MUSEUM EDUCATION IN NIGERIA: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

There seems to be lack of effectiveness from those managing museum education in Nigeria, most people seem not to know where the public museums and galleries are, their importance and what they represent. This study sought to examine the challenges and prospects of museum education. The design of the study was a descriptive survey. The target population of the study was 123 museum education officers. The sample was 123 respondents. The instrument for data collection was questionnaire. The data was analyzed using mean score for the three research questions posed for the study. The findings of the study revealed that museum education is important to humanity in many ways, it indicate that there are many challenges hampering the progress of museum education in Nigeria. It was therefore recommended that the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) as an umbrella body of public museums in Nigeria should look toward making policies that will rejuvenate museums education, new cultural programmes involving youths should be carried out to improve public patronage, schools should be made to visit the museums, at least once every session, so as to benefit from the information and pleasures a museum offers, and public-private partnerships should also be encouraged in the area of funding for museums education to achieve set goals.