THE FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF ECE IN NIGERIA: ALL HANDS MUST BE ON DECK

THE FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF ECE IN NIGERIA: ALL HANDS MUST BE ON DECK

By

Fowowe, S.S.

HOD, ECCE,

AOCOED & Lagos State Chairman, Association for Childhood Education Practitioners.

Introduction: Quality education at the early years of a child is very important and there is no gainsaying that these formative years impact greatly on the later life of the child and consequently community and national development.

The world of children can easily be discovered in the early years if properly taken care of No wonder the EFA Goal 1 urges all nations to “expand early childhood care and education services to all children particularly, the vulnerable and disadvantaged by 2015”

The target date is this year and both national and international efforts are being made to ensure that the goals of EFA and MDGs are realized but have they been realized?

Realizing the importance and roles of ECE in annexing the potentials of our future citizens (leaders), over 193 countries representatives in September 2015 at UN summit subscribed to another seventeen (17) Development goals titled -Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with its No 4 Goal reintrating educational for children particularly the special needs which must be all inclusive “Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong”.  The Goal No 4 and other goals can be achieved through a “virile partnerships”, suggested by SDG No 17 which prescribes that “Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development” – It translates to mean that, all hands (partnership) must ‘be on deck to achieve the policy, protocols, treaties and curriculum for preschoolers’.

It is therefore pertinent to note that a major way of chatting the future directions of ECCE program in Nigeria is to actualize the goal and ensuring that the Nigerian child’s development is holistic and to enlighten all stakeholders via orientations, advocacy and development of capacity building for the handlers him/her. It is when the handlers and other stakeholders have the competencies to effectively educate the children at this level that the future of the programme can be guaranteed. To this end, this presentation, having realized the importance and necessity of synergizing efforts and expertise by the stakeholders, suggest ways for the future directions of ECCE in Nigeria.

Basics of Early Childhood Care and Education

Children, without any iota of exaggeration, are our collective future. It therefore becomes instructive and imperative that appropriate care, stimulation and development of them is given utmost attention so that they will grow well and become responsible adults. The quality of care and education children receive determines the quality of life they will have on later years (UBEC 2013). It become necessary if the nation desires quality head start to life for her children, to embrace “all caps fit it option” which is recommended in sustainable Development Goal No. 17.

For clarity purposes, early childhood care and education covers aspects of a child’s life such as infant stimulation, health and nutrition, early childhood education, physical development, socialization and intellectual development among others. The training at this level is target at effecting developmental changes in the child. This fundamental knowledge of child care and stimulation is essential for all the stakeholders as this will help them provide the much needed support that a child needs for his development and general well-being.

A brief explanation of some key words in Early childhood programme will help the readership to understand the concept of ECCDE and what it is all about:

·         Early childhood

·         Care

·         Development; and

·         Education.

·         Early childhood: This is a period of a child’s life from conceptions to age eight, however, in Nigeria, it is the period between 0-5years. These years are critical to the holistic development of the child. Most importantly at this level, is all about the experiences a child has in the transition to primary education. Because what is learnt prior to primary school needs to be sustained for the child to do well in later life.

·         Care: This aspect starts from conception to age five or eight as the case may be. Careful action should be taken to ensure the protection and support for the health, nutrition, physical, psycho-social, cognitive, emotional, spiritual and moral development of the child via balanced diet, affectionate interaction etc

·         Development: It is the gradual process of change in the child which is exhibited physically, mentally, socio-emotionally, spiritually and morally. Developmental change may take place as a result of genetically controlled processes of maturation or consequences of environmental factors and learning. In most cases, according to Evans et al (2000), development involves an interaction between the two.

·         Education: In this context, learning begins from birth and during this period, the child’s experiences help him/her to acquire knowledge skills, habits and values. Therefore, attempts to bring children at an early age to the formal school system calls for special attention on the form of knowledge that are most appropriate to their level of development.

For the teachers/caregivers and other stake holders in the business of early childhood education, it is instructive and imperative to acquaint themselves with the different aspects of structure and curriculum needed to be acquired by children 0-5years.

Different aspects of Early Childhood

The different aspects of ECCDE include:

·         Language development;

·         Moral and Spiritual development;

·         Cognitive development;

·         Socio-emotional development;

·         Physical development; and

·         Creativity and aesthetics development.

Future Directions of ECCE in Nigeria: Efforts Needed.

“If foundation is faulty what will be righteous do, the righteous will start to mend fences”.

Education starts from the cradle and catching them young with quality education remains a veritable tool to lifelong development. The future of a nation’s socio-economic and political wellbeing greatly lies with the right quality of children’s education, because they are the future leaders. If they have a faulty foundation as regards to education, it will definitely affect their lives in the future and invariably affect the community and the nation at large.

The future of the programme can only be guaranteed if “all hands” are on deck to ensure its smooth interpretation and implementation. The following are proposed in this paper:

·         Institutionalization of ECCDE programme into universal Basic Education programme in all States of the federation. This should be followed by policy statement and policy implementation at all primary schools in the same states.

·         Dumping of poor models- over the years, several alternative approaches, methodics and strategies have been proposed to the teaching of pre-schoolers but the poor models according to Ashimolowo (2015) still stick. It is observed that the traditional way of teaching children by rote-learning and memorization will not and cannot help children understand any concept, rather will the trend make them compete with their peers in developed countries.

Policy and Act Issues: The major policy documents and Act on ECCE need to be understood, interpreted and implemented by the stakeholders and the practitioners. Those documents to be considered are:

·         Child rights Act (2003)

·         National Policy on Education NPE (2004)

·         Universal Basic Education Act (2004)

·         Integrated Early Childhood Development (IECD) policy (2007);

·         National Maximum Standard (2007);

·         National Integrated Curriculum for Early Childhood Development (2007).

The documents xrays the following salient points:

ü  list the basic requirements of establishing an ECCDE Centre;

ü  list the stakeholders in the implementation of IECD in the child Rights Act;

ü  state the scope of the UBE programme

ü  mention some themes in the National Childhood Curriculum for Ages 0-5.

For avoidance of doubt and clarification purposes, the synopsis of the policy documents is reproduced below:

The Child Rights Act:

The Child Rights Act was enacted in 2003 in response to the call for the domestication of the Convention on Rights of the Child (1989). The Act provides for and protects the Rights of the Nigerian child, and considers the interest of the child as paramount in all actions.

The document prescribes the Rights and responsibilities of the child as well as protection of the Rights. Among the Rights prescribed are:

·         Right to survival and development;

·         Right to freedom of movement;

·         Right to a name;

·         Right to health and health services;

·         Right to parental care, protection and maintenance;

·         Right of a child to free, compulsory and universal primary education;

·         Right to freedom from discrimination;

·         Right to leisure, recreation and cultural services;

·         Right to freedom of association; etc  

The National Policy on Education (NPE)

The policy is the pivot on which the education in Nigeria revolves. The policy recognizes the education of children between ages 0- 5 as ECCDE. It defines it as the care, protection, stimulation and learning promoted in children from age 0-5 years in a crèche, nursery or kindergarten.

Government roles, according to the Policy are to:

a)         Set and monitor minimum standards for ECCDE centres;

b)        Establish ECCDE sections in public schools and encourage both community and private efforts in its provision based on set standards;

c)        Make provision in teacher education programmes for specialization in ECCDE and for retraining of teachers;

d)        Ensure that the curriculum of teacher education is oriented towards play method;

e)        Ensure that ECCDE centres adopt the following caregiver infant ratio as: (I) crèche 1: 10 (ii) Nursery and Kindergarten 1 :25

f)        Develop suitable ECCDE curriculum for nationwide implementation;

g)        Supervise and control quality of ECCDE institutions; ,

h)        Make provision for the production and effective utilization of learning and instructional materials in adequate numbers;

i)         Ensure that the medium of instruction is principally the mother-tongue or the language of immediate community; and to this end will:

            -   develop the orthography of more Nigerian languages, and

- produce textbooks, supplementary readers and other instructional materials in Nigerian languages.

The UBE Act

Government’s concern to drastically reduce illiteracy within the shortest possible time and its desire to achieve Education for All (EFA) target and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) prompted the establishment of the Universal Basic Education Programme (UBEP) in 1999.

The Act giving the Programme a legal backing was promulgated in 2004 and consequently, a Commission known as Universal Basic Education Commission ~ (UBEC) was set up to coordinate the implementation of the programme. The Federal Government also committed 2% of its Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) to the implementation of the programme.

Objectives of the UBE Programme are itemized below:

i.          Developing in the entire citizenry a strong consciousness for education and a strong commitment to its vigorous promotion;

ii.         The provision of Free, Universal Basic Education for every Nigerian child of school age:

iii.        Reducing drastically the incidence of dropout from formal school system through improved relevance, quality and efficiency;

iv.        Ensuring the acquisition of the appropriate levels of literacy, numeracy, communicative and life skills as well as the ethical moral and civic values needed for laying a solid foundation for lifelong learning.

National Policy for Integrated Early Childhood Development (lECD) in Nigeria

The care and support received by a child is multi faceted: health, water, sanitation, nutrition, protection, psycho-social as well as educational. This is to say Early Childhood Care, Development and Education is multi sectoral. This policy is therefore to bring together all stakeholders involved in the support and care of the child. I

Policy goal of IECD

The goal is to expand, universalize and integrate interventions from various sectors in early child development for effective implementation and coordination of programmes that will optimize development for children of ages 0 to 5 years in Nigeria. I

Objectives of IECD

Major objectives of IECD are to:

i.          provide care and support that will ensure the right of the child to:

·         Good nutrition and health;

·         Healthy and safe environment;

·         psycho-social stimulation; and

·         Protection and participation.

ii.         inculcate in the child the spirit of inquiry and creativity through the exploration of nature, the environment, art, music and playing with toys;

iii.        integration of Quranic system into IECD;  

iv.        effect a smooth transition from the home to the school;

Stakeholders in IECD

The major stakeholders in IECD have their roles and responsibilities which will help achieve the goals and bring about effectiveness in the IECD policy implementation. The stakeholders are:  

·         parents and care givers; ,

·         head teachers/teachers;

·         community members and leaders;

·         religious groups and leaders;

·         relevant Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MD As) such as Education, Women Affairs, Health, Agriculture, Internal Affairs, Information and National Orientation, Environment and Sanitation, Water.

·         Resources and Justice;

·         Local Government;

·         private sector organizations;

·         International Development Partners (IDPs);

·         the media;

·         policy makers and legislators.

(Refer to the IECD Policy for further information on roles and responsibilities of stakeholders.)

Minimum Standards for Early Child Care Centres in Nigeria

Early Child Care Centres in Nigeria are of different types. They include:

·         Day care/crèche (0 - 2 years)

·         Pre-nursery/play group (3 - 4years).

·         Nursery/Kindergarten 3-5years)

All these centres may exist together or independently and may be-home based, centre based or mobile. In establishing any of these types, there are, prescribed minimum standards needed to be fulfilled in order to ensure' an all- round development of the child.

Characteristics of an effective centre

In establishing an effective ECCDE centre, it is important to ensure that the environment is safe, secure and free from excessive noise. An effective centre should have:

·         play ground and appropriate equipment;

·         fence;

·         classroom(s) with enough space (well ventilated adequate for about 20 -25 (0 - 3 years), 30 - 35 (3 - 5 years) children with flexible sitting arrangement and well decorated with functional pictures);

·         records such as admission register, log book, child folder containing biodata etc;

·         age appropriate furniture;

·         cupboards, shelves, mats, mattresses etc;

·         assessment instrument for growth and overall development of the child.

·         other requirements are water, hygienic environment, psycho-social care, early learning, health (first aid box, fire extinguisher or bucket of sand), age appropriate toilet, safety measures etc.

The National Early Childhood Curriculum for Ages 0-5 Years

The recognition of ECCDE in the system of education in Nigeria means there should be proper planning for the programme such that the children in this category will have proper and qualitative head start.

The development of this curriculum was pioneered by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) and the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNlCEF). The curriculum has been divided into two sections of 0- 3 years and 3-5 years.

The content of the curriculum has been divided into 8 themes as follows:

ü  Physical development;

ü  Affective/psycho-social development;

ü  Cognitive development;

ü  Food and Nutrition;

ü  Health;

ü  Water and Environmental Sanitation;

ü  Safety measures; and

ü  Protection.

Under each theme, there are specific topics which have been broken into performance objectives, contents, activities, learning materials and evaluation guide.

There are appendices to help caregivers to monitor and assess development of the child. These are:

Appendix 1 – Developmental milestones; and

Appendix 2 – Early Childhood Screening Tool

Caregivers are advised to familiarize themselves with all the policy documents as these documents will enhance their performance in the centres.

Methods/Methodics/Strategies – The National Policy on Education (2004) is clear on the prescribed method to teach children at this level “the main, method of teaching at the nursery level is play”.

But observation and researches have recently shown that the recommended method, play, is not in use in most of the ECE centres (Ashimolowo; Orisabinoe & Akeredolu, 2015). The researchers ascribed the cause of non-use of the method to lack of qualified and trained professionals in our pre-schools. Even where there are NCE graduates teaching at this level, they are still without specialization in Early Childhood Education or any allied course.

Teacher Trainers- The teachers of teacher for pre-primary should step-up their pre-service training in compliance with international standard and policy documents like IECD, National Minimum Standard, National Integrated Curriculum for Early Childhood Development 0-5 and National Minimum Standards for Colleges of Education, because that is the only way the set objectives and the future of this programmes can be guaranteed.

Continuous Professional Development – Life itself is dynamic so is education, one can not teach today with yesterday’s skills and knowledge, therefore, it is imperative to re-train the teachers/caregivers so as to fit in with the new trends.

Regulatory Bodies – Those charged with regulatory responsibilities and accreditation roles should live up to expectation. It took NCCE years before she realized the importance of early childhood education in the colleges of education. Not until 2009 before she could release a public document on ECCE. Even at that, deserves commendation and a path at the back because its counterpart, NUC, up till now, has not deem it fit to provide the universities, a unified policy/curriculum document. Only few universities offer Early Childhood education at their undergraduate programme, so where will the manpower at “higher level” be produced?

This paper is charging those at the helms of affairs of the universities to do something urgent in ensuring that undergraduate degree programme in ECE is introduced. It is worthy to note that some universities and colleges of education via their affiliate programmes offer what is similar to ECE but not totally ECE in nature. Where it exists, it is called and offered as Nursery and Primary Education (NPE), whereas the curriculum content of the Nursery aspect does not contain elements of Early Childhood Education. The paper recommends a total overhauling of the existing curriculum to include elements of Early Childhood, if they don’t want to change the nomenclature to ECE.

Content Perspective: Early Childhood Care and Education as the name implies, is not to cover the education aspect alone. There is another important aspect CARE dimension to the programme (80%) that is being neglected by the practitioners which is dangerous if the trend continues. In the actual sense, the learning aspect dimension of the programme ECCE is infinitential compared to the CARE aspect. The diagram below will suffice

The programme is not about mastery of numbers, letters of alphabet, states and capital, colours, shape and forms, verbal and quantitative reasoning etc, It includes learning of good habits, health habits, safety measures, communication skills, courtesies, development of milestones etc.

The NERDC curriculum for 0-5years breaks it down into WHAT, HOW and WHERE to teach the contents. So, practitioners should avail themselves the opportunity to get a copy and study for implementation.

Conclusion: For our nation to meet up with the international standards required of any ECE practitioner, the perception and realities there in the paper should be internalized and implemented because that is the only way, the future of ECCE programme can be guaranteed. Let all stakeholders – government, at all levels, UBEC, SUBEBs, NGOs, Colleges of Education, Universities and the chief implementers of the programme, teachers and caregivers, rise up, synergize where necessary to do their parts by playing roles expected of them. The Nigerian child can no longer wait to seeing his peers from other developed countries developing holistically without same expectations from Nigeria.

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Salient Points to Note why Interpreting and Implementing the New UBE and Post UBE Curriculum

Salient Points to Note why

Interpreting and Implementing the New UBE and Post UBE Curriculum

By

Fowowe, Simeon S.

H.O.D, ECCE, AOCOED &

Chairman, Association for Childhood Education Practitioners

Preamble:

Every child should have the opportunity to grow up in a setting that values children, that provides conditions for a safe and secured environment, and that respects diversity. Because children are both the present and the future of every nation, they therefore need functional curricula that make them compete favourably with their peers globally in scientific and technological innovations.

Today, more than ever before, students at all levels, need extensive and contemporary knowledge of the global curriculum, happenings and skills and dispositions to engage with people from many cultures and countries. They will need these to be responsible global citizens and effective participants in the global market place of the 21st century.

Sad enough, only few teachers today are well prepared to educate students for this new global context contained in the new UBE and Post UBE Curricula.

·         Observations and Salient Points to note in the new curriculum:

·         (i)        Nigerian Language must be taught  in all schools(Yoruba in the South West, Igbo in the East and Hausa in the North).

·         (ii)       Cultural and Creative Arts (CCA) should be taught by three (3) different teacher i.e. Fine Art, Literature and Music.

·         (iii)      Basic Science & Technology  (BST) should be taught by at least four

teachers with different background (i.e. Basic Science, Basic Technology, PHE, and Information Technology).

·         (iv)      Religion and National Value (RNV) should be taught by five teachers with different background (i.e. CRS, ISS, Social Studies, Civic Education and Security Education).

·         The Implementation of the curriculum in question, is only for the current primary one and two, while by September 2016, it will be implemented in primary three (3).

·         Time-table-two different time table should be mounted (i.e. primary one and two and primary 3 – 6). In 2017, Pry 4 will key in until 2020 when it would have been completely implemented in all classes of primary schools .

·         Report Card – for now, two different report cards should be provided for the pupils, i.e. (Primary one and two, with a new report card reflecting the new subjects (i.e. RNV, CCA, BST), and the old one currently being used in Primary 3-6 should be retained until the old curriculum phases out in 2020.

·         Lesson note – teachers should consult the e-curriculum provided by (infores Brain friend) that will be displayed later before writing their lesson note.

·         Setting of questions – They should consult same e-curriculum (infores Brain friend) for setting of objective questions and teachers involved should brainstorm before doing it.

·         Textbooks – New textbooks for the new subjects have been published for primary one and two and JSS 1 & 2, i.e. Melrose Books, Noble Div. Limited.

·         Teachers’ Textbooks – school should print textbooks from the e-curriculum (infores Brain friend)or get copies of teachers’ guides from reputable publishers i.e. Melrose Books, Noble Div. Limited.

·         Rotation of teachers – by the new curriculum, teachers may be drafted from the upper classes to teach one or two periods at the lower level (i.e. Pry 1-2). The affected subjects that involve such are: (i)  RNV – religion & National Value

(ii)       BST- Basic Science & Technology

(iii)      CCA- Cultural & Creative Arts

·         Promotion of specialization of subjects – The current curriculum promotes subject specialization like Literature-in-English in CCA, Music teachers to teach music aspect of CCA, Fine Art teacher to teach Art and Custom aspect of CCA, PHE teacher should teach the PHE aspect of BST, Computer studies teacher should be made to teach the IT aspect of BST, The social studies or civic teacher could be made to teach the Security aspect of RNV, CRS teacher should be made to teach the CRS aspect of RNV, ISS is the elective subject to CRS therefore, whenever CRS is going on in the class, ISS must equally go on, if it is offered in the school anyway.

·         French, becomes a compulsory subject from Pry. 4 with the new curriculum.

·         Business studies is not offered at primary school until JS 1.

·         Pre-vocational studies which comprises 3 subjects/themes (i.e. Home-Economics, Agricultural Science and Entrepreneurship) should not be offered at the primary 1, 2 and 3 again until primary 4 as prescribed by the new curriculum.

·         Rhymes/Songs/Games should be used by teachers to introduce new subject and other pedagogical activities.

·         Year 2020 is the year, the 1st Common Entrance will be conducted on the new UBE Curriculum, Year 2016, is the year, the first BECE will be conducted for JSS.

·         Teaching at this level should be participatory and child-centered. Innovative teaching techniques should be employed while teaching the new curriculum.

·         The teacher-pupil ratio is 1teacher to 35pupils.

·         The CA (Continuous Assessment) is 40% while 60% is the examination.

·         Setting of questions – for the new subjects, like BST, RNV and CCA, the teachers involved should jointly set the questions or do it on individual bases (i.e. question on Drama, another teacher sets on Music and the 3rd teacher sets on Fine Art, this will make up the 60% of the examination.

·         The same practice should be done while setting questions on RNV, BST, etc.

·         English studies is the preferred term for primary and junior secondary level while English Language is for senior secondary.

·         Senior Secondary Education- This section should double as Career Development Unit.

·         Students- are expected to choose their careers from SS 1 to pursue up to university.

·         Students graduating from JSS- should be batched or directed into senior classes based on their BECE’s results, aptitude and vocational interest.

·         School Counsellor- should help in this regard where there is no school counselor, please employ one, even if it is on part time basis.

·         Senior secondary education – since 2011, school/colleges should prefer to use School or Faculty instead of Department, to refer to where students are batched or take their subjects (i.e. field of Mathematics and Science, Field of Technology, Field of Arts and Humanities and Field of Business Studies).

·         The cross-cutting subjects for all the students, in respective of their field of studies are – English Language, General Mathematics, Civic Education, Computer studies/ICT, and trade.

·         Report Card for senior secondary should be done separately for the 4 field of studies (i.e. Science and Mathematics, Technology, Arts & Humanities and Business Studies).

·         Subjects for each field of studies are listed below:

v    Science and Mathematics

1.         Biology

2.         Chemistry

3.         Physics

4.         Further Mathematics

5.         Health Education

6.         Agriculture

7.         Physical Education                (7 subjects)

v    Technology

1.         Technical Drawing

2.         General Metal Work

3.         Basic Electricity

4.         Electronics

5.         Auto Mechanics

6.         Building Construction

7.         Woodwork

8.         Home Management

9.         Food and Nutrition  

10.       Clothing & Textiles               (10 subjects)

v    Art & Humanities:

1          Christian Religious Studies

2.         Islamic Studies

3.         Visual Art

4.         Music

5.         History^-

6.         Geography

7.         Government

8.         Economics

9.         Literature-in-English

10.       French

11.       Arabic

12.       Nigerian Language                (12 subjects)

v    Business Studies:    

1.         Stores Management

2.         Accounting

3.         Commerce

4.         Office Practice

5.         Insurance                               (5 subjects)

·         Entrepreneurial Skills- students form SS 1 should be made to choose a trade or vocation that he/she will pursue till secondary school graduation.

·         Schools are employed to choose at least five out of the 35 trades/skills available for their students. They may not be able to sponsor ALL the trades.

·         The best way to teach the trades/skills is to employ the “artisan” to handle the practical aspect of the curriculum, while the “educated teacher”, handles the theory. That is the only way the set objectives can be achieved.

·         Employ the service of the artisan to come at least twice in a week to teach the students. Even, if the artisan cannot speak “English”, let there be an interpreter to do justice to the “transliteration”. The purpose is to “understand” the basic skills, for example, how to repair GSM, take good pictures, process data, do catering services etc. It is not how to speak the “elitist English” that the aspect of the curriculum wants to teach.

·         Students taught under this prescription- “Artisan + trained teacher” will create jobs and wealth after ‘passing out’, from secondary school.

·         The 35 trades/skills are listed below:

1.             Auto Body Repair and Spray Painting

2.            Auto Electrical Work

3.            Auto Mechanical Work

4.            Auto Parts Merchandising

5.            Air Conditioning and Refrigeration

6.            Welding and Fabrication Engineering Craft Practice

7.            Electrical Installation and Maintenance Work

8.            Radio, TV and Electronic Servicing

9.            Block Laying, Brick Laying and Concrete Work

10.          Painting and Decorating

11.          Plumbing and Pipe fitting

12.          Machine Woodworking

13.          Carpentry and Joinery

14.          Furniture Making

15.          Upholstery

16.          Catering Craft Practice

17.          Garment Making

18.          Clothing and Textile trade

19.          Dyeing and Bleaching

20.         Printing Craft Practice

21.          Cosmetology

22.         Photography

23.         Mining

24.         Tourism

25.         Leather Goods Manufacturing and Repair

26.         Stenography

27.         Data Processing

28.         Store Keeping.

29.         Book Keeping

30.         GSM Maintenance and Repairs

31.          Animal Husbandry

32.         Fishery

33.         Marketing

34.         Salesmanship            

35.         Keyboarding

·         JAMB should continue to admit students based on the new structure as from 2016 academic session.

·         Publishers should begin to “roll out” books in this regard.

·         School owners, Administrators, teachers and teacher training institutions should key into this development and fashion their operations after this development.

·         Teacher institutions’ regulatory bodies like, NCCE, NUC, NTI and Ministry of Education, NGOs, Education Partners, should as a matter of urgency, key into this development.

·         Each student should select and offer a minimum of 9 subjects across board at senior secondary school.

·         Conclusion

The new curriculum for Universal Basic Education (UBE) and post UBE has come to stay in Nigeria. It has been designed to promote re-orientation, critical thinking, value orientation, entrepreneurial skills, wealth creation, amongst others. It was also launched to correct the defects in the former one that is being used currently in Nigerian primary 3 to 6 and J.S 3 classes. The implication of this is that, the new set of primary 1 and 2 and J.S 1 and 2 pupils has begun to use the new UBE curriculum since October 2014, while the old curriculum will gradually phase out with the preceding sets. This way, it will be completely phased out from primary school by year 2020 and by year 2016 from junior secondary schools.

Therefore, School Heads, Administrators, Teachers and especially school Counsellors have onerous task in the implementation process and should be encouraged to key into the new trend.

Public examination bodies like WAEC and NECO should take note, revise their examination syllabi.

Schools by implication, should select at least ten subjects from the 34 trades for their students, depending on the resources and the resource persons available where students will be guided to select at least one…

Placement from J.S 3 to S.S I should be based on interest, Aptitude, to take the subjects and academic performance and Vocational interest.

New subjects like Cultural and Creative Arts (CCA), Pre-vocational Education (PVS) and Religious and National Value (RNV) should be taught by different experts from different background that make up the content of the subjects; because that is the only way the set goals can be achieved.

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