Transition Committee chairman of Njikoka local government area of Anambra State, Hon Clem Aguiyi has called for an inclusion of Igbo Apprenticeship Scheme in the primary and secondary school curriculums in the South East zone of the country.
He suggested that for challenges of the prevailing unemployment rate, especially among the youths in the region to be solved, a deliberate programme should be introduced to ensure that every secondary school graduate must have acquired a particular skill while in the school that can make him or her self-employed or employable in a factory.
Hon Aguiyi who spoke in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP Sunday faulted what he described as “adoption of a uniform curriculum for primary and secondary schools in all the regions of the country.”
He argued the adoption of a federal curriculum for the primary and secondary school system in all the regions was faulty as every region has its peculiar needs and challenges.
“Instead, an education curriculum should be designed for primary and secondary schools to teach students skills peculiar in that region or zone so that by the time they graduate, they will be productive.
“For instance, teaching of Igbo apprenticeship should be included in the curriculum for the primary and secondary school system in the South East so that before a child graduates from the secondary school, he or she has acquired the skill for either tailoring, bakery, plumbing, painting of houses, vulcanising, plaiting of hair, catering, ICT techniques, motor mechanics, etc,” the LG boss suggested.
Hon. Aguiyi commended the initiative of the state governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo for introducing a skill acquisition programme for the youths in the state tagged “One Youth, two Skills.”
He stated that the over 5,000 youths who have already benefited from the training and provided with some start-up facilities including cash and other necessary support items, would certainly guarantee increase in the number of youths who have been taken away from the unemployment sector, and also add a growth in the economy of the state as more people would have been made productive.
The LG boss stated that his administration has been liaising with some wealthy citizens in the local government area to assist in building and donating primary schools to give children education a boost in the area
