CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Education is said to a life-long process. It is also defined as the training we give to the mind so as to develop mentally, spiritually, physically, morally and socially so as to be useful to the society in which we live. Education in essence is the transmission of cultural heritage.
The process of transmission of cultural heritage and the acquisition of these knowledge and values in the traditional African setting and Nigeria in particular was through the informal method. However, the arrival of our colonial masters gave rise to the formal type of education. This led to the establishment of schools where formal learning takes place. The consequences of these schools came the influx of children from various background into schools. The situation was compounded when in 1956, the Action group, a political party in control of the western region introduced its free education policy.
This development led to an increase in school in-take while at the same time, the infrastructures could no longer cope with the population increase, and there was also an acute shortage of teaching personnel. The resultant effect was the drop in the standard of education. Many students became drop-outs and invariably, there was need to cater for this group of youth in our society. Parents and guardians started looking for alternative ways through which they can help their wards out of this dilemma. Perhaps the whole concept of continuing education gained impetus as a result of this school problem.
Presently, there has been a gradual growth in the number of continuing education centres in Oredo Local Government. By the same token, these centres have also witnessed an increase in student’s enrolment. In most cases some of these centres are beginning to function as regular institution that one is at a lost whether the name “continuing education centres” can rightly be used for them. But one thing that has become glaring is that these centres are gradually becoming centres for in major examination especially those examinations that leads to university admission.