As a way to ensure that school children are equipped with the knowledge and requisite skills that will make them marketable and function well in the world of work, the federal and state governments have expressed readiness to review the current school curriculum.
To this end, the officials from the federal and state ministries of education across the country who are in charge of research and resource centres are currently converging on Lagos for a two-day conference to brainstorm on the way out of the current narrative.
The forum, hosted by the Lagos State Government, in conjunction with the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) has its theme as “Repositioning education innovation and service centres to address trends and on curriculum reform for economic growth in Nigeria.”
It is an annual event and rotational among states.
Speaking at the opening session on Tuesday, the Executive Secretary of NERDC, Prof Ismail Junaidu, expressed delight that expertise in education research and resource activities across the federation are brought together, once again, for a roundtable discourse that will proffer a common solution to the pressing challenges facing products of Nigerian schools in the global labour market.Â
He decried the current narrative, positing that it is not a good narration that Nigeria still relied on a curriculum that is more than 10 years old in this knowledge-driven economy.
According to him, there is a great need to restructure, realign and revise the current curriculum to meet both current and future global developmental challenges.
While acknowledging that the current curriculum particularly the basic and senior secondary education is outdated, Junaidu declared that it’s obvious that the curriculum truly needs to be reviewed for improvement.
According to him, “between when the current curriculum was introduced and now, many things have happened, the world has moved on, new ideas have been created, Knowledge has advanced, new goals have been set, new skills have emerged, and new technologies have been developed among other changes.
“And the only way we can catch up with these changes and create opportunities for our children is to acquire new skills and competencies to provide them with the requisite learning experiences.”
NERDC boss declared that much is expected from all the participants, urging them to participate actively by sharing their expertise and ideas for the forum to come up with a strong communique that will be a roadmap to effectively change the narrative.
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He disclosed that the forum would look at the educational system wholistically and also encourage each state’s research and resource centre to step up their activities while states without any create one and make it functional.
He said it is only a quality and functional education system that can help raise the children with the requisite knowledge and skills that will make them solution providers in society.
He commended the Lagos State government for accepting to host the forum and also for operating a viable educational resource centre, urging other states that have none, to create one.
Tribune Online, however, gathered that even though the Federal Government had approved the mandatory inclusion of trade subjects in the secondary school curriculum and entrepreneurship education in the tertiary education curriculum as part of efforts to bridge the skill gap, most of the schools in the country lack competent teachers and instructional materials for the effective handling of the 37 trade subjects.
In his keynote address, the Lagos State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Jamiu Alli-Balogun, also stressed the importance of Nigeria having a better curriculum that can lead to the production of well-rounded graduates at all levels of education for societal advancement.
The commissioner, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Abolaji Abayomi, declared that Nigeria and its people are indeed faced with myriads of socio-economic challenges that only quality education in a relevant curriculum can help tackle them.
He pointed out four major areas that require great attention and priority in this regard.
According to him, there is a need to integrate technology into education just as it is in the THEMES Agenda of the Lagos State government, there is also the need for teachers’ capacity development at all levels for them to gain new knowledge and be able to deliver their services effectively and there is equally the need for innovation and entrepreneurship as well as collaboration and partnership among stakeholders in both the private and public sectors.
Doing these, he explained, would help Nigeria to give appropriate knowledge and skills that can take people out of ignorance, inequality and poverty that currently ravage the land.
He, however, welcomed all the participants particularly from other states and the federal capital territory to Lagos State, urging them to make good use of the knowledge gained back home.
He said it is far better for every state to move forward alongside the others than to be left behind.
In her own contribution, the Director of Basic and Secondary Education, Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs Agatha Ogefere, re-echoed the importance of Nigeria reviewing its academic curriculum for both learners and educators to reflect the current and future economic reality.
She said the essence of a new curriculum is to move not only the education sector forward but also the economy and make the country a better place for all.
Some of the participants from Plateau, Borno, Ekiti, Jigawa, Yobe, Ondo, and Abuja, among others, expressed optimism that the forum would lead to improvement in the education sector and the country’s economy as a whole.
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