FG, private school owners bicker over production of History curriculum

PRIVATE school owners in the country have expressed their disapproval of the Federal Government’s demand for money to produce their own History curriculum and teacher’s guide.

They said such demand is discriminatory, since they provide, just like public schools, social service to Nigerian children and also pay taxes to government.

Tribune Education recalls that the Federal Government recently directed the re-introduction of History into the primary and junior secondary school curriculum as an independent and mandatory subject, and consequently asked the National Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to develop new curriculum for the subject and schools nationwide to start teaching it from the next academic session, beginning in September.

Speaking in exclusive and separate conversations with Tribune Education on their levels of preparedness and availability of curriculum for the subject, the president of the National Association of Private School Proprietors (NAPPS), Dr Bolujoko Sally; her counterpart in the League of Muslim School Proprietors (LEAMSP), Mr Abdul Wahid Obalakun and the immediate past national president of the Association for Formidable Educational Development (AFED), Mrs Esther Dada, said they were prepared to start teaching the subject but were yet to have the curriculum.

Dr Sally noted that the Federal Government’s agency in charge of curriculum development in the country, NERDC, actually met with private school operators last week on how to get their own curriculum for the subject.

Sally said: “They told us that they wanted to partner with us to produce our own curriculum; that the money they had could only produce for public schools and that they knew that we need the curriculum.

“We made it clear to them that it is the responsibility of government to provide quality and quantitative education to its citizens and equally make curriculum available for private school operators.

“We made them realise that up to 70 per cent or more of Nigerian children in schools are in the private schools. This means we shoulder the responsibilities ordinarily meant for government. We still also pay all forms of taxes to government for doing their work.  Yet, the same government is still asking us to bring money for mass production of curriculum for us.

“To us, that demand is unfair and unacceptable. It is even a shame that this kind of arrangement is happening in Nigeria. It is the responsibility of government as a policy maker anywhere in the world to develop curriculum and make it available to whoever wants to come into the sector as an operator.

“The British and American curricula, for example, are on the internet as soft copies for anybody anywhere around the world to access. Why can’t we do the same here in Nigeria? After all, the world is going paperless.

“So, we have told them to put the curriculum online for people to access if they claim they don’t have money to produce it for private schools. After all, curriculum ought to be in public domain and not a hidden material.”

Reacting to this, the executive secretary of NERDC, Professor Ismail Junaid, told Tribune Education exclusively that the council had long finished with the curriculum and distributed to only public schools across the country.

He admitted that truly, NERDC met with private school owners last week and asked them to partner the government by bringing money that would cover only the cost of printing of the curriculum and teacher’s guide for them as the practice; that government cannot not afford to give private schools the book free of charge.

“They have to pay for it and at the cost of production. They charge school fees. They make money from their service. They collect money for textbooks from their students. Public funds can’t be used for private schools,” he insisted.

But when asked if the curriculum could not be made available electronically as an alternative, Professor Junaid said it is possible, but that it would require another budgetary allocation which, according to him, is not feasible at the moment.

He said the practice had been that private schools pay for their curriculum.

“And that is why we are asking them to partner with us by being responsible for the cost of printing to enable them prepare for the September takeoff time,” the NERDC boss said.