By Kon Eme
Who do we get our degrees for? For many, a degree is a key, one they can use to open doors of opportunities in their future. They go to school to get those degrees and after graduation, they bear them like a badge of honor. For several others however, the moment they receive their degree, it is banished to a binder somewhere, never again to see the light of day.
What then was the point? How can you spend a minimum of four years toiling away in school, going through unimaginable stress and breaking your back all for a degree that you may not even end up using? This exemplifies the vicious cyclical battle we keep fighting in Nigeria.
The 2022 Nigerian Graduate Report showed that 58.9% of HND graduates are unemployed, 49.55% of OND graduates are unemployed and 39.75% of BSc holders are unemployed. It also stands to assume that the odds keep getting lower. What then is the point of toiling away when there is no certainty that your degree will help you secure a job?
The reason might come from the Nigerian mentality that people who don’t have a tertiary degree of some form are seen as uneducated. Despite secondary school education being sufficient enough to mark a person as literate, a university degree is needed to solidify it. This leads students to apply in droves to universities, getting degrees for courses their parents or the university chose for them or courses they are disinterested in.
Students who choose a course they are interested in are more likely to use their degrees after graduating or proceed further in the same courses of studies. However, if you're dispassionate about it, it becomes very easy to disregard the course and focus more on practical skills gotten during the duration of your study.
They say your degree doesn't always determine your career and that is very true in Nigeria. Many people who end up studying even medicine, law, engineering or any other course that they are pushed into tend to disregard those degrees after unsuccessful job searches.
To avoid this, it is imperative to choose a course that you have an interest or passion in. If you're studying a seemingly unmarketable course as well, it is important to understand that your future isn't determined by your degree and you shouldn't let that darken your search for various career paths.
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