Nigeria government calls for return of history to school curriculum

The federal government of Nigeria has called for the return of history into the curriculum of basic schools in the country.

The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, while speaking at the 61st Meeting of the National Council on Education Ministerial Session in Abuja on Thursday.

The Minister said the reintroduction of history as a subject on its own in basic schools will give the Nigerian child a self-identity of who they really are.

According to him, “Since it is said that if you want to destroy any nation, it’s either first the family is destroyed, then the education is destroyed and the third the social morals are destroyed and in Nigeria we owe both the present and future generations the responsibility to remove all inhibitions against making our children acquire morals and ethics”.

“It is only the study of history, our own history, that can explain and give meaning to our very humanity and that is why we must study it and teach our little ones. It is also not enough that they merely know who they are; we must teach them about their God”.

Commenting on the theme, ‘Education Council Meeting ; Teacher Quality: A Tool for Sustainable Human Capital Development’ , Adamu noted that it was informed by the need to draw the attention of policy makers, technocrats, professionals, and stakeholders in the education sector to the indispensability of the teacher in human capital development for the achievement of national goals.

During the council meeting, the Minister also launched the National Teacher Education Policy, NTEP, and the National Quality Assurance Policy, NPEQ. He stressed the fact that the objective was to produce highly skilled, knowledgeable and creative teachers who are capable of producing students who can stand tall against their contemporaries on the global.

In another twist, the Minister urged the Council to consider making the study of Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic Religious Knowledge compulsory for both Christians and Muslims to the end of Senior Secondary School.

NEWSVERGE recall that series of criticisms have continued to trail the suspension of history in education curriculum. The action has received many condemnations from different stakeholders on education.