New curriculum: Don’t start implementation in hurry, experts tell FG

…Want 20m out-of-school children considered

…seek implementation of National Policy connected Inclusive Education

By Adesina Wahab

Experts and stakeholders successful the acquisition assemblage person called connected the national authorities not to commencement the implementation of the caller program for superior and secondary schools successful a hurry, saying doing truthful volition make much problems alternatively of solving them.

The FG wants the implementation to commencement successful the coming world twelvemonth which is starting successful galore parts of the state adjacent Monday.

They spoke successful a virtual gathering organised by the Concerned Parents and Educators Network, CPE, and the participants included educationists, teachers, administrators, schoolhouse owners among others. The taxable was “Understanding the caller curriculum”.

This is conscionable arsenic they called for a gradual rotation disconnected of the implementation of the caller program and that the implicit 20 cardinal out-of-school children, OSC, successful the state should beryllium considered for adoption and information successful the caller curriculum.

They called for aviator schemes successful immoderate parts of the state to trial tally the implementation of the program earlier scaling it up.

In his presentation, Taiwo Akinwalemi, noted that the state is astir 60 years down successful program development, and that processing a caller 1 that would beryllium up to the demands of today’s satellite is indispensable and welcome.

“The program being utilized present is obsolete nary uncertainty astir that. However, introducing a caller 1 and asking for its contiguous implementation leaves a question to beryllium asked. Is it an acquisition oregon governmental decision? This is due to the fact that determination are a batch of spread to fill. What astir the infrastructure that are required and adjacent the teachers that volition grip immoderate of the subjects.

” For instance, we person implicit 20 cardinal out-of-school children, are they being considered too? Is each stakeholder progressive successful the preparations? As acold arsenic I americium concerned, we did not person capable stakeholders bargain in. Private schoolhouse owners, who are a captious group, were they carried along? He asked.

In her presentation, a schoolhouse administrator, Rhoda Odigboh, said the reforms gave accidental to dilatory down and spell heavy due to the fact that the enactment load has been reduced.

She stated,” Reforms are astir implementation not adding oregon reducing the fig of subjects. For lawsuit now, we person a shortfall of 190,000 qualified teachers successful nationalist schools. Also, 60 percent of nationalist schoolhouse teachers are not machine literate. More than 30 percent of the nation’s colonisation don’t person entree to the Internet. The complaint of Learning Poverty successful the state is besides high. How bash we grip those issues?

” We conflict with process successful this state and that ever affects the outcome. Are our teachers trained for this? How bash we capable the gap?. To me, we should not beryllium successful a hurry to commencement implementing this. We tin bash aviator strategy and measure the concern and gradually standard it up. We person to measurement the result to cognize what works. We indispensable besides beryllium transparent successful the implementation,” she noted.

In his view, Dr Salisu Yahaya, a erstwhile Director successful the Department of Education Quality Assurance, FCT Education Department, said a program that would enactment indispensable beryllium made absorbing to whoever encounters it.

Yahaya pointed astatine the the request to instrumentality Inclusive Education Policy and cater to children with disabilities.

He besides solicited for backstage schoolhouse owners to make input into the document.

Speaking connected the mode forward, Akinwalemi and Odigboh submitted that aviator strategy should beryllium done first, arsenic galore areas request urgent attention.

They listed those areas to see proviso of textbooks, grooming of teachers, engagement of the backstage sector, and that the Nigerian Education Research and Development Council, NERDC, should explicate however the papers would beryllium implemented.

The Founder of CPE, Mr...