THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF LITERATURE IN NIGERIA FOR ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES

Résumé

After the failure of many countries, including Nigeria, to meet the target of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) rolled out in the year 2000 by the United Nations (UN), the UN General Assembly met in 2015 to adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (ASD). The Annual Human Development Reports usually published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have always shown a wide gap in achievements between the developed and underdeveloped (developing) countries of the world, especially in the areas of literacy, poverty, child and maternal health care and life expectancy. In view of item 4 of the 17 – point agenda, which requires that all nations should “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities” (UNDP, 2015), the place of education in achieving such sustainable development goals in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized as education has always been considered as the bedrock of development of any nation. This paper is of the opinion that for achieving sustainable goals in Nigeria‟s education sector, Literature-inEnglish, which is one of the subjects taught at the secondary school level, cannot be left out especially when its roles are considered. Among the roles that Literature can play in achieving the goals include, sensitization of the citizenry and awareness of their societal roles, entertainment, education and enlightenment, expression of cultural values, addressing social and material inequalities, propagation of efforts to end hunger, achieving food security and sustainable agriculture, assisting in ensuring healthy life and promotion of the well-being of citizens. The paper therefore posits that Literature-inEnglish should be made compulsory for all students in schools. It advocates that all education stakeholders should endeavour to encourage Literature teachers through incentives that will allow them handle the subject with all dexterity required for achieving the sustainable development goals in the education sector.