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The Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, has said the new curriculum for basic schools will take effect from January 2025.
Speaking during a meeting with stakeholders in Abuja, on Monday, Mamman said under the new curriculum, pupils in basic schools will be required to acquire at least two skills.
He said private primary schools were required to adopt the new curriculum, as he promised that an updated curriculum for secondary schools would be ready by September 2025.
Vocations such as plumbing, tiling, hairstyling, floor works, POP and solar installation are included in the new curriculum.
The minister said, “The idea is that by the time children finish school, they should have at least two skills. Students should be able to finish school with a minimum of two skills so that they can have a very productive life.
“The basis for the curriculum is the National Skills Framework, and it has been approved. It’s a very big project; it affects all schools in Nigeria, public and private.
“Whether in the public sector or private sector, all schools are going to implement it. So this is already determined. It doesn’t require anybody’s consent or any institution can depart from it.
“And then, we want to use this school year to set off on this, while, simultaneously, the relevant agencies with the Ministry of Education work on the senior secondary school curriculum along the same line, so that from September to October next year, that of the senior secondary school can be ready for implementation.
“Our projection is we should be able to conclude on this by December so that in January, schools across the country can commence implementation.”
Speaking on implementation, the minister said, “We do not expect comprehensive, full implementation from January because, when you roll out something new, there’s a lot of preparation that has to take place by the schools, acquiring new things, equipment, and small things that they will need.”
The minister noted that plans were ongoing to ensure the teachers were well-equipped for the new curriculum.
He said the ministry would meet with stakeholders in the private schools for the successful implementation of the new curriculum.
He said, “There is a need for the preparation of classrooms and teachers’ development. We are also working on teachers’ support and development for them to be able to implement this. So we want to use the next three months for all these three stages.
“We’ll also have a national stakeholders’ engagement on publicity, particularly with the private schools. So, that’s part of what we will be doing and then teachers’ capacity.”
Explaining the benefits of the curriculum, the minister said it would rekindle the desire of parents and students to acquire formal education.
He said, “Some parents do not want to send their children to school. Right now, part of the problem why schooling has become unattractive is because people finish and there’s no change in their lives.
“They cannot be employed. They can’t do anything on their own. So parents question the value of spending money to send their children to school.
“Now it’s going to change that game altogether. And we have seen how these things resonate with parents. When they are successfully implemented, you will see students will want to run to school every morning. Parents want to take their children to school because they are learning practical things while in school.”
Speaking at the event, the Acting Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, Dr Margret Lawani, said the newly introduced subjects fell under the vocational and entrepreneurship studies framework, which has been designed to expose pupils to various trades across multiple sectors.
Lawani said, “The vocational and entrepreneurship studies, or the skills, we have different sectors comprising different trades.
“For instance, we have the building and construction industry, consisting of plumbing, tiling, floor works, and POP installation.”
She added that in the hospitality and leisure sector, pupils would acquire event dictation and management skills.
“For hospitality and leisure, we have events decoration and management. We have a bakery and confectionery. We have hairstyling, makeup, and the inner design,” she added.
Other stills to be learnt, according to her, are GSM repairs, CCTV, and satellite installations, among others.
“Then we have services, which is another sector, consisting of GSM repairs, satellites or TV antenna, CCTV, intercom installation, and maintenance.
“And we have solar photovoltaic installation and maintenance. We also have garment making. So the other sector is agriculture and processing.”
In the agriculture sector, she said pupils would be taught beekeeping, horticulture, and poultry, among others.
Lawani said, “This one consists of crop production, beekeeping, horticulture production, sheep and goats farming, poultry and rabbits farming. So all together we have about 15 different trades newly introduced, or skills for basic education.”
In addition to vocational training, the new curriculum, according to Lawani, will integrate digital literacy as a core subject.
“We are introducing basic digital literacy, including IT, robotics, and more,” she stated.
