Influence of Education on Practice of Contemporary Wood Carving in Awka Town, Anambra State

Nwanna Uju Christiana,Nwanna Clifford Ezekwe

doi:10.13189/ujer.2020.080237

Abstract

Informal and formal education systems have played very important role in the Educational development of Africa. Even formal educational system which characterized the present system of education, did not only develop from non – formal education but has consistently shown influence of non – formal education. It is regrettable that most scholars show little interest on the relevance of non-formal education in formal educational system, hence there is a dearth of scholarly Literature on the subject. In view of this problem this study examined the influence of the education system on the Awka wood carving industry. The study employed a survey design, while a descriptive method was used in data analysis. Sources of data include both primary and secondary sources. The primary sources are mainly Oral, while secondary sources are written materials, both published and unpublished. The result of the study showed that Western education has influence on wood carving training in Awka. It therefore recommends that traditional wood carving methods should be introduced to the curriculum for teaching academic art in Nigeria to acquaint students with knowledge of their indigenous arts and culture and to draw inspirations from them for modern art productions.

Highlights

Education which serves as an instrument for the development of both the individual child and the society is not new to any race, rather every society, globally, has evolved one form of educational system or the other
Before the introduction of western education around 19th century and Islamic education which started earlier, in Nigeria, there had been a traditional system of education
By mid-20th century a noticeable change gradually creeped into the Nigerian education system

Summary

Introduction

Education which serves as an instrument for the development of both the individual child and the society is not new to any race, rather every society, globally, has evolved one form of educational system or the other. Western (formal) education systemin Nigeria started in 1842 by Christian missionaries Their activity was concentrated within Lagos area (Badagry and Abeokuta) and later to other parts of southern Nigeria. The aim of these early mission schools emphasized the training of indigenous manpower to carry out evangelical work to the various communities and training of messengers, clerks and cleaners of various missions and British businessmen. One of the major causes of this change was the Asquith Commission, which was set up in 1943, to look into the problem of Nigerian education system One of their major recommendations was that “facilities should be provided for the training of arts and science teachers to control the problem of lack of teachers in the grammar s ch o o ls ”

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion