Maintenance Culture as Threat to Educational Accessibility in Nigeria: Implications for Sustainable Open Distance Learning in Nigeria

8 Pages Posted: 11 Mar 2013

See all articles by Adelakun Alani

Adelakun Alani

Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University - Department of Continuing Education and Community Development

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

Educational accessibility has become a millennium phenomenon in Nigeria as many prospective candidates jostling for admission into the nation’s conventional universities have their hopes dashed yearly. Many of the affected prospective candidates have been frustrated and this has inevitably, increased the number of miscreants on Nigerian streets. The inability of the nation’s universities to provide adequate access to higher education over the years has worsened the situation. However, the Open and Distance Learning which has now been accepted as an alternative mode of learning providing access to education without constraining learners to the four walls of the conventional school system. The wide acceptance of the Open Distance Learning system stems out from its convenience in dispensing instruction to mass of the people at the same time regardless of place and time. The feature of individualized learning also possessed by open learning has always made it to stand out as a preferred mode of learning. The opportunity to work and study concurrently has given ODL advantage over the conventional system of learning. Quite a number of factors determine the effectiveness and sustainability of Open Distance Learning and these include the employment of various information communication media, availability of Students’ Support Services (SSS) and functional Study Centers among others. A survey of the aforementioned factors in Nigeria shows that there is a wide gap between what should be and what actually is. For instance, instructional communication media are not readily available and where available, they are not functioning because routine maintenance is not being carried out on them. Sequel to this, it has become practically inevitable for many of the distance institutions to still depend and rely on the medium of print in the midst of various modern communication technologies. Many of the study centres are uninviting to students as facilities are not in good condition. Consequently, the learning convenience enjoyed in ODL is eroded and by extension, educational access becomes limited. Generally, Nigerians are yet to cultivate a culture of maintenance and this has greatly been one of the key factors to sustaining development in every sector. This is corroborated by the fact that there is a high rate of infrastructural decay and wastages involving buildings, roads, machineries and other tangible assets resulting from lack of proper maintenance. The ODL as a sub-system of the Nigerian educational structure is not isolated from this infrastructural decay. This scenario does not support sustaining ODL as an alternative provider of educational access which invariably is one of the cardinal points of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as resolved by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2000. A better way to remediate this challenge is for stakeholders in the Nigerian ODL (Providers, Instructors and Learners) to cultivate the culture of maintaining the existing structures and facilities if ODL is to continue in the provision of educational access to desiring candidates. This paper therefore explores possible ways of creating awareness about the culture of maintenance among stakeholders of ODL in Nigeria. Also examined in this paper, is the meaning of maintenance and its various aspects. The paper provides answers to the questions of where, when and how does maintenance start and of what relevance is it to the practice and sustenance of ODL in Nigeria? The area of inhibiting factors to maintenance practices was also explored. In conclusion, the paper reveals various measures that could be taken to ensuring good maintenance practices on facilities in Nigerian Open Distance Learning system in order to continually provide education access to mass of the people.

Keywords: educational access, Maintenance Culture, Open Distance Learning, sustainable, threat

Suggested Citation

Alani, Adelakun, Maintenance Culture as Threat to Educational Accessibility in Nigeria: Implications for Sustainable Open Distance Learning in Nigeria (2012). OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development, Vol. 5, No. 11, pp. 63-70, 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2231273

Adelakun Alani (Contact Author)

Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University - Department of Continuing Education and Community Development ( email )

KM 3, Minna Road
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai
Lapai, Niger State, Niger State
Nigeria

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