The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) has curriculums for primary and secondary schools. But not all schools are using these curriculums, report KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE, ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA, OLUWATOYIN ADELEYE, and JANE CHIJIOKE.
The jury is still out on the matter. Even though, there are curriculums for primary and secondary schools developed by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC). Private schools do not see anything good in them. Is that right? To stakeholders, this is an issue that must be thrashed out to save education. While all public primary and secondary schools (including federal government colleges, and military-run schools) and many private schools implement these curriculums, other private schools, particularly those that serve the elite, run foreign curriculums to appeal to their market segment. It has become fashionable for private schools to mix the Nigerian curriculums with whatever foreign curriculums they find attractive.
Many experts see this as a shaddy committment and are seeking a law to make the Nigerian curriculum compulsory.
The Nigerian curriculums
One of the services provided by NERDC is curriculum development. Established in 1998, NERDC designs curriculums for all levels of education. It draws from the National Policy on Education (NPE) of 1977 (last reviewed in 2004), which stipulates that Nigerians must be educated for self reliance, individual and national development.
With the passing of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Law in 2004, NERDC developed the Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) in 2008 in tandem with the UBE goals, which seek to provide a minimum of nine years of quality education (primary and junior secondary) for all school-age children.
Dr Moses Salau, Head, NERDC Southwest Zone, said at a workshop in Lagos last Monday that the expectation for any child that passes through the BEC is to have acquired appropriate levels of literacy, numeracy, manipulative, communication and life skills, as well as ethical, moral and civic values needed for laying a solid foundation for life-long learning.
The BEC, which was revised and deployed in schools from the start of the 2014/2015 academic calendar last September, reduced subjects taken at primary and junior secondary level to a maximum of 10 (from 17).
Primary i.e 1-3 pupils take English, Mathematics, Basic Science and Technology, Nigerian Language, Religious and National Values (RNV), Cultural and Creative Arts (CCA) and Pre-Vocational studies (PVS)as core subjects, and Arabic Language as elective. From Primary Four, they begin to study French.
RNV encompasses subjects, such as, Christian Religious Studies (CRS), Islamic Religious Studies(IRS), Social studies, Civic education and Security education as themes. PVS is an umbrella subject for Home Economics, Agriculture and Entrepreneurship; Basic Science and Technology (BST) covers Basic Science, Basic technology, Physical Health Education (PHE) and Information Technology (IT).
Salau said globally-relevant issues such as security, disaster and risk reduction, climate change, and peace and conflict resolution have been infused into the new curriculum to ensure that the present-day learners are educated in line with current realities.
The NERDC followed up the BEC curriculum with the launch of the Senior Secondary School (SSS) curriculum which was first deployed in schools in 2011.
Under the curriculum, SS1-3 pupils take English Language, General mathematics, one Trade/Entrepreneurship subject, and Civic Education as core subjects. The electives are selected from four fields of study namely: Science and mathematics, Technology, Humanities, and Business Studies.
Regarding the Trade/Entrepreneurship subject, pupils are expected to choose from 36 subjects such as: Auto Body Repair and Spray Painting, Auto Mechanical Work, Welding and Fabrication Engineering Craft Practice, Painting and Decorating, Plumbing and Pipefitting, Carpentry and Joinery, Catering Craft Practice, Cosmetology, and Photography, among others.
However, despite these laudable changes, there are two main issues that affect the new curriculums – acceptability and problems of implementation.
Why schools use foreign curriculums
While the issue of implementation can be addressed with increased awareness, development of instructional materials and textbooks to cover all thematic areas of the curriculum, and training of teachers to handle the new subject areas, the issue of acceptability is more difficult.
Many school owners and administrators feel that using the Nigerian curriculum alone is inadequate preparation for pupils that may seek to school outside Nigeria later in life.
The Lagos State government has made it compulsory for all schools to follow the Nigerian curriculum. However, Director of Curriculum Services, Mrs Joy Ojei, said at a workshop when the question came up, that some schools that prepare their pupils for foreign examinations are given concession, but with the provision that they must use the Nigerian curriculum.
However, implementation of this policy is yet to be seen because some schools insist on following the curriculum that suits their students.
Mr Abraham Ogunkanmbi, Montessori Director/pre-school principal, Greensprings Schools, Lekki campus, said the pre-school section of the school runs the Montessori curriculum; the primary school runs the British National Curriculum, while the secondary school works with the Cambridge International General Certificate of secondary Education. It also runs the International Baccalaureate curriculum after secondary school.
He believes that schools should be free to run whatever curriculum they like.
He said: “My school is an international school and those are the international programmes we run. We do not write the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), but if our students are interested in that, they can register for that on their own outside the school. The individual school should determine the kind of curriculum they would like to run, based on their discretion, because you cannot tell me what you want me to run in my school, being an international school. But we do a lot of cultural events and quite a lot of things that have to do with Nigeria are explored in my school.”
For many other schools, mixing the local and foreign curriculum is the best way to make children more rounded for the international market.
Ifunanya Ezenba, supervisor of Chrisland Schools, Victoria Garden City, Lagos, said her school runs both Nigerian and British curricula to prepare them for foreign education.
“We are raising international children who have the tendency to travel out of the country. So this would broaden their scope; and with the British curriculum, those who spend their holidays abroad can go for summer lessons and the methods of teaching would not be too strange to them. Limiting them to only Nigerian curriculum would not do them any good. The most important thing is to have a child-centered education that can prepare them for the outside world, not just to pass exam. So that anywhere they find themselves in the world, they would have the confidence to compete favourably with any child,” she said.
Proprietress of Diamonds Mine School, Ogba, Lagos, Mrs Romoke Aderibigbe, shares a similar view, but added that her school uses the British curriculum to support the Nigerian version, which is important because of the cultural values.
“It is very important that all Nigerian schools embrace a uniform curriculum, and naturally, that would be the Nigerian curriculum. The British, American and other curricula are good also, but just as a supportive means of exposing the children to practical methods of education being used by their mates in other parts of the world, so that if they travel for further studies abroad, the methods would not appear too strange to them. But the emphasis remains on the fact that we are on Nigerian soil, Nigerian curriculum is the best for us,” she said.
Plans are underway for Hallmark Secondary School, Ondo, Ondo State, to begin offering the British curriculum.
Its Head of Academics, Pastor Abimbola Teibo said it has become necessary to flow with the current trend – though he admitted that Nigerians excel abroad even after being trained up to secondary level with the local curriculum.
“We run the Nigerian curriculum presently, but plans are underway to delve into the Cambridge IGCSE from next year. We also prepare our students for SAT, TOEFL. Though we are Nigerians, but some of our students also travel abroad for further studies and they cope very well, despite the fact that we have been using the Nigerian curriculum. However, I think the hybrid is better for now, because there are lots of opportunities available for our students to study abroad. With an exposure to these international curricula, they would have an added advantage to win scholarships to study abroad,” he said.
Criticisms of Nigerian curriculums
A Principal in a public school in Agboju area of Lagos State (names withheld), said given the opportunity, he would like the Nigerian curriculum to accommodate components of both British and American curriculums for improved functionality.
“Our curriculum here is too theoretical and regimented; and this is why we have too much scramble for university education. Students are only interested in certificates but not what they can do with their hands. Our curriculum needs to move from a class-based to field-based teaching which will widen students horizon and further expose them to technology,” he said.
Dr Lanre Aiyejuye of Sports Education, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, AOCOED, Ijaniki, suggested the redesigning of the Nigerian curriculum in a way that links it with others.
Principal of an international school in Egbeda area of Lagos who also pleaded anonymity said the school operates both Nigerian and British curriculums because Nigerian curriculum encourages cramming.
“Here, we prefer the British curriculum because it encourages the understanding of concepts than the Nigerian version which is mostly based on cramming,” he said.
He said the British curriculum is favoured by the parents and the school because it is elitist and synonymous with the ‘international’ learning which the school claims.
“If you claim your school is international in nature and there is no element of any international curriculum, how then can you justify such claim?” he wondered.
Experts disagree
Contrary to the thoughts of educationists, researchers disagree with the practice of mixing the curriculum in the name of internationalisation.
Many base their argument on the need for learners to be able to function within the Nigerian society, which they believe is impossible to achieve with a foreign curriculum.
Dr Salau describes it as a disservice to the learners, who would become misfit in the Nigerian society.
“We are in Nigeria. Are you training those students for export or development of Nigeria? When you start training them with foreign curriculum, they would not be able to fit into the Nigerian society and would become misfits in the long run.
“National curriculum is developed taking into consideration the overall development of a child, and taking into cognizance international best practices,” he said.
Associate professor of Curriculum, University of Lagos, Dr Rosita Igwe, also faults the practice. She said curriculum is of a necessity developed around a culture, which the learners must imbibe.
She said: “That is part of the problem Nigeria is having. We do not have confidence; we are just semi-literates. We do not know what education is all about. They think education is all about doing English. Education builds confidence in you, makes you self reliant, you appreciate your culture and your person and not you want to be like an American. How can you be that when you are in Nigeria, how are you going to function? Remember you talk about functionality in the curriculum and you cannot function outside somebody’s culture. American culture, British culture design their curriculum why can’t Nigeria culture design our curriculum?”
Dr Igwe also urged government to end the practice, which she said was impossible in other countries.
“Government should legislate against that. Do they run Nigerian curriculum in America or in Britain or even in Ghana that is close to us? Let us sit up and do it right,” she said.
Lending her voice to the argument, Lead consultant of Covenant Educational Consultancy, Mrs Foluso Atilola, said every Nigerian school should run the Nigerian curriculum, whether they are affiliated with any other country or not.
“They are in our land, so no matter what, we must teach them our own value systems, even if it is a British school. Otherwise, they may never be able to adapt to the Nigerian system of education and career path,” she said.
Prof Ngozi Osarenren, head of Educational Foundation department, UNILAG, said at a summit, convened by Covenant Educational Consultancy during the Nigerian International Book Fair (NIBF) last week, that mixing curricula could lead to confusion for the learners.
“Curb confusion in schools curriculums. Some schools have adopted the British curriculum, others the American curriculum. Some even claim theirs is a hybrid curriculum. Then we have the Nigerian curriculum. Which society are you preparing the children for? When you run a British curriculum in the Nigerian society, what is your assurance that every child that attends your school will go for higher education in Britain?”
Mr Mark Okoh, whose school, Caro Favoured Schools, Apapa, Lagos, runs only the Nigerian curriculum with successes, said educationists should be proud to be associated with the Nigerian curriculum.
“When you run a foreign curriculum in your school, you are telling the children and the society that the Nigerian mode of education is inferior to that of the outside world and you are not promoting our own value system. So here we run the Nigerian curriculum because we are Nigerians,” she said.
