Impact of Integrated Education System on National Development

Abstract

The main thrust of the study was to examine in depth integrated education system in Nigeria. Speculative, Prescriptive, Analytic and Dialectic philosophical modes of investigation were adopted alongside with the use of Key Informant Interview (KII) for the study. It was discovered by the study that the concept of integrated education system is polemical in nature and has been given varied, divergent and confusing interpretations. The researcher through the instruments of analysis was able to destroy wrong perceptions, interpretations, and inappropriate interpretation of integrated education system and presented the correct interpretation of integrated education system as the marrying together of all educational experiences such as the formal, informal and non formal education systems to produce one whole and integrated individual. It was found by the study that Nigeria's government has made tremendous efforts towards integrated education system but fail to set up a body for linking the three educational systems together. The study concluded that Integrated Education has enhanced economic development of the nation, led to the creation of immediate large-scale employment, reduction in rural-urban drifts, development of local technological base and conservation of foreign exchange. It recommended the establishment of vocational training centres for all primary and secondary schools in the Nigerian communities nationwide. Local master craftsmen from within the communities are to be employed and paid by the government to teach their various skills to these pupil/students. Pupils/students in primary/secondary schools are to attend formal schools concurrently with vocational training for skill acquisition.