ABSTRACT

Capitalist economy within the 19th and 20th century has been adjudged not favorable to the workers. Workers in this era were greatly exploited by the few bourgeoisie who owns and controls the means of production. The bourgeoisie lived luxuriously at the expense of the everyday labor of the Proletariat. The exploitation of the poor by the rich resulted in class struggle between the different strata of the society. It is against this unequal stratum of the society that Robert Owen propelled audibly his ideas on utopian socialism that is centered on cooperative communities, equal and equitable distribution of the means of productions. In the same light, Owen proposed education as one of the basic foundation of the society, believing that a better system of education can develop men with superior characters that can in turn gradually exterminate exploitations, social isolation, and class struggles. Apparently, the current Nigerian educational system since has been perceived to be under the great influence of the elements of capitalism which has hitherto, availed the poor little or no standard education hence the rising needs to modify the educational system. Though there has been concerted efforts towards improving Nigerian education system, this efforts are still considered insufficient or viable enough to sustain a standard education system, hence the demands for an alternative education reforms that is aimed at a better Nigeria consolidated on unity and progress. This research deploys the method of comparative analysis towards identifying the similarities and differences between Owen’s concept of Utopian socialism and Nigerian Educational Reforms. Thus, inflaming questions like, Is Nigerians Educational system in par with the global educational practices? How practicable is Owens utopian socialism vis a vis his educational model in the light of Nigeria dispositions? What are the challenges of Owens utopian socialism? What are the success and challenges of Nigerians Educational Reforms? Furthermore, can there be any viable offer from Owens utopianism to Nigerian Educational system? With the above concerns at heart, this research identified Owens utopian socialism as paternalistic and only limited to conventional spaces. While there are great similarities between Owens utopian socialism and Nigerians Educational Reforms, the research pointed out inadequate funding, corruption, infrastructure decay, bureaucratic inefficiencies, political instability, teacher shortages etc, as the challenges of Nigerian Educational Reforms, hence recommendations were made towards solving these perennial problems. This work shall also add to the existing literature for further researches in this field.