School leavers to get mandatory vocational skills
The Federal Government has proposed the acquisition of two vocational skills for primary school pupils. If this proposal sails through, it would be mandatory for primary school leavers to acquire two skills before graduation.
Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, revealed this yesterday in Abuja at the opening session of the 68th National Council on Education (NCE) meeting.
The new curriculum for basic school is expected to be unveiled at the technical session of the event. NCE is the highest policy-making body in the education sector under the chairmanship of the minister.
Delivering his keynote address, Mamman said the move was to empower Nigerians to become self-employed rather than wait for white-collar jobs. The programme has ‘Innovation, Digital Technology And Entrepreneurship: Tools for Education and National Development in the 21st Century’ as its theme.
According to the minister, the proposal aligns with the Federal Government’s efforts to promote vocational and technical education, which is crucial for the country’s development.
By acquiring practical skills at an early age, he enthused, students can better prepare themselves for the workforce and contribute to the country’s economic growth, stressing that by introducing vocational skills training in primary schools, the government aims to address poverty and unemployment in the country.
The government, with the plan, hopes that with time, it will insist that all children who pass through schools in Nigeria must finish with at least two skills, even if it is primary school.
“A key concern in the country is the functionality and employability of the graduates of all levels of education. Much gap is noted between the qualifications obtained and the manpower needed in industry and professional services. This may, in turn, lead to huge unemployment for the youth with the attendant impact on low growth and productivity.
“The ministry has, therefore, developed the National Skills Framework to infuse skills at all levels of education. This policy, once adopted at this meeting, will be transformative. It will bring quality learning and teachers at the basic and senior secondary education, as well as practical values to learners. More will be said on this when presenting the skill framework document and the accompanying curriculum for basic education in Nigeria,” he said.
While stressing that the new curriculum would be immediately implemented by private and public schools across the country, he revealed that that of senior secondary schools would be unveiled in September 2025.
Participants at the event include commissioners of education and their permanent secretaries across the 36 states as well as the Mandate Secretary for Education in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), heads of agencies under the Federal Ministry of Education, development partners, including the World Bank, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and civil society organisations (CSOs).
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