Scholars in various fields of learning in Nigeria have called for the review of curriculum across various levels of education in the country.
The stakeholders, who also called for the allocation of more resources to the education sector, explained that such was necessary to improve the quality of education and achieve a better result that would meet the expectations of present-day challenges.
The scholars said this at the 10th-anniversary celebration of Erudite Millennium, an institution that offers A-Level certification examinations, and the launch of a book, “New Dimensions in English”, held at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, stressing that the quality of education in Nigeria cannot improve if those who should be involved in the development of curriculum at all levels are not engaged to do so.
While leading the discussion session titled: “Education in the Developed World and Nigeria: The Way Forward,” a Professor of Linguistics, Francis Egbokhare, lamented that the best-trained professionals are moving out of the country because of the kind of system the country operates.
Egbokhare said: “The best hands are leaving the country. Let us look at our society. Let us look at the balance. There is a need to reform the educational system.”
Similarly, the former Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan, Professor Clement Kolawole, in his presentation, insisted that all stakeholders, including teachers, parents, and policymakers, must be involved to produce a new curriculum to meet the present-day demands.
Kolawole stated: “Nobody can know you more than you. We must get people involved. Let the curriculum be designed by the people. Enough of swallowing education curriculum from the western world, we need to redesign our curriculum to move forward. We must engage the stakeholders to make our curriculum useful.”
An educationist and Founder of Heritage Global Academy, Mr. Lukman Molumo, said there would be no progress if the curriculum designed many years ago is not reviewed as the past and present education in the country need a surgical operation because what the nation aimed at in years past is radically different from what the nation is producing today.
He noted: “If we are not changing the current curriculum we have today, then there is a problem because there’s a disconnect between the town and the gown. There are jobs in society but we don’t have graduates with the right skill set to get them done.”
In his remark, the Oyo South Senatorial candidate of the Accord Party in the forthcoming 2023 elections, Mr. Kolapo Kola-Daisi, called for the allocation of more resources to improve the standard of education in the country, saying the allocation of the required resources would improve the standard in the classroom and also the welfare of teachers.
On his part, the founder of Erudite Millennium, Mr. Saheed Oladele, disclosed that he intended to bridge the gap between the town and the gown.
Oladele noted: “We want to improve the standard of education in Nigeria because we know that we are not moving forward, instead of moving forward, we are moving backward. We want to fill the gap. There is a huge gap between the town and the gown.”
Other stakeholders at the event include the Southwest Zonal Director of the National Examination Council (NECO), Mrs. Folake Eweje; the Acting Director, of Academic Staff Training of Tertiary Education Fund (TETFUND), Abdullah Baba Imam; the representative of the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education in Nigeria, Abdulrazak Badmus.
Others are a former Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ogun and Osun States, Professor Abdulganiy Raji, and a former National Commissioner of INEC, Hajia Aminah Zakari.
Dominica Nwabufo
