NUC ex-chief, experts fault school curricula, urge review

Stakeholders in education have again called for a review of the nation’s school curricula to enable the country to harness the great potential of its teeming youths.

The former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Peter Okebukola, in an exclusive interview with The Guardian yesterday described country’s school curricula as crowded, warning that such curricula were only capable of producing an incompetent child.

Okebukola, also at another forum, when delivering the eighth Convocation Lecture of the Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, titled “The Teacher we have, The Teacher we want: Bridging the Gap,” urged the total review of the curriculum of tertiary institutions offering education courses in the country. He said the education curriculum should focus more on teaching subjects rather than education subjects.

In Okebukola’s view, the regulatory bodies in charge of tertiary institutions in the country should revert to the old curriculum, which devoted about 90 per cent of the teacher education curriculum to the teaching subject and about 10 per cent to education.

Former Vice Chancellor, Crawford University, Prof. Samson Ayanlaja, who regretted that most Nigerian students had poor attitude to work and motivation to learn, advised that the curriculum be reviewed so as to move the sector forward.

He said: “The curriculum in the Nigeria education system is overloaded with topics taught theoretically but underserved in hand-on practical work, field experience and projects which are crucial for preparing students for the jobs of the future. Therefore there is the need to reformat the curriculum to be relevant, responsive and entrepreneurial.”

Chief Executive Officer, ICON Training & Consultancy, Delta State, Dr. Pat Akumabor, regretted that the country’s education system seemed incapable of equipping the youth with skills and competencies to enable them to contribute to the economy.