Education is a vital instrument for social and economic development. It has the potential to transform an individual and the society. This is why education remains the only bedrock without which social well-being, politics and sound economics cannot be optimally utilised for nation-building and development writes CHRIS NJOKU.
A nation’s national curriculum is at the heart of its education system, it is a primary source of support and direction for learning and teaching in the education system. The stakeholders believe that curriculum plays the role of an equaliser in terms of educational standards. It is, therefore, imperative for educational authorities to develop curriculum policy that is of high quality which communicates the curriculum message widely and with clarity.
Stakeholders have recognised curriculum as an outcome of decisions of the people as to what knowledge, skills, values and competencies learners should be taught in schools to enable them to live and contribute meaningfully to the development and growth of the society.
It is on this basis that Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) has initiated series of activities across the country that will elaborately engage stakeholders in fashioning out new curriculum for the nation’s senior secondary school education with the intent of ensuring that the curriculum, in its real sense, reflects the needs and aspirations of all Nigerians.
On this premise, over 200 teachers and other stakeholders from five states in South East converged on Owerri, the Imo State capital to inaugurate another curriculum development approach which NERDC intends to introduce in the nation’s education system.
Acknowledging the importance of the exercise which is the first of its kind in the history of curriculum development in Nigeria, experts say the rigours, strength and basic intelligence of the Nigerian child in schools cannot be undermined, just as learning cannot be confined to archaic and outdated curriculum.
In a chat with The Nation at the stakeholders’ dialogue for the review of the senior secondary education curriculum (SSEC), the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Prof. Ismail Junaidu, described the event as a stakeholders’ consultative forum created to bring together thoughts of all Nigerians, including students, on issues and expectations pertaining to the curriculum in terms of contents, delivery and learning experiences.
He said the dialogue, which is expected to be held in each of the six geo-political zones, is specifically meant to offer Nigerians the opportunity to participate in the curriculum development process, thus making it a people-oriented national document.
The executive secretary harped on continually building and improving on the curriculum which points at the need to stem the tide of an impending crisis in teaching and learning, adding that sound curriculum will enable the teachers to prepare students for the future workplace, equip them with necessary core skills and techniques to enable them to compete with their counterparts around the world.
He recalled that the current senior secondary curriculum was introduced into the schools in 2011. This was after NERDC took a holistic review of the school curricula beginning from primary school. The need to restructure, realign and revise the then curricula arose mainly because the old primary, junior and senior secondary schools’ curricula were no longer meeting the goals of our education in terms of human capital development, job creation and poverty eradication.
Apart from this, he pointed out, there was also the compelling need to meet the targets of the Internationally Agreed Goals (EFA and MDGs) as well as ensure the acquisition of competences and skills laying the foundation of vocational and entrepreneurship development in Nigeria.
He said there was also an urgent need to create the opportunity for students and learners particularly at the senior secondary education level to acquire relevant trade/entrepreneurship skills required for poverty eradication, job creation and wealth generation as well as consolidate the foundation for ethical, moral and civic values acquired at the basic education level.
He noted that nine years after the introduction of the current SSEC, times have changed, the world has moved on, new ideas have been created, knowledge has advanced, new world goals have been set, new skills have emerged and new technologies have been developed.
He observed that the only way to catch up with these changes and create opportunities for our children is to acquire new skills and competencies that will provide them with the requisite learning experiences through the revision of the curriculum.
A stakeholder and a senior official at the Presidency, Dr. Ify Nnamchi Ukaegbu, who represented Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals opined that curriculum has a direct impact on the quality of teaching and learning in schools, especially toward improving access and ensuring relevance in the education sector.
She called for a regular review and updating of existing curricula to meet changing societal needs in line with global best practices in order to achieve quality education in Nigeria by the year 2030.
She reiterated the commitment of the office of the President on SDGs to give priority attention to programmes and projects related to the education of the students in a bid to deliver on the SDGs, saying that the office is fully committed to effective implementation of a number of initiatives and programmes aimed at mainstreaming, integrating and aligning the SDGs into the national development plans.
As a government, she said, the Presidency has taken strategic steps to focus on investing in high impact interventions, especially targeted at addressing the concerns of education in the country.
Such interventions include the Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) to states and LGAs which focuses on access to education, health services, water and sanitation, vocational and skills acquisitions, design of the implementation framework for addressing out-of-school-children menace in six pilot states namely Kano, Edo, Plateau, Ondo, Kaduna and Enugu, the establishment of SDGs Digital Smart Classroom in collaboration with Net Dragon.
She also said the office has a world largest lesson activation of students, families and communities, saying that the programme was aimed at stimulating individual as well as collective ownership of the SDGs by bringing the SDGs to students through the SDGs lessons and action plan delivered by teachers and peers, among others across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
Lady Dora Mirikwe, Director, Education Support Services, Imo State Ministry of Education who represented the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Beatrice Uwandu-Uzoma urged the NEDRC and other stakeholders to critically look into the past curricula that were developed to find out the strength and weaknesses and effect positive corrections.
She specifically mentioned the 34 entrepreneurial (trade subjects) and noted that the contents of most of these trade subjects are so scanty and lack depth. She, therefore, advocated for a way of merging some of these trade subjects that are related, thereby increasing the depth of their contents.
The Director, Curriculum Development and Instructional Material Centre, University of Nigeria (UNN), Prof. Okey Akuka said most of what the country does currently had long been established by the centre in 1971/73 working independently with ministries before the issue of curriculum became specialised, adding that the nation’s curriculum must align with economic globalisation.
The participants, who spoke differently at the end of the dialogue expressed their happiness and commended NERDC for taking the initiative in the curriculum development process.
According to them, this is the first time that critical stakeholders even at the grassroots are being given the opportunity to make inputs in what should be taught in schools. This will make the curriculum to be indeed “the people’s curriculum.”
However, a student of Nkwere Community Secondary School, Opara Goodness said facilities and ICT equipment necessary for effective implementation of the new curriculum should be adequately provided in schools, even as she added that the government should provide an adequate number of qualified subject teachers to handle all new subjects effectively.
She concluded that under the present state of Nigerian educational system, there is a “mismatch” between education and job opportunities.
“It has always been difficult for school leavers at the secondary level to secure job opportunities when they complete their senior secondary education. This makes it important for the government to ensure that the curriculum in secondary schools in the country should correct these anomalies for the sake of our future.”
The stakeholders called on the government to ensure proper implementation of the curriculum when it is finally developed.
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