Survey of the Educational Needs of the Fishermen in Riverine Areas of Kebbi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Fishermen are a special minority group whose lifestyle and cultural activities have precluded them from benefiting from any social activities of the sedentary population, especially education. The National Policy on Education (2013) 6^th Edition, stipulates the direction of the national policy towards ensuring adequate educational opportunities at all levels of education and the provision of compulsory, free and universal education. The paper seeks to highlight efforts made by the National Commission for Nomadic Education to cater to the educational needs of the different categories of Nomads in Nigeria including migrant fishermen. The paper recognized that the Federal Government of Nigeria had adequately addressed the educational needs of the Migrant Fishermen in the Southern part of Nigeria, unlike Northern Nigeria where the Fishermen's Educational needs have not been responded to. The research methodology consists of research design, population of the study, sample and sampling techniques, instrumentation, validity and reliability of the research instrument. The sampling technique employed for this research study is that of (Morgan and Krecie, 1971), 2014 revised which suggests that 306 could be taken out of 1500.  In this regard, therefore, 306 is taken as the sample while 1500 is taken as the population size. A deliberate sampling method is used to select the two local government areas in Kebbi state.  The paper presented some recommendations which include requesting the Kebbi State Government to deploy more teachers to the schools, reviewing the curriculum and timing to reflect the cultural lifestyle of the Fishermen in Kebbi State and a conclusion.