UNESCO Calls For Curriculum Review in Nigeria Schools

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has called for a review of Nigeria’s educational curriculum.

The UNESCO director of the International Bureau of Education (IBE), Ydo Yao made the call at a capacity development training workshop for officials of the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja.

Yao stated that the present curriculum is outdated and overloaded, hence there was a need for action to make the curriculum relevant to ensure quality in education.

According to Yao, the curriculum was a central and irreplaceable component of any educational policy, which was also pivotal in transforming education.

He emphasized that to address the education crisis, there was a need to make the curriculum relevant to ensure that values, knowledge, and skills thrived.

He urged the Nigerian government to take action in making the curriculum relevant and up-to-date.

He said:

“You know, we used to say that curriculum is for education, while a constitution is for a democracy. It means the curriculum is the heart of education. So, when you talk about education, you are talking about content, programmes and learning.

“So, if you want to transform education, and you don’t transform what is at the core of it, which is the learning, content and the programmes, your transformation has no meaning.”

Yao, an education specialist described the current curriculum as overloaded, outdated, and in need of review.

He has stated that the training was initially put in place to strengthen the capacities of specialists and officials in the ministry on eight thematic modules.

However, it has become apparent that the curriculum was not meeting present-day development needs.

In response to this, the minister of state for education, Mr Goodluck Opiah said there were steps to rejig the curriculum.

Opiah said:

”We recognise the fundamental role of curriculum in the drive for the attainment of globally agreed goals and country-specific aspirations. It remains the singular instrument capable of transforming the human capital base of a nation for effective contribution to nation-building and development.

“Thus, in setting our education targets as articulated in the Ministerial Strategic Plan (MSP) (2019 to 2022) for the education sector, curriculum and policy matters were identified and prioritised.”