SKILLS ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION AND POVERTY REDUCTION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Education is not only the process of acquiring formal knowledge taught in schools, but also a process that is geared towards changing the behaviour, attitudes and abilities that will be transformed into positive change as well as social and economic transformation of individuals and the society. Skills Acquisition Training Programmes are the recent strategies used by most governments to serve the triple benefits of imparting formal education, entrepreneural and technical skills that lead to the poverty reduction of the beneficiaries. This study is aimed at assessing the contributions of the different training programmes on improving the literacy level, self-sufficiency, self-reliance and the poverty reduction of the trainees. 195 questionnaires were the sample size used to collect data from the trainees of computer, tailoring, welding, carpentry, and interlocking while interview was conducted to the administrators of the training programmes in some selected SATC, in Borno state. Similarly, multivariate regression analysis with the help of AMOS was used to test the hypotheses formulated for the study. The study revealed that SATP have significantly impacted on improving the literacy level and poverty reduction of the beneficiaries, hence recommended for the continuous sustenance of the Programme to reduce adult illiteracy, poverty level and enhance national development.