education system. Our education system should also be fashioned to recognize resources of economic value and prioritize skills whose raw materials are readily available within our locality such as can be transformed to commercially viable products with exports value.

Talk of Akwa Ibom State; for the 33 years of our existence, our tertiary institutions never realized the economic importance of bamboo. Many thanks to Governor Udom Emmanuel for instituting the tissue company that uses bamboo as a major raw material. Now we know, that the tree we used for firewood could be a money spinner.

Raffia is still under exploited even after our ancestors blazed the trail for us donkey years ago.

We have cassava in abundance yet we are still importing starch.

The journey is still far but we can begin today.

#AmazingAniebietFrancis