Social Justice in Education and Celebration of Workforce Diversity: Evidence from Enugu State, Nigeria

Social justice in education is a very diverse and plural concept and faces many tensions when issues concerning inequality are discussed and implemented in the educational sector of any society. It is defined as an obligation to challenge political, social, cultural, and economic inequalities imposed on individuals under the differential distribution of political, economic resources and privileges. Educational inequality is the disproportionate distribution of educational resources including experienced and qualified teachers, school funding, technologies, and books to socially excluded cities and communities. These facts are very much prevalent in Nigeria today. The objectives of this study are to identify the different patterns of social injustices in the educational workforce and to expose the challenges that mitigate the implementation of social justice in both educational and organizational workforce diversity. The paper adopts the methodology of documentary analysis of current issues in the surveyed literature which enhances critical thinking and contextual analysis of issues. It concludes that the teaching of social justice in education especially in today's Nigeria is germane to both educational and organizational workforce diversity. This is because of the observed apparent cases of cronyism, tribal alliances, ethnocentric jingoism, and agitations for selfdetermination. The paper recommends that there is an urgent need to reform the educational sector in the country at all levels through a higher budgetary allocation to the sector to meet the UNESCO global standards. Doing this would go a long way in bridging the gap in political, social, and economic inequalities among the geographical regions in Nigeria.