It is trite knowledge that a people who are educated are more discerning and therefore easier to govern. It is also common knowledge that education empowers; that it is the most potent weapon against poverty; and that it has enormous benefits.
Latching onto the many possibilities which education offers, hitherto backwater countries such as China, Japan and South Korea, invested massively in education. They also mobilized their people to appreciate and embrace it.
The advances these countries have accomplished in the realms of technology and economic prosperity, and in the span of fifty years, have been attributed to these huge investments and their laser-focused attention on girl-child education.
By 2017 some of the top-flight schools and educationists in Europe were in awe of the high standards and academic rigor of South Korean high schools. In 2020, an education expert, Teru Clavel, published the international best seller, WORLD CLASS. This book was a ten-year investigation of why Asian schools were outpacing and outranking their American counterparts. It detailed the huge store by which Asian schools set on vigorous education. It revealed the devotion of their Teachers and the unwavering support parents and guardians gave to make this accomplishment possible.
Any educational system worth its salt must address that society’s challenges. It must also bring itself up to speed with international best practices and trends. Consequently, educational curricula must be continually tweaked and honed to respond to these challenges.
This writer notes that even though in our clime, efforts were made to address some of our challenges such as youth unemployment by introducing entrepreneurship and skills acquisition, these have been, at best, tepid and lackluster.
Only recently, the Federal Government unveiled curricula for Junior and Senior Secondary schools. These curricula emphasize digital literacy, entrepreneurship, computer programming, robotics, artificial intelligence(AI) etc. On Wednesday, 3rd September 2025, the Special Assistant to the President on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, further shared the subjects to be taught on X. He also announced that:”The new curriculum for Nigerian schools, which will commence from the next session in September 2025, has been released”.
No doubt about it, and in view of the capacity of digital literacy, robotics and artificial intelligence to impact society for good or ill, these subjects ought to have been introduced and taught before now. As a matter of fact, not a few far sighted schools, especially private ones, have appreciated the need for these subjects. And before their recent approval by government, they had taught them, side-by-side with hitherto approved curricula.
Welcome and lofty as these subjects are in our curricula, their introduction raises a number of concerns. It would seem that the Ministry of Education did not carry stakeholders along. It would also seem that the Ministry took it for granted that since these subjects were crucially important, they could be introduced with suddenness.
Such an assumption is flawed. This is because, pivotal as these subjects are, their implementation, in the absence of prior engagement with stakeholders, will become uphill. Besides, concerted efforts were not made to cascade the need to these subjects in lieu of their implementation.
Coming a week or two to the opening of schools, nationwide, for the new session, suddenness is compounded by lack of information to schools, administrators and parents in advance. As at now, most parents have budgeted for and procured books for their children and wards. Teachers, who ought to be prepared to teach these subjects, have not been oriented. Moreover, some of these subjects call for the recruitment of experts who would teach them. Have they been identified and recruited? Have they been conferred with requisite pedagogical/teaching skills?
Beside recruiting expert and specialist Teachers, have we laid the infrastructure for teaching these subjects? How many Computer Scientists has the government engaged to teach these subjects proficiently and effectively? How many computers, laptops and tablets has the government procured and distributed the across board of our educational system?
Certainly, the introduction of these subjects cannot be done in isolation. Requisite investments need to be made in other areas. For instance, emphasis ought to be placed on STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education as a prelude to this introduction. STEM education will facilitate the seamless teaching and appreciation of these new subjects. Interestingly, the last time this writer checked, the Ministry of Education was contemplating the investment of a mere N50 million on STEM Education.
If the federal government’s investment on STEM Education is niggardly, one is dubious about its investment on internet availability. For us to effectively teach robotics, drone technology and artificial intelligence, there must be internet availability and connectivity. Unfortunately, most of our schools, except the better-heeled ones located in our cities and state capitals, are bereft of internet connectivity.
It may be propitious, even fashionable, to introduce these subjects but we must do our home work. We must provide basic infrastructure, train and orient the Teachers who would instruct these students as well as carry all stakeholders along.
