The Concept, Nature and Scope of Political Economy

Readings in General Studies Education, (Humanities and Social Sciences) Volume I is the first in the College publication series being directly supervised by the Course/Textbook mittee which was set up by the College Management in 2003. The mandate ur LIK ~u111111ittee among other things includes recommending guidelines 011 fh.: writing of coursedtextbooks for publication.
The need for the series arose largely because of the yearning desire of both siaff and students of the College to have access to well researched course materials w:~ii-ti will address the course contents of the various programmes being currently run by the College. The idea of this task was mooted as far back as the 1998199 academic session but it became a reality during the tenure of the current Provost Dr. (Mrs.) P. N. Ndukwu who serio;sly heeded the call of the Appointments and Promotions Committee of the College Governing Council to embark on textlcourse writing and publication for the benefit of both staff and students of the College.
This present volume is therefore primarily written to enhance the teaching and learning of core courses in General Studies education. By and large, issues and topics, which bother on culture and civilization, education and morality, the nature of society, rights of man, problems ofpolitics and governance are comprehensively treated in chapters 1,2,3,4 and 5 respectively.
Chapters 6 and 7 examined the issues of political economy and the funtlamcntal lmblems of economic development in Nigeria. Similarly, Chapters 8,9, 10 & 1 1 took up in greater details an analytical overview of the twin issues of rhilosoplly and Kcligioil in :;aciely especially from the perspectives of the idea ,of God and the Universe and wiilliil the context of different world religions. Chapter 12 made a very good case for the place of moral education in our schools and gave copious recommendations on how the subject should be effectively taught in order to revive and sustain the moral tone of education in Nigeria. .
Issues taken up in chapters 13 and 14 include the place of Guidance and Counselling in promoting effective teaching and learning in Nigerian Schools and the need for proper orientation of students on the requirements of University course system, examination and other related practices. The strategic steps to be taken by students to prepare and pass examinations formed the basis of discussion in chapter 15 while chapter 16,examined the need for proper evaluation of teaching-learning situations bearing in mind the role of continuous assessment, measurement and evaluation in Nigeria's educational system