THE ROLE OF FORMAL SCHOOL IN PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURIAL CAPACITIES IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Entrepreneurship capacities are increasingly recognized as important drivers of economic growth, productivity and employment, and as a key aspect of economic dynamism. Recent dimensions to entrepreneurship have necessitated the need for formal education for entrepreneurs. There has been consequent rapid increase in the numbers of schools (primary, secondary and tertiary) all over the world. The continuous expansion in the educational and other training institutions is part of the quest for entrepreneurial capacity building. As indicated earlier changes in manpower needs induce appropriate reactions from the human resource development agencies.

Formal education according to Bassey (2006) is a process of acculturation through which an individual is helped to develop his potentials and maximum activation in order to achieve self-fulfillment and happiness. Ajuzie (2005) sees education as an essential part of the society process employed to train the human beings to be functional and to adopt the behavioral patterns by the same society. Education is also an ever- present phenomenon in each phase of human civilization however diverse its nature in each era (Ekwosi, 2012). Embedded in these views is the role education plays in training human beings. The role of education in entrepreneurial capacity development cannot be over emphasized. Some people even see the importance of education in human development to the extent of presenting education as playing a complementary role in creation of human beings, hence they assert that God initiated creation and education completed it.

The whole value of an individual that gives him his worth and determines his relative position in his society is a function of his education no matter the type. According to Amao-keinde (2000), education, as a process, embodies all forms of activities that fit an individual for social living. It helps to transmit culture from generation to generation. The desire of every society is that the individuals in the society get developed towards the overall development of the society itself.

The school takes upper hand in the process of entrepreneurial development of the members of the society (Ajuzie, 2005). No society can exist and maintain continuity in norms and values without one form of education or the other. That a human being is different from a beast is as a result of the training (education) he received growing in human society imbibing the norms and values of that society. The need for proper education in the area of business management has led to the introduction of entrepreneurship education into the school curriculum.

Entrepreneurship education as part of the total educational system is the type of education that involves the acquisition of skills, ideas and management abilities necessary for job creation. Proper education can only be gotten from a formal school. A formal school is an institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students or pupils under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools. The names for these schools vary by country but generally include primary school for young children and secondary school for teenagers who have completed primary education. An institution where higher education is taught, is commonly called a university college or university.

An entrepreneur promotes employment rather than seeking for an employment. Therefore, there is a need to embrace this type of education and provide all the necessary resources needed to make functional. Quality entrepreneurship education could be used as a tool for fighting the war against poverty and unemployment in Nigeria. Therefore, quality entrepreneurship education will enhance job creation which will subsequently reduce unemployment, poverty and social vices in Nigeria. This will also help to improve the standard of living; hence promote social economic and political development in Nigeria which is the cardinal objective of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Also, for the recipient of entrepreneurship education to be a job creator rather than job-seeker, he might acquire essential basic skills and attitudes which will enable him to function as an entrepreneur.

1.2       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Generally, there are some challenges militating against the production of quality entrepreneurial capacity in Nigeria. These may come from the government, parents or even from certain unpredictable environmental forces which are external. Unless these problems are looked into, the realization of the aim and objectives of quality entrepreneurship education in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Nigeria will be a mirage. It is therefore, against this background that this study examines role of formal school in promoting entrepreneurial capacities in Nigeria. Although, there is now a very serious attention paid to entrepreneurship education in tertiary institutions in Nigeria and the world-over.

1.3       OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following are the objectives of this study:

1.      To examine the role of formal school in promoting entrepreneurial capacity in Nigeria.

2.      To determine the adequacy of school curriculum in promoting entrepreneurial capacity in Nigeria.

3.      To identify the factors militating against the promotion of entrepreneurial capacity through formal school.

1.4       RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.      What is the role of formal school in promoting entrepreneurial capacity in Nigeria?

2.      What is the adequacy of school curriculum in promoting entrepreneurial capacity in Nigeria?

3.      What are the factors militating against the promotion of entrepreneurial capacity through formal school?

1.5       HYPOTHESIS

H_O: There is no significant relationship between formal school and promotion of entrepreneurial capacity in Nigeria.

H_A: There is significant relationship between formal school and promotion of entrepreneurial capacity in Nigeria

1.6       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The following are the significance of this study:

1.      The outcomes of this study will reveal the role of formal school in promoting entrepreneurial capacity in Nigeria. It will also reveal the basis for entrepreneurship education which has been introduced to formal school all over the world to develop entrepreneurial capabilities

2.      This research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the role of formal school in promoting entrepreneurial capacity in Nigeria, thereby constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area.

1.7       SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY