Abstract
This study investigate the content analysis of newspaper coverage in regards to the issues of twitter ban in Nigeria. This study made use of two national newspapers for analysis. The study newspaper are vanguard and dailytrust. The period of the study is between June 2021 to January 2022.Three research questions and objectives were systematically drawn to give credence to this study.
NETWORK RESTRICTION TO TWITTER PLATFORM: A BRIDGE TO FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF NIGERIAN CITIZENS (A CASE STUDY OF TWITTER BAN)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The interrelated freedoms of communication, expression and association are at the heart of any free, democratic society based on the rule of law.Freedom of expression, the free flow of information, and freedom and pluralism of the media have internationally been acknowledged as human rights in the post-Second World War intergovernmental instruments: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1966). In both the UDHR and the ICCPR, Article 19 makes this commitment. The 2011 Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression is a strong statement of the importance of freedom of expression on the Internet. The Rapporteur emphasizes the need for clear rules, in contrast with the arbitrariness he observes today, which allows for increasing surveillance and monitoring of communications(Douwe Korff (2012) cited in UN retrieved (2021).
Restrictions and regulations must be in accordance with Council of Europe standards, and in particular the ECHR and the case law of the Strasbourg Court concerning the narrow set of restrictions on freedom of expression necessary in a democratic society. Also, any interference with the right to communicate, express views or assemble must be based on rules that are clear, specific and accessible.
It is no secret that the Internet and social media have grown in importance in political activities.Blogging, video-sharing, and tweeting were critical in 2011 political events in North Africa and the Middle East.They are important to human rights defenders everywhere. But the use of these new technologies to assert old freedoms has been met with repression by some governments. Government officials increasingly contact authors or websites to apply pressure for content to be removed, with threats of legal action, withdrawal of contracts or licences and outright bans even where companies are based in overseas jurisdictions.Governments also encourage their supporters to complain to hosting companies about user-generated content.
The most extreme methods of suppressing Internet communication have included simply cutting off all Internet access (Egypt, January 2011, and Syria at the time of writing), or even creating a completely state-controlled mini-Net (apparently planned by Iran). In other cases, such as Bahrain, governments have used their control over the local Internet structures to deliberately slow down connection speeds, in particular at newspaper offices, hotels and homes. Thailand, Burma, China and Iran have tried to manipulate online discussions through organized pro-state submissions. China has pressured search engines to distort search results. In several countries, bloggers and Internet activists have been subjected to threats and physical attacks. Following riots in several British cities, the government proposed taking powers to shut down social networking sites during future recurrences.
These and other examples represent several occasions when the government imposed network restrictions on its citizens’ access to social networking sites, such as the current Twitter ban announced by the government in Nigeria.These pressures raise human rights concerns, including whether companies should be required to resist pressure in order to protect the human rights of their users.
Blogging, video-sharing and tweeting are all crucial to the political events of modern democracies. They are important to human rights defenders everywhere. But the use of these new technologies to assert old freedoms has been met with repression by some governments. A recent study of 37 countries by Freedom House cites increasing website blocking and filtering, content manipulation, attacks on and imprisonment of bloggers, punishment of ordinary users, cyber attacks and coercion of website owners to remove content, in attempts by authoritarian states to reduce political opposition. It suggests that Internet restrictions around the globe are partly a response to the exploding popularity, and significant role in political and social activism, of sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
On June 4, the Nigerian government announced that it had suspended Twitter’s operations in the country. The announcement came two days after the social media company removed a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari, in which Buhari issued a thinly veiled threat to the secessionist groups in the southeast “to treat them in the language they understand.” Since announcing the ban, the government has issued directives to federal prosecutors to arrest anyone still using Twitter — and ordered Internet providers to block access to the platform. Following some initial confusion about whether Twitter was accessible, it appears that most Nigerians are no longer able to access the platform as of mid-June.According to the Social-Media-Poll-Report (2020), more than 120 million Nigerians have access to the internet and social networking sites and nearly 40 million of them have a Twitter account — 20% of the population. The Twitter ban is only the latest example of governments using their control over the Internet and other digital technologies to surveil, censor and suppress their people.
Thus, the banning of Twitter in Nigeria invariably raises concerns among its citizens about the violation of their fundamental human rights to free expression, communication, and media association.As a result, this study seeks to investigate network restrictions on the Twitter platform as a bridge to Nigerian citizens’ fundamental rights (a case study of the Twitter ban).
The main objective of the study is to examine network restriction to twitter platform: a bridge to fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens. Specifically the study seeks
1.4 Research hypotheses
The research is guided by the following hypotheses
HO1: Government network restriction to twitter platform will not affects citizens freedom of communication and association.
H1: Government network restriction to twitter platform will affects citizens freedom of communication and association.
HO2: Nigeria Government Twitter ban is no bridge to the fundamental human rights of her citizens
H1: Nigeria Government Twitter ban is a bridge to the fundamental human rights of her citizens.
1.5 Significance of the study
The findings from this study will be relevant to all the arms of the government and to the citizens of Nigeria. Theoretically and empirically, the study will enlighten the arms of the government, especially the judiciary, on the need to re-assess the current restriction/ban on the Twitter platform, having in mind that internet freedom is important. As a result, all restrictions must be based on clear, specific, and easily accessible statute law.Those regulatory authorities applying the laws restricting freedom of expression on social media must be entirely independent, accountable and with adequate safeguards in place to avoid arbitrariness. Furthermore, the study will contribute to the body of knowledge, serve as a reference material, and be extremely beneficial to students and researchers who may be interested in gathering or conducting studies related to the topic under study.
1.6 Scope of the study
The scope of this study borders on the network restriction to twitter platform: a bridge to fundamental human rights of Nigeria Citizens. The study is however limited to twitter users in Abuja.
1.7 Limitation of the study
The following factors poses to be a limitation during the course of this research
Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
1.8 Definition of terms
Twitter: Twitter is an American micro-blogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as “tweets”. Registered users can post, like, and retweet tweets, but unregistered users can only read them.
Twitter Ban: this is the authoritative pause in the operation of twitter as mandated by the Federal government of Nigeria on June 5th 2021 until the owners of the social network meet the newly established requirement given to them by the government of Nigeria.
Network restriction: A restricted network is where NAP sends a computer that needs remediation services or to block access to the private network until remediation can take place.
Human Right: Human rights are moral principles or norms for certain standards of human behaviour and are regularly protected in municipal and international law.
The scope of Intellectual Property (IP) is very wide. The field encompasses such legal concepts as trademarks, patents, design as well as copyright. Other legal concepts treated as species of IP are trade secrets, confidential information, utility model and geographical indications. All these deal in one way or the other with the protection of the fruits of man’s creative efforts. It might be a poem that you write, the name your hairdresser thinks up to sell his or her service or a mother’s invention for a non spill cup for babies1.
The man who thinks up a distinctive and original name, device or get-up to market his goods in order to make the goods easily recognizable or even more attractive to the average purchaser and had over a period of time procured through the quality of his goods substantial goodwill for the name, device or get-up deserves some protection for such name2
Economics Curriculum Implementation at the Senior Secondary Education Level
Authored by Oleabhiele, Eric Oziegbe Ph.D.
Email: ivyese1414@gmail
Oko, Nnaemeka O.
Educational Management Department, Michael Okpara University of
Agriculture, Umudike Abia State Email: okonnaemeka@yahoo.com
The teaching of Economics is more than ever before gathering a lot of attention among Economics educators. The quest to make meaningful impact on the lives of learners is a serious task before educators. A sustainable development can only take place in a nation if the citizens are well educated and empowered to apply the knowledge acquired through education in solving their problems rather than depending on the government. Economics as a field of study is capable of facilitating the economic and political progress of the people. This can only be achieve through effective implementation of Economics curriculum. Hence, this paper focused on Economics curriculum implementation at the senior secondary school level. Most of the works reviewed showed that the ability of the students of Economics to comprehend what is being taught and apply it to daily activities lies on how well the curriculum is implemented. The society is dynamic and as such the school curriculum tries to adjust. The paper therefore examined the concept of curriculum and curriculum implementation, and senior secondary school Economics curriculum. Also discussed in this paper are some emerging issues and factors that affect Economics curriculum implementation in secondary schools. The paper concludes that effective Economics curriculum implementation is the remedy for poor performance of Economics students in both internal and external examinations.
Economics is one of the school subjects offered by students at the senior secondary level. It is designed to train students to understand the world around them and meaningfully contribute to the development and growth of the nation with the limited resources available. As a school subject, Economics has been variously defined by Scholars based on the type of economic structure prevalent at the time they lived. For instance, Smith in Oko (2014) sees Economics as an inquiry into the nature and cause of the wealth of nations. This definition is believed to have stemmed from the fact that Smith wrote during the industrial revolution in the continent of Europe when fortunes were being made from cotton, coal mines, iron works and pottery industries. It was as a result of the influence of the industrial revolution that Smith concluded that Economics was nothing, but the study of how nations make their wealth. Also, Mill in Onwukwe and Agwu (2002) saw Economics as a practical science of production and distribution of wealth. According to Mill, not only must man produce wealth but should also provide an appropriate means to ensure that what has been produced gets to the final consumer. Among these definitions, the one that is generally accepted by Economists is that of Lionel in Anyaele (2003) which affirmed that Economics as a science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses. This definition emphasized that Economics is not just a social science but a science due the employment of scientific and logical approaches rather than mere decision making.
Economics is a powerful tool for enhancing economic growth and development of any country. The introduction of Economics into the Nigerian education system in 1966 brought so much hope and enthusiasm to both students, business organizations and the government. The general belief was that Economics would help to build a strong and dynamic economy for our nation Nigeria. This seems to have failed as the economy presently is battling with depression. This trend also raises some level of curiosity, if not anxiety, about the nature of Economics curriculum, its implementation and importance in national development. To address this curiosity, a look at the meaning of curriculum is necessary.
Curriculum simply mean a plan or blue print that guides an academic programme with the aim of bringing about positive change in the behaviour of the learners. It stands for all the subjects which learners are expected to undergo within a specified period of time. Similarly, Offorma (2006), asserted that the school curriculum can be taken to mean the instrument by which schools seek to translate the hopes of the society in which they function into concrete reality. Also, Ivowi (2008) defined curriculum as a tool for translating societal values from generation to generation. This description of the curriculum by Ivowi is quite comprehensive and encompasses the organized knowledge presentable to learners in a school setting, every element in the learning environment, the subject matter to be learned, how to learn it, the learners and the teachers.
Curriculum is a working document and also a document for instructional guide used for teaching and learning to bring about concrete and desirable and attitudinal changes in the in the learners. In line with the above, Oko (2014) opined that curriculum is a conscious effort made by the school to change the behaviour of members of the society in which it situates.
Curriculum can be planned, implemented, achieved or hidden (Afangideh, 2009). It is planned when it is based on the choices made by experts at different levels
concerning what value is to be inculcated, how it should be taught and for whom it should be taught. It is implemented when it finds its way into the classroom and results in interaction between the teachers, the learners and the learning contents. Achieved curriculum on the other hand, refers to the aspect of the curriculum that have been attained. Hence, it is also known as attained curriculum. Hidden curriculum represents the aspects of schooling (the planned instructional programme of the school) which focuses on producing positive changes in students’ behaviour and values through the socialization function of the school system (Afangideh, 2009).Specifically, all the three aspects of the curriculum should be advocated in the school system if the desired objectives are to be achieved. Moreover, curriculum suggests how the topics should be taught, what teaching and learning materials to use, the performance objectives to be achieved, the learning activities to be engaged in, duration and the type of evaluation method to be employed. These represent the planned Economics curriculum which is expected to be executed at the senior secondary school level of education and its implementation determines the performance of students in both internal and external examinations.
The term implementation can be said to mean execution of plan. It is the actual use of a programme to fulfill the expectations of the designers. Curriculum implementation refers to putting into practice the officially prescribed syllabi. It is the practical stage in the curriculum process. Afangideh (2009) described curriculum implementation as the actual engagement of individual with planned learning opportunities. According to him, it is at this stage at the process of learning activities, teachers and learners are engaged in learning activities aimed at promoting teaching/learning. Curriculum implementation involved the arrangement of the preplanned curriculum through the assessment of the facilities, resources and environment to ensure that the planned curriculum will be implemented. It is also the execution of the planned curriculum in the classroom through the efforts of the teacher and the learners (Offorma, 2009).
Central to curriculum implementation is the role of the teacher. Afangideh (2009) noted that the learning is guided by the teacher ability to select appropriate teaching methods and resources. The learners on their own are actively involved in the process of interaction with learning activities. Since curriculum implementation takes place in the classroom, the teacher in order to put into action his/her plan states its instructional objective, as well define the scope of the content, identify the relevant resources to be employed and as well as determine the evaluation procedures that would enhance the execution of his/her plans. This means that it is the teacher who determines what actually is to be learned and largely controls the classroom interaction processes. The teacher plans instruction for the students on daily basis as well as over a
long period of time. He uses a variety of teaching methods and strategies to deliver the goods needed by the learners (Agwu, 2005). A curriculum no matter how well designed must be properly implemented if the desired objectives are to be achieved.
It has been established in this study that Economics is a powerful tool for national growth and development. The teachers are the determinant of whether or not Economics can fulfill this purpose. As revealed by Ogunyemi (2009), there is an increasing belief that Nigerian primary and secondary school teachers are curriculum illiterates or deficient in relevant competences for curriculum participation, implementation and evaluation. Corroborating this, Ubanatu (2016) reported that teachers are hardly involved in curriculum projects. They are only remembered during implementation. Agreeing with this, Umeala (2015) observed that since Economics was introduced in the Nigerian education system, Economics teachers are yet to participate at the planning and development stages of Economics.. This perhaps may be responsible for the delay in achieving the goals and objectives of teaching Economics in secondary schools as the products (students) at this level of education are yet to contribute meaningfully to the growth of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Ubanatu, 2016).
Senior secondary school is a three year education programme that includes senior secondary one to three. By law, the administration, funding and control of senior secondary schools in Nigeria lie in the hand of the state governments. Senior secondary education follows the junior secondary school phase. It includes conventional senior secondary school and technical secondary school. The Economics curriculum at this level of education is well structured with intended learning experiences to broaden students’ knowledge for national growth and development Ede, Olebahiele and Modebelu (2016). The structure of the new Economics curriculum (2008) is such that it includes emerging issues such as economic lessons from the Asian Tigers, human capital development, manufacturing and construction, and service industry among others, derived from the urgent need for value re-orientation and economic reform.
As a subject under the new National Policy on Education (2009), Economics is considered as one of the elective subjects offered at the senior secondary school level (Umeala, 2015). Again, Ede, Oleabhiele and Modebelu (2016) posited that what is significant about the new National Policy on Education is not just the structure but the content of education particularly that of Economics. They maintained that the structure of the new Economics curriculum is such that with knowledge and competence, the products of secondary schools will be self-reliant so that even when they are unable to secure paid employment at the end of their schooling, they can be gainfully employed as a result of the skills and the knowledge they had received in secondary school.
Furthermore, for effective teaching and learning of Economics, the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) (2008) outlined the following as the objectives of teaching Economics at the senior secondary school.
A look at these objectives shows that the Economics curriculum for senior secondary schools is quite rich but the challenge of underdevelopment and poor economic growth still persist in our nation. Presently, the Nigerian economy is facing serious depression and one wonders if the objectives of teaching Economics are being defeated. Nwafor (2003) lamented that there have been a great decline in students’ performance in all public examinations and the nation’s economy has been suffering from bank distress, inflation, unemployment and many are beginning to question the importance of Economics as a discipline in nation building. In the same vein, Olusola (2014) in a study carried out on the role of teachers in Economics curriculum implementation revealed that despite the good intentions of both government and teachers, one still doubts the extent to which the objectives of Economics particularly at the senior secondary school level have been achieved. Olusola further argued that the inability of the country to solve its economic problems after many years of producing graduates of Economics was a clear indication that Economics was yet to be given its proper place in the nation’s education system.
Akinsolu (2010) carried out a study on teachers and students’ academic performance in Economics in Nigerian secondary schools and its implications for planning found out that teachers’ qualifications, experience and teacher-student ratio were positively and significantly related to students’ academic performance. Also, Davies (2013) discovered in a study on teacher competency in the implementation of Economics curriculum that some teachers found it difficult teaching most of the new topics introduced in the new Economics curriculum as they are not experts in the fields where the topics were drawn. The author further reported that most students could not
comprehend properly the new topics as they comprised of science or engineering related subjects. These new topics are discussed below.
In secondary school Economics curriculum, one of the recent issues that have emerged is that of economic lessons from the Asian Tigers. The highly developed economies of Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are known as the Asian Tigers. The term started to be commonly used in the 1970s. These countries are grouped in this way since the 1970s because they all employed a similar path to attain development (Ogwumike, Ekpeyong, Olofin & Alo, 2011).
As a means of reawakening in the minds of her citizens the consciousness that Nigeria has failed to take her rightful place in the global economy, Federal Government has decided to try the possibility of adopting development strategies employed by Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea, popularly known as the Asian Tigers. Hence, the introduction of Economic Lessons from the Asian Tigers. The government believes that through a systematic and rigorous education, Nigeria can develop its human resources and exploit same to build an enviable nation. This can only be achieved through effective implementation of the school curriculum because the curriculum is the means by which the Government transmits its hope to her citizens. Another issue that was recently introduced in the senior secondary school Economics curriculum is vision 20:20. Vision 2020 aims at launching Nigeria towards the direction of sustained social and economic prosperity which will help to accelerate the emergence of a truly prosperous and self-reliance Nation. Therefore, students in this regard are to be taught to recognize the huge human and natural endowments of Nigeria and how they can be used to improve the welfare of the citizens and place the nation among the Top 20 economies of the world. Also, included in the curriculum is economic development challenges. This topic (economic development challenges) is meant to discuss the issues of poverty, methods of poverty alleviation and eradication, agencies for poverty alleviation such as National Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Programme (NAPEP) and National Directorate for Employment (NDE). Others include HIV/AIDS, corruption and the economy, the role of Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices (ICPC) in the economy.
As noted earlier, the society is dynamic and as these issues emerged, the government through the education system tries to accommodate them in the school curriculum to enhance its awareness. Unfortunately for Economics teachers in secondary schools, these new issues lack the appropriate textbooks that treated them in details. Also, external examination bodies are yet to recognize them as they are developed within the purview of Nigerian economic goals and challenges (Oko, 2014).
Curriculum implementation has been identified to be a way of achieving the stated objectives of Economics as a school subject. It is however obvious that effective
implementation of this curriculum can be affected by certain factors. Some of these factors are discussed below.
Successful implementation of Economics curriculum to a large extent relate to the number of qualified teachers. A teacher in this regard, is one who is professionally trained and certified to carry out teaching activities with the intention of causing them to learn (Umeala, 2015). Similarly, Oleabhiele (2008), Oko (2014) and Ikwumelu and Oko (2015) reported that it is no longer new that there is shortage of competent and qualified teachers to teach Economics in secondary schools in Nigeria. This can be attributed to the fact that most graduates no longer show interest in teaching due to societal value for the profession. Also, those who are already in the profession often leave to seek for higher paid jobs especially graduates of economics education, who can fit into other professions (Olusola, 2014).
Over the years, Economics curriculum has experienced a geometrical increase in its contents of study. This is so because the curriculum is often reviewed to reflect changes in the society. As noted by Davies (2013), quite a lot of issues have emerged in the Nigerian economy. Prominent among them are corruption, the role of EFCC and ICPC in the economy, MDGs, NEEDS, Vision 20:20, poverty alleviation and eradication, HIV/AIDS and power and energy inadequacy (Ogwumike, et.al). These have been introduced as contents to be learnt by the students in addition to previous contents. Umena (2003) pointed out that it is worthy to note that in senior secondary school one and two, the students are expected to offer minimum of sixteen (16) and nine subjects and register nine (9) subjects in Senior Secondary Certificate Examination. All these pose as a threat to effective curriculum implementation.
Another factor that affects Economics curriculum implementation in secondary school is inadequate instructional aids. Instructional aids or materials are generally seen as veritable instruments that help the teacher to effectively communicate the content of lesson to the students. Teaching without instructional materials makes the job of the teacher more tedious and mechanical. One of the causes of non-availability of instructional materials is lack of fund. Agwu (2005) submitted that there are various teaching aids that can be produced locally by the teacher for effective teaching and learning but since the school or government cannot finance the cost of production, he cannot produce them. The excitement usually generated among the students by the introduction of instructional materials prepares their minds for the lesson. Instructional materials make learning more permanent and provide a concrete basis for conceptual thinking and reduce meaningless word responses of students. Unfortunately, these all important materials are not adequate especially in the implementation of economics curriculum contents
Another big challenge facing implementation of Economics curriculum is examination malpractice. According to Ivowi (2005), a number of students have continued to engaged in this notorious act, and because of poor implementation of curriculum in school, arising from so many factors; the battle against examination malpractice is far from being over. Virtually everybody in the education sector seems to be involved in one way or the other. Agreeing with this, Omojunwa, (2010) affirmed that parents during external examination registration often prefer taking their children and/or wards to schools (special or miracle centre as it may be called) where examination malpractice is aided and abetted. Such acts will no doubt make students lazy and prevent them from attending classes and or studying their books.
Teachers are also not left out of the game. Ocho (2005) confirmed that: To educate others, the teacher must himself be educated. Many of the people we call teachers in Nigeria today are not educated even though they teach in nursery, primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. Many of them are not only deficient in character but also in learning thus those students who learn from such teachers suffer double jeopardy. A teacher becomes a cheater or a fraudster once he deviates from teaching what is right in the matter of conduct and learning. Teachers now routinely encourage students to cheat in examinations, to tell lies as a matter of principle, to commit fornication and adultery as a survival methodology and to exploit society for selfish ends (p.24).
This observation put forward by Ocho clearly explains some of the major challenges faced by the education sector.
Economics as a school subject has continued to attract more students over the years. However, school enrolment expanded without a corresponding increase in the number of teachers and facilities (Ocho, 2005). For effective teaching and learning, it is believed that a small number is better because the teacher can control and impart meaningful knowledge through the use of teaching aids. For effective hearing and viewing in the classroom, the smaller the number of students the more effective, they hear and see. However, it is observed that instead of 35 to 40 class size, the reverse in the case which makes it difficult for the teacher to control and teach effectively (Agwu, 2005).
Another problems area is the phobia of mathematics. Mathematics is a subject which students easily have phobia for. The presence of some elements of mathematics and statistics in Economics scares some teachers and students. While some teachers try to avoid teaching the mathematical or statistical components of Economics, students try to pay less attention when lessons in those topics are taught. The avoidance of such
lessons make students have inadequate knowledge required of them to tackle problems in such areas during examinations. They also remain ill-equipped to effectively teach them if they become teachers (Ede, Oleabhiele & Modebelu, 20016). All these factors affect effective curriculum implementation in economics..
This article discussed the concepts of Economics curriculum implementation at the senior secondary education level. The benefits derived from Economics as a school subject cannot be quantified. Its curriculum at this level of education is very rich in terms of equipping the learners with the necessary knowledge, kills, attitudes and the right frame of mind. These can only be achieved through effective implementation of the curriculum at the classroom level. Teachers have been identified to be the key to Economics curriculum implementation. Also, effort has been made to examine the factors that affect Economics curriculum implementation in senior secondary schools. Thus, effective Economics curriculum implementation is the remedy for poor performance of Economics students in both internal and external examinations.
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Economics is one of the Social Science subject offered at Senior Secondary School (SSS) level in Nigeria. Economics as a subject was introduced into the Nigerian Secondary School curriculum in late 1960s. Specifically the acceptability of the introduction of the subject at Great Britain necessitated its introduction in Nigerian Secondary School curriculum in 1966 and was first taken in West African School Certificate Examination as a school subject in Nigeria in 1967 (Adu in Ede, Oleabhiele&Modebelu, 2016).
The subject Economics has been defined in many ways by various economists as a social science which studies human beings and their behavior. However, the most generally accepted definition of Economics is the one put forward by Professor Lord Lionel Robbins. He defined Economics as “the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses”. This definition is all embracing because it covers some major aspects of Economics such as scarcity, wants, human behavior and choice (Anyanwuocha, 2010). The ends in the definition refer to human wants, desires or needs. Human wants are numerous or many relative to available resources required to satisfy them. The word scarce refers to the limited available resources used in satisfying the numerous human wants. In other words, the resources required to satisfy human wants are scarce or not many, relative to their demand. The alternative uses in the definition means that these scarce resources can be used for different purposes (Ande, 2018). In other words, the more pressing needs have to be satisfied first leaving others that are less important.
The objectives of studying Economics in Senior Secondary Schools in Nigeria according to the Federal Government of Nigeria through National Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) is to: equip students with the basic principles of Economics necessary for useful living and for higher education; prepare and encourage students to be prudent and effective in the management of scarce resources; raise students respect for the dignity of labour and their appreciation of economic, cultural and social values of our society and enable students acquire knowledge for the practical solution of the economic problems of society; Nigeria, developing countries and the world at large.
The National Policy on Education (FGN, 2012) stated that Economics is a non-vocational elective Social Science subject to be taught in Senior Secondary Schools in the country to provide trained manpower who shall be well-equipped with critical knowledge, skills and abilities to analyze economic problems and provide solutions to solving personal and societal economic problems and policies.
Economics is one of the Social Science subject offered at both Senior Secondary School and the tertiary levels of education. Economics Education on the other hand is offered at the tertiary level of education. Economics education focuses on two main themes: “Economics and Education”.Economics is defined as the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses. Education is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, habits and attitudes through teaching especially at a school. Put together, Economics Education is a field within education that deals with the present state of, and efforts to improve and make better the Economics curriculum, teaching and learning materials, pedagogical techniques used to teach Economics at all educational levels; and research into the effectiveness of alternative instructional techniques in Economics, the level of economic literacy and factors that influence the level of economic literacy (Becker, 2001).
Economics Education is a discipline that involves the use of the appropriate teaching and learning methodology in improving the comprehension and understanding of Economics as a concept and makes easy an in-depth residual knowledge of the learners in order to make them contribute significantly to the growth and development of the Society. It is an aspect of education that is mainly concerned with the teaching and learning of Economics. It is a curriculum designed to produce experts in the field of Economics Education to develop Economics curriculum, instructional methodologies and materials for effective teaching and learning of Economics at the various educational level and for the training of manpower in order to promote growth and development in the society.
Economics education can also be seen as a:
Nigeria’s national policy on education is government’s way of realizing that part of the national goals, which can be achieved using education as a tool. No policy on education, however, can be formulated without first identifying the overall philosophy and goals of the nation. The overall five (5) national goals of Nigeria have been endorsed as the necessary foundations for the national policy on education, which include the building of a;
The stated national goals of education provided the basis for policy statements that further explain the vision of Economics Education. The national goals of education were out of the strong believe that Economics Education would be used as instrument for national development; to this end, the formulation of Economics ideas, their integration for national development and the interaction of persons and ideas are all aspects of Education. Education fosters the worth and development of the individual, for each individual’s sake, and for the general development of the society. The National Policy on Education acknowledgesthat “no country can go beyond its curriculum”. For Economics Education to be in harmony with Nigeria’s national goals, Economics Education have been geared towards self-realization, better human relationship, individual and national efficiency, effective citizenship, national consciousness, national unity, as well as towards economic, political, social, cultural, scientific and technological progress.
Economics as a subject was introduced into the Nigerian Secondary School curriculum in the late 1966 and was first taken in West African School Certificate Examination as a school subject in Nigeria in 1967 (Adu in Ede et al, 2016). Economics curriculum was first developed in 1985 by the Comparative Education Study and Adaptation Centre (CESAC) and now reviewed by the National Education Research Development Centre (NERDC). The curriculum is based on the principle of equipping the recipients with the basic knowledge and skills to appreciate the nature of economic problems in any society and adequately prepare them for the challenges in the Nigeria economy (NEDRC in Oleabhiele, &Oleabhiele, 2015).Therefore, the vision of Economics Education reflects that of the national goals of education that follows. Economics Education is a vehicle that would be used to make people become aware of basic economic principles and concept as well as the tools for sound economic analysis and inculcate in them an attitude of mind that will contribute intelligently to discourse on economic reforms and development as they affect or would affect the society.
At the University of West the of England Assignment most of the assessments are either referred to as coursework or exams, however, the University permits a wide variety of assessment types, and the nature of your assessments will depend on the module you are studying.
Other types of assessment can include exhibitions, performances, in-class tests, field work and many others.
Details of all assessments should be made available at the start of teaching on each module that you are taking. This information should make it clear what type of assessment you will be required to take and, in the case of coursework, how it should be submitted. These details can be found in online sources or in module handbooks.
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INTRODUCTION
In life, education is a constant process. It is the process of educating and molding individuals’ knowledge, abilities, minds, and characters. It is also the process through which people develop their latent skills so they may benefit both themselves and society. Basic education is centered on the value of teachers and the responsibilities they play in the educational process. Without a question, educators continue to be the knowledge managers. As a result, the cornerstone for the quality and applicability of education at all levels in Nigeria is, and should be, teacher education. Hence, a teacher is seen as a skilled professional who use his knowledge, abilities, and competence to trigger behavioural change in the students. He employs his understanding of child psychology to refocus the learners’ perceptions, competencies, knowledge, and abilities on a constructive, socially acceptable learning behavior. Teachers are essential components of the educational process.
Teachers with extensive training and experience are the true development indicators in the teaching profession. Hence, the instructor is the most significant single aspect in the teaching and learning process. An educator must first be taught and trained since no educational institution can surpass the caliber of its instructors. The email address is 3 African Scholar Publications. So, it is 2020 not unexpected that there is a great deal of interest in creating a practical and better match between teacher-training programs and the difficulties and expectations of teaching.
Also, a research by Adedoyin (2011) discovered a considerable impact of instructors’ preparation on students’ academic achievement. Every educational system’s secondary level is extremely important. This is due to the fact that it serves as the cornerstone upon which higher education is constructed, since it lays the intellectual groundwork for all future endeavors. As a result, personnel charged with teaching at this level of the educational system must meet particular requirements. Knowledge is among the most crucial characteristics for a teacher to possess.
A competent teacher should be able to exhibit extensive knowledge of the subject matter, comprehend the fundamental ideas, and have a comprehension of the topic he teaches. Teachers may address the issues at hand with confidence and use their gifts when they are well-informed. The phrase “teacher quality” has an accepted definition even throughout the global community. Few have tried to explain what it means. Although some see teacher quality as being made up of the instructor’s qualifications and personality traits, others have a more comprehensive perspective.
The latter group views teacher quality as encompassing the educator’s preparation and ongoing professional development, student outcomes, the environment in which the educator works, including the resources available for learning, and other forms of support the educator receives, such as school leadership and management, as well as teacher compensation. Although there may be disagreements about the word, there are certain points of agreement on what qualifies as a good teacher and what makes for efficient classroom management, as will be covered in more detail.
All over the world, the most accepted payment mode is via Debit card for both online and offline payments in today’s world, it helps implement the cashless policy for shopping at every shop across the country. It is the most convenient method to do shopping on the internet, and also for paying utilitybills etc. Hence, increasing the risks of Debit card fraud transaction. In the existing manual Debit card fraud detection business processing system, fraudulent transaction will be detected after transaction is done. It has become very difficult to find out fraudulent and regarding loses will be barred by issuing authorities. In this research, the researcher has proposed to design and implement a Debit card fraud detention system developed using HTML, CSS and PHP.
In our day to day life, online transactions are increased to purchase goods and services. According to Nielsen study conducted in 2007-2008, 28 of the world’s total population has been using internet.85 of these people has used internet to make online shopping and the rate of making online purchasing has increased by 40 from 2005 to 2008.The most common method of payment for online purchase is Debit card .In developed countries and also in developing countries to some extent ,Debit card is most acceptable payment mode for online and offline transaction. It can give financial loses to issuing authorities .In the second method purchasing i.e.
Online, these transactions generally happen on telephone or internet and to make this kind of transaction, the user will need some important information about a Debit card (such as Debit card number, validity, CVV number, name of card holder).
In our daily lives, Debit cards are used for purchasing goods and services with the help of virtual card for online transaction or physical card for offline transaction. In a physical-card based purchase, the cardholder presents his card physically to a merchant for making a payment. To carry out fraudulent transactions in this kind of purchase, an attacker has to steal the Debit card. If the cardholder does not realize the loss of card, it can lead to a substantial financial loss to the Debit card company. In online payment mode, attackers need only little information for doing fraudulent transaction (secure code, card number, expiration date etc.). In this purchase method, mainly transactions will be done through Internet or telephone. To commit fraud in these types of purchases, a fraudster simply needs to know the card details. Most of the time, the genuine cardholder is not aware that someone else has seen or stolen his card information. The only way to detect this kind of fraud is to analyze the spending patterns on every card and to figure out any inconsistency with respect to the “usual” spending patterns. Fraud detection based on the analysis of existing purchase data of cardholder is a promising way to reduce the rate of successful Debit card frauds. Since humans tend to exhibit specific behaviorist profiles, everyCard holder can be represented by a set of patterns containing information about the typical purchase category, the time since the last purchase, the amount of money spent, etc.
Deviation from such patterns is a potential threat to the system
It has already been mentioned that the losses of a Debit card fraud can affect all consumers, merchants and issuing banks. Therefore, it is important to establish techniques for detecting and preventing Debit card fraud. This research contains a variety of techniques which can be used to build fraud detection systems. Understanding the characteristics of all those techniques can be a tedious task. A technique which promises a high predictive accuracy may be an appealing candidate to be used in the fraud detection system. However, there are various different parameters that need to be considered before deciding which technique best suits the needs of a particular situation.And also as all the transaction is maintained in a log. And also now a day’s lot of online purchase are made so we don’t know the person how is using the card online, we just capture the IP address for verification purpose. So there is a need to develop a system to fight cyber-crime and to aid ininvestigating the fraud. To avoid the entire above disadvantage we propose the system to detect the fraud in a best and easy way.
This research aims at the Design and Implementation of a Debit card fraud detention system to prevent Debit card fraud.
The following are the objectives of the study:
The scope of the research is focused on implementing a Debit card fraud detention system to compact the increasing cyber-crimes faced by our country.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter details the information found in the literature. It starts with a reference to the different fraud types of Debit industry. Then a discussion on the existing techniques for detecting and preventing Debit fraud is made. There is also a brief discussion on the technologies which were used during this project. Finally, other fraud types and crimes are discussed.
2.1 Debit Fraud
There are three main types of Debit fraud in the literature. These are Debit card fraud, bankruptcy fraud and Debit application fraud. A detailed explanation of each fraud type follows.
2.1.1 Debit Card Fraud
This is the most common fraud type that occurs in Debit industry. A fraudster uses a legitimate card to undertake illegitimate transactions. The cardholder is not aware of the fact that their card is being used without their permission. The fraudster takes advantage of cardholder’s ignorance by undertaking as much transactions as possible before the cardholder realizes and reports the fraud to their bank.
According to Laleh et al. (2009) Debit card fraud can be committed either offline or online. These two ways are discussed below.
Offline Debit Card Fraud
Offline fraud occurs when a fraudster steals the physical card and uses it at the actual stores. Although offline fraud is still popular nowadays; it is less common because there is a higher probability to fail. More precisely, the cardholders tend to realize the loss of the physical card and report that to their bank before the fraudster manages to undertake any illegitimate transactions with it. As soon as the stolen card is reported to the bank, the latter will lock the card so as it cannot be used anymore. It is particularly useful to notice that if the cardholder does not realize the loss of their card, a significant financial loss can occur. As mentioned in the introduction chapter, the policies of some banks enforce cardholders to pay for the losses which occur due to an unreported Debit card theft. Notice that most of the UK banks tend to send the newly created cards via the post office. This is extremely dangerous because the cards may be stolen while they are on the way to cardholder’s destination address.
Online Debit Card Fraud
During online fraud only the details of the card are stolen and not the card itself. This is also known as virtual card theft. The details of the card can be used in places where the card need not be physically present like internet or phone purchases. This type of Debit card fraud is very dangerous and more difficult to prevent because fraudsters can hold Debit card’s information for a long period of time before they use it. There is no way for the cardholder to know in advance that their Debit card information is stolen. Therefore this type of fraud may only be detected after one or more illegitimate transactions are taken place.
There are various ways that fraudsters adapt in order to steal the information of Debit cards. Some of these ways are briefly discussed below.
Skimming
Patidar et al. (2011) define skimming as the “process where the actual data on a card’s magnetic stripe is electronically copied onto another”. Fraudsters use special-purpose devices – also known as skimmers – to capture the information of Debit cards that are encapsulated inside their magnetic stripes. They can use the stolen card information to create counterfeit physical cards in order to use them at actual shops or simply supply the card information at online shops. Skimming can be committed by an unfaithful employee, who may swipe customer’s card using the skimmer device, while the customer is at the point of sale. In the past, skimmer devices have also been introduced on ATM cash machines. In addition to that, micro-cameras have been used to record the PIN code of a cardholder during ATM transactions.
Site Cloning
Fraudsters clone a legitimate website to deceive customers into placing an order with them. Since the fraudulent website seems identical to the legitimate one, the unsuspecting customers provide their Debit card information to complete their order. Consequently fraudsters who obtained the customer’s Debit card information can commit Debit card fraud whenever they wish to.
False Merchant Sites According to Patidar et al. (2011) there are various websites that ask for Debit card information in order to confirm customer’s age. These websites will never charge the Debit cards directly but they may sell their information to fraudsters who will commit Debit card fraud.
Debit Card Generators
These are automated programs which make use of banks’ algorithms to generate Debit card numbers. Fraudsters can generate an arbitrary sequence of candidate numbers and then use other techniques – like trial and error – to figure out which numbers correspond to real Debit card accounts.
Phishing
Refers to the spam emails that are sent by fraudsters in order to deceive their victims and obtain their personal information. Fraudsters can impersonate a service provider or institute that victims collaborate with. In their email, fraudsters can make use of a convincing excuse to ask for victim’s personal information including Debit card details. The spam emails may also include links to fraudulent websites which again can deceive victims into revealing their personal information. Taking into account the enormous amount of spam emails that we receive at a daily basis, anyone can conclude that this type of fraud is still popular nowadays; although it has been out for many years.
Sources Of The Employer’s Duties
The duties agreed on or imposed on the employer in a contract of service is derived from a multiplicity of sources which can be expressed in terms of legal and extra legal sources. Wherever employer workers relationship exists, whether express or implied and if it is express, whether oral or written, the employer owes certain duties to the employee. These duties may be expressly provided for in the terms of the contract of employment or implied into the terms even though not expressly stated.
The employer’s duties to his employee basically come under the common law and under statutes. The Received English Common Law which involves the principles of equity and statutes of general application inforce in England as at 1st January 1900, which were received into Nigeria through the various receptions laws, introduced some duties into the employer-employee relationship. Besides the received English Laws, there are also statutes which regulated employment relationships between master and servant. These statutes include: The factories Act, NigeriaLabour Act, Trade Union Act,the Trade Dispute Act, Occupational Health and Safety Act No 85 of 1993, Pensions Act 1990, Wages Legislation and the employee’s Compensation Act. There are also Nigerian case laws bordering on the duties of the employer to his employee, though derived from the common law. Employers also have a duty of care to the employees under the following international instruments; Fatal Accident Law of the states, National environment Standards and Regulatory Enforcement Agency Act (NESREA) 2007, International Labour Organization Conventions and Recommendations.
2.2 THE COMMON LAW DUTIES
It had earlier been noted that the duties of both parties are fixed partly by the express terms of the contract, and partly by the terms which can be implied or will be held to be necessary and important depending on the nature of the contract.
Paramount among the duties of the employer at common law is the duty to take reasonable care for the safety of his worker’. This duty under the common law is usually divided into three, namely:
• Provision of safe plant, including safe equipment, tools, materials and appliances in the workplace.
• Provision of safe and secure system of work, that is, a safe process
• Provision of the employee with reasonably competent fellow employees.
2.2.1 Duty to make available proper tools and plants for work: The employer is under the duty to supply proper tools and maintain the necessary plants that will aid the employee in his service to him. The employer may be in breach of his duty by failing to provide the required plant at all, failing to provide the quality of plants required for the job, providing dangerous of defective plants when he knew or ought to have known of the danger or defect.30 In LOVELL V. BLUNDELLS AND CROMPTON & CO. LTD,31 the employer was found not to have provided the needed plants for the employee’s work. In BOWATER V. ROWLEY REGIS COOPERATION32, the action against the cooperation was upheld by the court of Appeal on the ground that the cooperation had been negligent in supplying defective and dangerous plant for the work. Even where the tools are purchased from a reputable dealer and an employer has knowledge of its dangerous character,
he is liable to his servant who is injured as was the position in the case of TAYLOR V. ROVER CO. LTD.33This obligation is a continuing obligation.34
2.2 SAFE PLACE OF WORK
It is the duty of the employer to provide a safe working environment for his employee, where the employee will be safe to carryout his work effectively. If place of work is an industry with plants for carrying out production, the place should be fenced round and should be good premises.
2.2.3 SAFE AND SECURE SYSTEM OF WORK AND SUPERVISION
It is the obligation of the employer to draw up a system of how work is to be done, the persons to do the work, when a particular thing is and is not to be done. The administrative system must satisfy the condition of reasonability, hence, the House of Lord’s decision in WILSON & CLYDE COAL LTD V. ENGLISH35 that the duty as to safe system is a personal duty which a master owes to his worker, a duty he cannot delegate in such a way as to absolve him from personal liability.
2.2.4 COMPETENT STAFF WITH REASONABLY COMPETENT FELLOW EMPLOYEES
The employer must act reasonably or exercise reasonable care to employ reasonably competent and proficient staff and also competent fellow employees. The employer must therefore select competent and suitably qualified people to do his work, providing training and necessary instructions as the case may be. He must ensure that those in charge have the knowledge and ability to see that the work is done safely. He must make sure that no staff constitutes danger to other workers, and if any does, the employer must take necessary precautions to avert the danger. As the court stated in the case of HUDSON, V. RIDGE MANUFACTURING CO. LTD,36per Streatfield, J.:
“If a fellow workman… by his habitual conduct is likely to prove a source of danger to his fellow employees, a duty lies fairly and squarely on the employers to remove the source of dangers”.
In SMITH v. CROSSLEY BROTHERS LTD,37 the court however re-emphasized that the duty to provide competent staff includes the duty to supervise them properly.
2.3 THE STATUTORY DUTIES
In Nigeria, statutes have also imposed additional liability on the employer for the sake of his employee. It had earlier been noted that statutes are sources of the employer’s duties. The employee does not have to prove that his employer acted negligently here, he only has to show that statute imposes a duty on the employer, that the duty is owed to him, that a Breach of the duty has been committed by the employer and that the breach has caused him damage. The rationale for these strict duties imposed on the employer is to protect the employee because a plaintiff (employee) may succeed in an action for breach of statutory duty even if he would have failed at common law.
2.3.1 Adequate training of Workers:
There is an imposed duty on the employer to train workers under his care and employ. This is to enable the workers work efficiently and be up to date on new invensions, especially persons employed in factories. The employer must most especially provide adequate training of workers or any person or persons to be assigned to operate machines, so as to ensure their safety at work. This is to comply with the provision in Section 23 of the Factories Act.
2.3.2 Payment of Wages
The payment of wages to the employee must be made in legal tender like cheque, cash or postal order as provided in LabourAct38 which states thus:
“Subject to this section, the wages of a worker shall in all contracts be made payable in Legal tender and not otherwise and if in any contract the whole or any part of the wages of a worker is made payable in any other manner, the contrary shall be illegal, and void”.
The payments should be made with regular periodicity like daily, weekly, fortnightly, or monthly but no longer than monthly without illegal deductions.
2.3.3 Provision of safe sanitary and humane ` conditions of work
Sections 28, 29, 55, 60, 65, 66 of the Labour Act 1974 provides for Labour health. The employer is statutorily imposed with the responsibility to provide and maintain at all times safe sanitary systems for the employee so as to ensure that they work under humane conditions. The employer has the duty to medically examine workers being recruited before commencement of work or as soon as possible thereafter.39
2.3.4 Annual holiday with pay
The employer is under a statutory duty to grant periodical leave with pay to the employee. Pregnant women are to be granted maternity leave. However, they must tender medical certificate given by any registered medical practitioner stating that confinement will probably take place within six weeks.
A pregnant married woman on maternity leave is to be paid not less than fifty per cent of the wages she should have earned if she had not been absent. If she is nursing her child, she must be allowed half an hour, twice a day during her working hours for that purpose.
2.3.5 Sick leave
The employer may in certain circumstances request that the employee be examined by a medical practitioner nominated by him before granting leave to the employee, up to twelve working days in one calendar year where the sickness is of a temporary nature but certified by a registered medical practitioner. Where the sickness becomes so serious as to frustrate the objects for which the employee was engaged, the contract of employment may be discharged and the employer will be absolved from further liability without prejudice to the earned entitlement before the discharge.
PROBLEMS HINDERING THE EFFECTIVE TEACHING OF FRENCH LANGUAGE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Teaching could be seen as a process of inculcating worthwhile knowledge by the teacher into the learner. This is to train the learner so that he or she can stand on his or her foot in the society. In teaching, three aspects are involved; they are the teacher, the learners and the learning materials. Theodore (2014) refers to it as the process of impacting knowledge and skills from a teacher to a learner. To him it encompasses the activities of educating or instructing. It is an act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. Ugwu and Eze (1999) are of the same opinion as they saw teaching as the act of educating, training and molding of the character and attitude of an individual towards a desired goal.
Teaching cannot take place without the participation of the different persons, the teacher who is a mature and experienced person that is capable of combining different skills, techniques, and strategies to impact knowledge to the immature individual who is at the help of the mature one to learn. In the light of this Aguokogbuo (2000) opines that teaching is a deliberate effort by a mature or experienced person to impart information, knowledge and skills to an immature person. The act of teaching is a highly skilled professional activity which involves curriculum design, exposition of information and knowledge through diversified teaching strategies and using of variety of instructional materials to get the message across to the learner. An acceptable teaching brings about learning.
Learning has been variously defined by various authors. It could be seen as acquiring information, knowledge and skills that will bring about a change in behaviour. The learner learns from a more experienced person. Kirkpatrick (1985) saw it as a knowledge gained from teaching. Nsude (1998) argued that learning is much more than that. To her learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour which occurs as a result of experience or some level of practice. It is worthy of note here that any learning that does not bring about a change in behaviour is not learning. This is because if any learning has taken place it is expected that it will influence the behaviour of the learner either positively or negatively. It is the outwardness of what is learnt that will help anybody around to know that learning has taken place. In our schools today learners learn different subjects taught by the teachers such as English language, mathematics, music etc which French language is one of them.
The teaching and learning of French language in English speaking Africa was not wide spread until 1960 when most African countries got their independence. It was not until around 1960 that Nigeria began to feel a great need for a change in the language teaching policy. Nigeria like other new independent African nations realized that they are surrounded by fellow Africans with whom they could not communicate due to language barrier.
It was during the colonial era that most of the communications between French speaking and English – speaking countries of Africa were channeled to the respective European capitals, thus creating a state of isolation between the two linguistic groups. Therefore a cultivation of the languages used by the groups in their interactions is necessary and French language is one of them.
Nigeria is an Anglophone country surrounded by French speaking nations such as; Niger in the north, Chad in the north-east, Cameroon in east, Republique du Benin in the West and then the Atlantic ocean in the south. “So Nigeria can be described as a “Linguistic Island” surrounded by “French sees” (Offorma, 2009:13. To her there is need for neighbours to live harmonious with one another and this will be effective if the parties have a common medium of communication. She opines that “the co-existence of Nigeria and these countries revolves around economic, political, social and cultural exchanges “ (Offorma, 2009:!3).
Ogah (1984) opined that after the independence, the new African nations reacted swiftly against this state of isolation of African Nations from their neighbours because of the differences in their languages. The West African countries led the movement of technical co-operation African nations, the objective of which was to break the language barrier and within a few years, they were joined by the East African countries. In 1963, the Organization of African Unity (UAU) now African Union (AU) officially approved a policy in Addis Ababa which advocated French-English bilingualism for all African Countries.
Offorma (2009) expatiated on this by saying that “the Addis-Ababa conference on Education and the Yaounde Conference of 1961 recommended that Anglophone African introduced French language as a mandatory subject in her school system and Francophone African introduced English as the second European language as a means of communication and understanding between the people of these two linguistics sectors”. That was important for African countries more so as no African language was developed to meet the purpose. The two most developed African languages are Hausa and Swahili which are still regional language in west African and East African respectively” (Offorma, 2009;14). It is based on this that Nigerian government declared in the National policy on Education (2004:10)
For smooth interaction with our neighbours, it is desirable for every Nigerian to speak French. Accordingly, French shall be the second official language in Nigeria and shall be compulsory in primary and junior secondary schools but non vocational elective at the senior secondary school.
Mbuko (2001) noted that there were about 4000 secondary schools in Nigeria that allowed the teaching and learning of French language in their schools including those of the private schools who even taught it at the primary school level.
In Enugu state French is taught to primary 4, 5 and 6 pupils as it is compulsory. This is important as one cannot engage in inter-regional and intra-African affaires without the knowledge of French. People complain that this language is difficult but notwithstanding the difficulty involved, it has numerous advantages.
There are many French establishment in Nigeria such as Peugeot Assembly of Nigeria (PAN), Michelin, Total, la Belief saving Nigeria limited, banks like la Societe Generale, le Credit Lyonnais and (ECOBANK) Nigeria Public Limited Company, a subsidiary of ECO-Transitional incorporated. To be employed in one of these establishments, the knowledge of French language is required. French language is a diplomatic language. The air and marine transporters make use of it.
So Nigeria needs French language not only to communicate with her Francophone neighbours but also to communicate with other nations of the world. It is also seen as a language used in business and working places. It is a living and modern language. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) records that French language is one of the principal world language used for communication. This is why after independence in Nigeria, efforts were made and are still being made to train French language teachers to teach the language in primary and secondary schools and other schools of higher education.
Some colleges of education admit even students who have no pre-knowledge of French language to train as future French language teachers to see if there will be enough teachers of French to help educate the people in the language. It is because of the importance of this language, that undergraduate French language students are made to undergo compulsory one year abroad programme in order to improve on their proficiency. Of course, it is not possible for all Nigerians to learn to speak French but it is necessary that as many Nigerians as possible should know how to speak and write sound French language.
The possibility of this depends on the number of students that are willing to study French language at higher level (at least above the junior secondary school level).Unfortunately, practical evidence shows that at the senior secondary school where French is made elective, many students drop from French in Junior West School Examination, now Basic Education Certification Examinations. They attribute their drop-out from French to the difficulty of the language and ignorance of what job opportunities that a graduate of French language has. The researcher is of the opinion that poor teaching and dearth of French language resources in the schools could cause students to drop from French language classes. This is because if the teacher is not the master of his or her subject, it becomes difficult for the students to understand what he or she is teaching and this makes them to opt for another subject. Also when these students seek for the resources such as textbooks, radio set, tapes and others that will help them learn, they will always find out that they are costly. They may not also find them in schools as most school libraries do not have current books. For instance the “On y va!” textbooks that is being used in Secondary Schools can be seen in very few schools libraries while other still have France Afrique and the likes. In most of those schools language laboratories are nowhere to be found and these make it difficult for the students of French to learn. As a result of this, some drop-out from French language classes. Teachers of French language in basic level must be aware of the use of some strategies to deliver their lessons and make their lessons interesting to the learners. Strategy is a plan that is intended to achieve a particular purpose. It can also be seen as a process of planning something or putting a plan into operation in a skillful way.
Statement of the Problem
Today, the heavy drop-out of pupils from French language classes after the first three years of exposure to the language has been a concern. The teachers only discover that most of the students have opted for other subjects. Very often the performance of pupils is the reflection of their teachers’ ability to demonstrate skills, knowledge and competences on the use of different strategies for teaching and learning as required in a given school subject.
The report of the Chief Examiners of Junior West African School certificate Examination, now Basic Education Certification Examination over the years showed that the performance of the student in French language is poor. For instance in 2010 only 42.82 percent passed French also in 2011 and 2013 33.36% and 51.55% respectively passed French. From this report one will now see that there is generally poor performance of students in French Basic Education Certification Examinations which may be as a result of strategies used by the teachers.
Therefore, the problem of this study is, what Problems Hindering The Effective Teaching Of French Language In Primary Schools?
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The major aim of the study is to examine Problems Hindering The Effective Teaching Of French Language In Primary Schools. Other specific objectives of the study include;
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Significance of the Study:
This research work is focused on identifying those strategies that teachers and learners of French used in teaching and learning of French language. Those that will benefit from this research work include: teachers, students, workshop organizers, curriculum planners, course book writers, teachers’ trainers and government
The result of this study will help teachers in the field to improve on their teaching skills and methods. As different strategies for teaching and learning of French will be discovered, it will help the teachers to plan their lessons properly and make use of appropriate strategies to deliver their lessons. It will also make them to allow active participation of students as the teachers will only be seen as facilitators of learning.
The result of this study will also help the curriculum planners to know which strategies are appropriate to be used in teaching a particular topic, so that they will be included in French curriculum planning.
It will also help the government in formulating and executing educational policies involving French language. The study will be a guide for achieving the objectives of teaching and learning of French language according to the National Policy on Education.
Scope of the Study
This Study Was Carried Out In Northern Nigeria . The Content Is Limited To Finding Out Problems Hindering The Effective Teaching Of French Language In Primary Schools.
LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
