1.1 INTRODUCTION
This research work entitled “An investigative study of the performance of educational broadcasting in Nigeria” will as a first step, take a piercing look into the conceptual basis of education and marry its relationship with Television broadcasting before making an assessment of how its input has fared under NTA Awka channel.
The kind of education been referred to here is not the conventional one geared solely towards certification and formal attendance to school.
Rather, we are concerned with education as a prime motivator to action, a nourishing blood stain that cuts across all aspects and school chemistry of human endeavour, it is the creation of awareness through which aspiration are nationally raised and willingness to work in order to progress, becomes, the rule rather than exception.
In this tone, education refers to the transmission of values. Here, people are investigated and instructed on how to act and what is expected with each action taken.
On the importance of education, Ofodile, A.O in his lectures claimed that education exonerates man from all forms of ignorance and stupor. But the natural question that comes to mind is “How does education manifest itself”. “Education manifests through language” says Marshial in his book communication education impact (1943).
Representing education in a broad sense could be said to include every activity, which enable an individual to master his physical and social environment of which he is a member. It is an act of teaching, bringing up, tutoring or enlightening individuals on an organized and formal instruction.
The mass media have in recent times, taken a solid and positive step towards enhancing development in the country. Therefore mass media can be referred to as “the bowed institution and technology by which special group employs technological devices to disseminate information to a large, heterogenous and diversified audience. These media popularity includes the newspaper, magazine, radio, television etc. though this study is limited to only Television. All the mass media houses especially television carry out their educational programmes through language and visuals. In case of Nigeria, the language is English and local dialects. Only television is the media that can combine both audio and visuals appealing to both sense of hearing and that of sight.
Despite the place of language in educational broadcasting, it is almost impossible to divorce mass media from education. They go hand in hand like the raceme twins. They are the vehicles through which individuals are persuaded, coerced and influences to discard his opinion and embrace a positive new or to modify his attitude in which he has never being aware of.
Broadcasting by definition is the dissemination of information, ideas etc or radio and television signals through the use of air waves to the masses. Whosoever they are, whether at their homes, offices recently in the automobiles and mobile phones.
The origin of educational broadcasting in Nigeria could be linked with the introduction of broadcasting services in the country by the colonial administration. The broadcasting service involved a system where a station source information from British broadcasting cooperation (BBC) programmes and then relayed same to subscribers through cable connected to loudspeakers in their homes. It was called Radio diffusion service (RDA) until in 1952 when Nigerian broadcasting services (NBS) was established to takeover this service. It was later changed to Nigerian broadcasting corporation in 1957 by an act of parliament. It became a public property but not an organ of government: (Asemah 2011) it brought news now in English and the three main languages.
Television broadcasting followed when it was established in the country in 1959 by the government of western region of Nigeria. It was the first television broadcast in Africa. Later in 1960, the eastern Nigerian television was established in Enugu, very close to Awka. The northern Nigerian followed later. The Nigerian television services started transmission in Lagos in 1962 and in 1970 the militating government used the NTS to merge the three other regional government owned stations under the name NTV which later became NTA born in the national network headquarters in Lagos and later established in all the states in Nigeria including Anambra where Awka is the capital. The main objective of NTA was to educate the people on politics, economics, health etc.
The NTA through their organ NTA educational television have fashioned out educational programmes which are dished out to the public for their viewing and listening pleasure. The question that comes to mine is whether the broadcast media have really helped in educational advancement and perhaps national development.
Over the years, lots of studies and researches have been carried out and consequently many books written and published in order to discover the answer to the above question.
Today it is accepted that educational broadcast produce some effects on the audience in the areas retention, comprehension, relaxation and out-spoken ability. But in some cases the media, produce some negative influence on the audience however, it would appear that the broadcast media are not living up to their expectation even though the fault or blame should not be attributed to them alone.
The impact of broadcast media, especially the TV have succeeded in breaking the barrier of distance which has hindered the growth and expansion of the print media. The programmes have centered on development communications which according to Nwosu (1990,69) evolves in different ways, the understanding, control, management and organized channeling of people attitude and opinion towards the achievement of well defined goals. The mass media have become an instrument for this national goal. As far the faults or shortenings, the government and the entire citizenry also have their share of the blames and faults. The problem lies squarely on freedom of the press or freedom of expansion for the whole country.
Notwithstanding, the problems; television broadcast media of Awka metropolis have as their formal objectives the following:
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS
Television educational broadcasting has a big problem to the society at large in the sense that:
It corrupts the minds of the audience especially the residents of Awka metropolis. It exposes one to pornographic movies such that it exposes the teenagers to some programs not useful for their consumption. It encourages laziness in the residents of Awka metropolis. Despite the nearness of the broadcasting station, the service delivery to the residents of Awka metropolis is poor.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The researcher highlights the following as her objectives.
iii. To actualize the claims that broadcasting is useful to the residents of Awka metropolis instead of making them lazy and idle.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
To show that mass media have gone a long way to enhance or facilitate education in Nigeria. To show that television viewing in Nigeria has multiplied and a greater number of people have access to it. To enlighten the masses on the educative aspect of the television and to allow them air their views through feedback.
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Based on the objective of the study, the following questions are necessary for formulation of hypothesis.
iii. Does NTA broadcasting service encourage laziness and idleness in Awka metropolis?
1.6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
A study of this magnitude and scope could not be carried out without encountering problems that tends to hinder the progress of the study or the volume that would have been covered by the researcher. These problems ranges from personal to environmental constrains. A look at these problems will only tell so much about our level of under development.
Finance: As a result of serious constraints of finance, the researcher would have done a critical comparative study of the firms, narrow the study down to Nigerians. The financial constraints in this regard bothered a little far away from the base of the research.
Time: Time was another problem encountered by the researcher so that he had to be doing the balancing of missing his lectures, for so many days in search of data; also in relationship to the time constraints, the researcher sometimes made futile moves at getting at the respondents who either complained of being too busy to attend to the researcher or weren’t on seat.
Respondents: Some of the respondents were not forth coming with the information required by the researcher. The interviewed respondents hoarded information’s that they consider sensitive to the researcher for fear that such could get into the hands of their competitors or enemies. They added that if they consider the information non-sensitive, they might release such to their researcher. Attempts by the researcher to convince the respondents that the exercise was purely academic proved abortive, however, he was able to continue with the much he was given.
1.7 Conceptual and Operational Definitions:
Television: As it is used in the study means an instrument used in dissemination of information making use of audio visuals and intended to reach larger audience.
Broadcasting: This is an act of dissemination of information to widely dispersed audience through air waves.
Popularity: As used in this work, means to be known pleasing and useful to the target audience.
Communication: Is a principal component of the society which the members of the society uses to interact.
Mass media: They refers to the channels through which messages as spread to the heterogeneous and which dispersed audience of mass communication.