MASS MEDIA AND POLYTECHNIC EDUCATION FOR TECHNOLOGICAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examines the importance of the mass media in polytechnic education and overall relationship in socio-economic development of the country. The mass media have proved in many ways to be the most valuable supplements in the transmission of knowledge, increased intellectual development, the formation of character and the acquisition of skills and capacities at all stages of human life. These fundamental functions of the mass media are seen to enhance polytechnic education’s capacity to create a pool of skill-based manpower to support the industrial sectors of the economy. This study has shown that the synergy created by the mass media and polytechnic education in preparing the students to be productive, enterprising and self-reliant can significantly contribute to increased improvement in the lifestyles of individuals in the society through improved means of education, skills development, employment and incomes. Anchored on Uses and Gratification theory as the framework for understanding how people use the mass media, the study builds on the assumption that people use the media to gratify their cognitive needs such as the acquisition of knowledge and information. In view of the contributions of the mass media to polytechnic education and the resultant effect on socio-economic development of the country, the study recommends among others that both the state and national governments should create the enabling environments for the facilitation of effective spread of and access to the mass media so as to actively support polytechnic education for a rapid and sustainable socio-economic development of the country.