CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Adult education has been given varying definitions by many scholars and organisations.

UNESCO (1976) defined adult education as denoting “the entire body and organised educational process, whatever the content the level of method whether formal or otherwise, whether prolong or replace initial education in schools, colleges and universities as well as apprenticeship, whereby persons regarded as adult by the society to which they belong develop their abilities, which their knowledge, improve their technical and professional qualifications and bring about changes in their attitudes or behaviour in the two fold perspective of full personal development, participation, balanced and independent social, economic and cultural development.

“Adult Education is a process whereby persons who no longer attend school on a regular and full time basis (unless full home programmes are especially designed for adult) undertake sequential and organised activities with conscious intention of bringing about change in information, knowledge, undertakings of skills, appreciation and attitudes or for the purpose of identifying and serving personal or community problem”.

According to Onuoha (1990), programes that are adult education based are agricultural and farmers training programme, adult literacy programmes, occupational skill training, youth clubs, various community development programmes, programmes of instruction in health, nutrition, family planning co-operatives etc. These programmes, Onuhoa went further, are for the creation of awareness, passage of necessary information and the enhancement of individual development, growth and social well beings.

People have consciously or unconsciously engaged themselves in family planning throughout history. Abstinence either life long or temporary and prohibitions, forbidden intercourse during certain festivals, effectively curtail the fertility rate (the number of life birth for each woman during her life time) (Barns 1990). Also separation of husbands from their wives for long period of time either because of war or employment, curtail the birth rate and fertility.

According to Nnadi (1994) abortion has been used to limit family size and descriptions can be found in the herbal and other folklores of women and midwives of most societies. The deliberate abandonment of infants and young children even killing of new borns has not been uncommon in the past or even in some areas of the world today (Hooday, 1993).

Adult education programes especially on health matters like family planning is an important programme that is intended to touch the lives of the people, especially couples and other sexually active youths in the society. Family planning, using adult education programme enables the adults who are still sexually active to know when to engage in sexual acts, what system to use and the best method of contraceptives to apply in curtailing fertility or birth rate. Therefore, adults more especially couples who engage themselves in adult education programmes would in any case avail themselves of the opportunity of curtailing their family size, avoiding abortion and being able to space their child birth rate (Anyanwu, 1994).