The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) says efforts are underway to introduce a revised education curriculum in 2022, if required funds are available.
The Executive Secretary of the council, Prof. Ismail Junaidu, gave the hint on Wednesday, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of a one- day Southwest Zone National Stakeholders’ Dialogue.
The dialogue, held in Lagos, was for the review of the Senior Secondary Education Curriculum (SSEC).
He said that the stakeholders were expected to come up with resolutions on issues relating to critical emerging issues that the senior secondary education curriculum should address.
According to him, issues such as knowledge, skills and competencies that the senior secondary school students should acquire in order to make meaningful contributions to the development of the country will also be looked into.
He said that stakeholders were to look at the major gaps in the current senior secondary education programme in the country, as well as suggest strategies for mitigating the challenges.
Junaidu said the focus of the review was to get the children more exposed to creativity, innovation and critical thinking.
He, however, said that meeting the 2022 target of introducing the revised curriculum was solely dependent on the availability of funds.
The executive secretary noted that the council, had just concluded a nationwide NEEDS assessment study, which gave it the opportunity to interact deeply with teachers on key issues concerning the implementation of the SSEC.
”What we are currently doing now, is this national stakeholders’ dialogue, which has since been flagged off in Owerri, for the Southeast zone, in March.
”This meeting is another curriculum development approach which the NERDC has introduced, thus making it a people-oriented national document,” he said.
According to him, it is the first of its kind in the history of curriculum development in Nigeria and in most parts of the world.
”We have stakeholders, such as the teachers, parents, students, religious leaders, policy makers, Non Governmental Organisations and a host of others, coming together to also contribute their views and make input on what should be included in the new curriculum.
”By doing this, we will have a holistic view from around the country and this will take us to the next step which will be benchmarking, which we hope to achieve before the end of July.
”We are here for the Southwest Zone, which comprises Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo. Our next move will be Calabar for the South south zone.
”From there, we shall also go to the remaining geopolitical zones for the same purpose and the inputs and suggestions in these fora will inform the development of the curriculum structure, content and pedagogies,” he said.
The executive secretary said there was no gainsaying that there was a need to restructure, realign and revise the curricula.
He said the need arose mainly because the old primary, Junior and Senior Secondary schools’ curricula were no longer meeting the much desired goals.
”Our current curriculum is long overdue for a review,” Junaidu said.
He said that there were felt gaps in terms of human capital development, job creation and poverty eradication.
The NERDC boss said that there was also the compelling need to meet the targets of Internationally Agreed Goals.
He said that it was also to ensure the acquisition of competencies and skills for laying the foundation of vocational and entrepreneurship development in Nigeria.
According to him, 10 years after the introduction of the SSEC, times have changed and the world has moved on, with new ideas created, knowledge advanced and new world goals set.
He said that the only way the country could catch up with these changes and create opportunities for the Nigerian child was to acquire new skills and competencies.
”Our goal is not only to develop a curriculum that meets the needs of the present, but one that will enable us create the future that we desire as a people,” the executive secretary said.
Earlier in her opening remark, the Lagos State Commissioner of Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, stressed the need for an urgent review of the curriculum in a bid to meet up with the 21st century needs.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the current SSEC was introduced into the schools in 2011. (NAN)
