Minister of education, Professor Tahir Mamman, has commended the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) on the steps it had taken to ratify the new Senior Secondary Education Curriculum structure in the bid to use education to reverse the challenges confronting the country.
Mamman made the commendation yesterday in Abuja at the high-level policy committee meeting on the new curriculum structure and benchmarks organised by the agency with the sole aim of arriving at a globally competitive competency and outcome-based curriculum.
He said the old curriculum was no longer relevant to the “overall objectives of our education in terms of human capital development, job creation, value reorientation and poverty eradication, the purpose- driven Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, hence there was need for review.”
The executive secretary of NERDC, Professor Ismail Junaidu, said the meeting was another stage in the agency’s effort to democratise the curriculum development process anchored on the philosophy of having all stakeholders significantly contribute to what is taught in schools and how it is taught.
He added that the high-level policy committee meeting is expected to ratify the guidelines which will then launch the agency into the technical process of curriculum drafting based on the guidelines to create opportunities for students to acquire the relevant trade and entrepreneurship skills needed for poverty eradication, job creation, and wealth generation as well as consolidate the foundation for ethical, moral, and civic values acquired at the basic education level.
“It has been 12 years since the introduction of the current SSEC. You will agree with me, ladies and gentlemen, that times have changed, the world has advanced, new ideas have emerged, knowledge has progressed, new global goals have been set, new skills created, and new technologies developed,” he said.
