New school certificate syllabus

Implementation of the new Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) curriculum began in September 2011, meaning that public examinations based on the revised curriculum will commence in May and June 2014.  The new curriculum features four subjects (Computer Studies, Insurance, Store Management and Office Practice) in the electives category, while the remaining 35 subjects are […]

Implementation of the new Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) curriculum began in September 2011, meaning that public examinations based on the revised curriculum will commence in May and June 2014.  
The new curriculum features four subjects (Computer Studies, Insurance, Store Management and Office Practice) in the electives category, while the remaining 35 subjects are in the trade category. Subjects in the trade category include Painting and Decorating, Photography, Salesmanship, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration; Fisheries, Carpentry and Joinery, Plumbing and Pipe Fitting, and Upholstery. Candidates are required to take four core subjects (English, Mathematics, Civic Education and Trade/Entrepreneurial studies) and choose three or four subjects from the Humanities, Science, Technology and Business Studies, depending on their potential and interest.
WAEC officials have noted that the new curriculum would face some challenges, including inadequate teachers and the appalling state of facilities. Indeed, some states, like Lagos for instance, have said that only a handful of the 35 trade subjects have been recommended to be taught in their schools, citing inadequate number of teachers and lack of facilities.
Implementation of the syllabus has not been without controversy. Frequent changes or review of policies in the education sector has been a major problem. The 9-year Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) was reviewed by the NERDC barely three years after its implementation began in September 2008. The NERDC in March 2012 undertook a review of the 9-year BEC and reduced the number of subjects offered at that basic level from 20 to a minimum of 7 at the lower basic (primary 1-3), and maximum of 10 at the upper basic (JSS1-3). The explanation then was that the reduction was a response to public outcry that the subjects were too many.
 It is there a contradiction on the part NERDC to now find it necessary to increase the number at the senior secondary school level to 39 subjects.
Policies in the education sector keep changing because the education administrators and planners have failed to link failures in the system to inadequate number of teachers, the poor quality of the available few, and inadequate or obsolete laboratory equipment and dearth of relevant library materials. Instead, they fault existing curriculum, and believing that its review or change would provide the solution. No matter how many times a curriculum is reviewed, its success would depend on the availability of relevant and adequate teaching and learning facilities to sustain it.    
The predilection among policymakers in the education sector to import ideas from Western countries whose cultural values and technological foundations differ from what obtains in Nigeria is also part of the problem.
In formulating a curriculum, NERDC should consider that the school is not the only place where learning begins and ends. The home, the mosque, the church, clubs and sororities are al so avenues that provide opportunities for learning. 39 subjects are really too many for any school timetable that operates the regulation six-hour shift to accommodate.
The trend by which government agencies advocate the inclusion of their activities in school curriculum should be checked. If government were, for instance, to allow the FRSC, the ICPC, the NDLEA, NSCDC, EFCC, and other agencies, to be listed as subjects in curricula, what time would there be left for teaching the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science?
As statutory members and representatives of governors at regular meeting of the National Council on Education (NCE), commissioners of education of the 36 states of the federation, who should have raised red flags regarding the increasing number of subjects, are themselves often absents at the forum.  Governors can check the trend by asking for comprehensive briefings from their commissioners after each meeting of the NCE.
On the whole, merely changing or reviewing documents does not provide a workable answer to the crisis bedevilling school curriculum; a better option would be the provision of friendly environment in which effective teaching and learning can take place.