21st century education for Nigeria

Competition demands productivity. Productivity is the key to advancement of any nation. Technology is moving at unprecedented speed to extent, it dictates the modern world.  Any nation that does not dance to its tune will be obsolete. For Nigeria to compete effectively educationally and achieve Education “For All” (EFA), and close the skill gaps now […]

Competition demands productivity. Productivity is the key to advancement of any nation. Technology is moving at unprecedented speed to extent, it dictates the modern world.  Any nation that does not dance to its tune will be obsolete.
For Nigeria to compete effectively educationally and achieve Education “For All” (EFA), and close the skill gaps now and in future, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) is the answer to what is arguably the most serious educational problem Nigeria faces as a nation. The enormous gaps between elementary preparation, and secondary schools, and between secondary preparation and the demands of tertiary institutions and industries, for instance. A science, technology-based education structure would put Nigeria on the mark for global competition. This should be a requirement and not an option. Continue the status quo will continue to diminish the image and the future of the country.
Growing unemployment in Nigeria can be attributed to defects and loopholes in the overall educational system of the country. For example, curricula of elementary school to tertiary education in the country, which are not tailored to teach skill studies that would create employable graduates. As such, students from elementary to tertiary educational institutions often graduate students who cannot compete effectively in the modern world of work, ill equipped, into joblessness and low morale.
Today, there are a lot of Nigerian graduates who did not learn relevant skills during their studies. The system failed them, because they were busy reading textbooks only to obtain certificates but without knowing the applications of what they read. As such, this lead to long years of unemployment, deprivation and frustration is a major cause of crime amongst Nigerian youth. Each year, thousands of students graduate from primary, secondary, polytechnics, colleges of technologies and universities across Nigeria, but many fail to secure a job.
For Nigerian young men and women and Nigeria to move forward educationally and economically, its students need to learn relevant skills during their school years will help solve Nigeria’s unemployment problem. Thus, the introduction of STEAM subjects and courses into the Nigerian Educational curricular, from primary to university systems, by the local, state and federal governments.
Nigeria, with a population of over 167 million people, is said to have the largest economy in Africa. But its unemployment situation is alarmingly fitful. Over 83.5 million (50%) are the youth, aged 15 to 34 years. According to World Bank estimates, the rate of unemployment of Nigerian youth is close to 80%. This represents 2/3 of the country’s youth population. Also, an estimated 47.59% to 59.95% of unemployed Nigerians are in rural areas, half of whom had little or no education at all.
With this current shift of federal power, there are a lot of anticipated changes that the nation is hopeful will take place. In the scope of political goals of evolving communities, health, and economics there is of course the question of reform in education. The educational structure of Nigeria is in desperate need of reconstruction. The government and its citizens should put this as a high priority. According to a 2015 UNICEF report, the majority of primary schools in rural areas lack clean water, electricity, and toilet facilities; there is an estimated one toilet for every 600 students.
 40% of Nigerian children ages 6-11 do not attend primary school. In this study it is proven that northern Nigeria has the lowest attendance rate of this age group. For the 60% that attend primary schools, half (30%) of them drop out. Only 54% transit to junior secondary school. Additionally, the gender gap between boys and girls widen in the North. The ranges one girl to two boys and in some states it is one to three (UNICEF, 2015 report).
Without a doubt, the future of Nigeria is hanging on the educational system of its young men and women. The original foundation of educating (teaching and learning) our young men and women has gone from bad to worst in the last 16 years, to extent, in the last six years we have the worst educational system in the world (Daily Trust newspaper, April 21, 2015).
What is STEAM Education?
STEAM is a programme based on the idea of educating students in five specific disciplines. They are, science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics, in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. Rather than teach the five disciplines as separate and discrete subjects, STEAM integrates them into a cohesive learning program based on real-world applications.
President Muhamadu Buhari should take this initiative “Educate to Innovate and Innovate” campaign to motivate and inspire Nigerian students to excel in STEAM subjects. The campaign should take into accounts the inadequate number of teachers skilled to teach in these subjects. The goal is to get Nigerian students from the grass root in science, technology, engineering and math to the top of the pack, locally, nationally and internationally.
The administration needs to invest billions of naira in federal programmes on STEAM education. The investments should be made to recruit and support STEAM teachers, as well as support STEAM-focused secondary schools and tertiary institutions with STEAM Innovation and Inventions Networks. Additionally, the investments should include advanced research projects for education, to better understand next-generation learning sciences, engineering, technologies, and math.
The future budget should include several investments designed to improve teaching and learning in STEAM subjects for teachers and students in all schools in the nation. Key elements of the president’s proposal should include:
1.    STEAM Innovation and Invention: This proposal, to include funding to all states and local governments that will help to train the next generation of innovators and inventors in science, technology, engineering, and math.
2.    STEAM Innovation and Invention Networks: This program should provide grants to states’ ministries of education that are not meeting “Education for All” to public schools in partnerships with universities, polytechnics and colleges of technologies, to transform STEAM teaching and learning.
3.    STEAM Teacher Preparation: The goal should be to prepare 500,000 effective STEAM teachers throughout the country.  This program should provide competitive awards to high-quality programmes that recruit and train talented STEAM educators for the nation. Also, it should identify, refine and share models to help Nigeria’s best and brightest math, science, and technology teachers to make the transition from excellent teachers to school and community leaders and advocates for STEAM education. The program should enlist, recognize and reward national outstanding STEAM educators to help improve STEAM teaching and learning in each state and local governments throughout the country.
The importance of this is to meet our future needs as a nation. What separates STEAM from the traditional science and math education is the blended learning environment and showing students how the scientific method can be applied to everyday life. It teaches students computational thinking and focuses on the real world applications of problem solving. 

Professor Al-Hassan wrote from Guidance Academy of Steam, Raymore, Mo., US