SECONDARY EDUCATION AS A FOUNDATION FOR POLITICAL STABILITY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

For peaceful coexistence of man, there must be good governance and good governance is produced by good leadership. For Aristotle, man is a political animal, this means that there is an element of politics in every individual. It is only education that can build and inculcate the right political values that engender political stability of a nation. This article focuses on secondary education as a foundation for achieving political stability in Nigeria. Secondary education is an aspiration stage of the child and students at this stage are mainly adolescents. Adolescence is a notable age of logical reasoning. Whatever information, knowledge and experiences gathered at this stage remain permanent and well consolidated. This means that whatever a child would be in future is always determined at this stage of life. Hence, there is a great need to lay a solid political foundation by inculcating the right political attitudes in children at this level. Based on this, this paper advocates that the study of political education apart from the normal related subjects like civic education and government should start from secondary school. It is expected that the ideals/principles that promote good governance should be taught and inculcated into the child at early stage. This would make the child to realize the consequences of some of the vices that will create political instability. By the time a child finished secondary school, the child is expected to have internalized and imbibed all the political values, culture and rudiments that sustain good governance and citizenship.