Date: 2020-12-30

BEING THE LECTURE OF THE KWARA STATE HONOURABLE COMMISSIONER FOR EDUCATION AND HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT; HAJIA AHMED FATIMAH BISOLA AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT THE SYMPOSIUM AND FLAG OFF CEREMONY OF OYUN STUDENTS ASSOCIATION NATIONAL HEADQUATERS ON 29TH DECEMBE

Courtesy

It is my pleasure to be amidst you today as a Guest and Keynote Speaker.

First of all, I want to commend the organizers of this event for thinking in this direction in the first place. As an educationist and development enthusiast, I want to tell you that what you have organised is very much needed in every visionary human society like ours today.

As a matter of fact, it is an inalienable lubricant in the wheel of strategic development. This is why I will like to assure the organizers with the short words of Benjamin Franklin which state that:

"If you do not want to be forgotten,

When you are dead and rotten,

Do what is worth writing,

Or write what is worth doing".

This is exactly what you have done and you shall all be remembered for the good deed.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I am to speak on the topic: Education; A Tool for Community Development today and I shall be as straight and concise as possible at that. So, please follow me attentively.

As we all know, Education is the PROCESS by which we acquire KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS and CAPACITY which are harnessed into PRODUCTIVITY- the result of which is the DEVELOPMENT of our world. By this definition, l am stressing that the existence of educational process in the first place is not in a vacuum. Education is not haphazard. It is a series of programmes that has specific motives. For the sake of understanding, I want to classify these motives into two, which are: The Primary Motives and The Secondary Motives.

The Primary Motives of education are what I referred to in my definition as knowledge, skills and capacity which every human community needs to be able to move forward in wellness. Therefore, these primary motives must be transformed into "productivity" which will in the long run guarantee the collective welfare of the State.

In essence, I am saying that the amount of knowledge, skills and human capacity acquired by the people in any society should be directly proportional to the degree of development that would be experienced in such society. That is on the first hand.

On the second hand, the secondary motive of educational process is the transformation of the acquired knowledge, skills and human capacity into productivity. Ladies and gentlemen, you will believe with me that there is no value in any education acquired without being put to use. This usage is the productivity I am talking about and it can manifest in all aspects of our life; such as governance, medical and health, transportation, socio-cultural engagements and what have you? It is therefore paramount for all educational stakeholders to key into measures that would facilitate productivity in all ramifications. It is productivity as a result of knowledge, skills and human capacity which are put to use, that will in turn result to the overall development of our State.

So, having said that, let us quickly have a look at what a community is.

A community is a physical entity of humans who live together and are socio-culturally identical. Apart from living together in a geographical area, a typical community has a goal of development and welfare of all. This is evident in a work of Muhammad Kameel Omotosho as published in the 2020 edition of FORESIGHT FOR FOREWARDNESS; a community development magazine. The work is titled Community, Youth, Development: A Tripod. According to him, the core of a community is that they care about one-another, which leads to trust, collaboration, sharing, support, hope, safety and above all, solidarity towards a wholistic development.

Therefore, I want to opine here that a community is like a miniature Nigeria. The love, care, support and solidarity demonstrated by the people is what will amount to the overall development of such community.

Distinguished Gathering, having established the motives of education, I will like to buttress here that accomplishing the motive of any educational process is one thing, ensuring the motives are actually working for us as a community is another thing.

Furthermore, let me itemize some roles played by education on community development for our clear understanding.

According to Sophie (2020), in her work titled THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT in which she asked a very good question. She said: "Why is education so important for development in a human society? The answers to her question are what I am about to highlight now.

When an educational process is effective, the roles it will play on the development of community are:

One, it will enhance the capacity of the community members. Distinguished gathering, it is through adequate capacity of the community members that necessary technical knowhow would be acquired, which would in return, be channeled towards developmental courses for the community. .

Secondly, an educated community is a community of equality. By this, I mean that as a result of education, each and every member of the community has equal opportunity to job, governance and what have you? An example of this is the issue of gender segregation and some other social divides that prevail around us.

Thirdly, educated members of a community will have better understanding of rights and wrongs as well as their consequences. .

Ladies and Gents, you will reason with me that as a result of this, they will know how to avoid crimes, which will in return guarantee the peace and security of the community.

Also, good education will help community members to know their rights, duties and obligation. This will guide them on how to protect themselves from all kinds of exploitation and encourage them to approach necessary quota to seek developmental interventions on behalf their community.

Above all, Honourable Gathering, a good education will help a community to be focus and embark on possible measures that will enhance their collective development.

Gentlemen and Ladies, it is therefore of profound importance to us, as a community, to be on our feet and measure whether the education we acquire is actually working for us or working against us.

Before I proceed, I would like to task every one of us whom I am sure will definitely belong to a community never to relent and should at all times try as much as possible to ensure that we inhibit togetherness spirit in us which should always be channeled towards effort that will complement the commitment of this government so that together we will achieve a society of our dream.

Once again, thanks to the organizers and thank you all for your attention.