Research council reviews civic education curriculum


Nigerian Education Research and Development Council (NERDC) in collaboration with the development Research Project Centre (dRPC), has carried out a critique and editorial workshop for the review of the Civic Education curriculum for post primary schools in the country.

The Executive Secretary of NERDC Professor Ismail Junaidu, said the present curriculum which was developed in 2008 and distributed to schools for implementation in 2012, had completed the first circle and was due for review.

“Going by current trends globally and in Nigeria, there are lots of issues that need to be integrated into the existing curriculum. There is also the need to adjust some existing contents and concepts to reflect the present situation of our society,” he said.

Junaidu said civic education is concerned with the development and acquisition of skills and competencies that are related to social norms and values as well as political system. He  emphasised the rights, roles and duties of members of the society.

He said the key themes and topics infused into the curriculum were identified in a content selection workshop, which held from September 21 to 22, 2017, while the planning and writing workshop for the review exercise took place between October 19 and 23, 2017. He added  that the third phase of the project was the ‘Critique and Editorial Workshop.’

He stated that at the critique stage, participants ensured that the performance objectives “took care of lower level cognitive abilities such as explain, define, state, list, etc, and higher level abilities including evaluate, discuss, apply, analyse, among others. They also ensured that contents led to the achievement of stated objectives and inappropriate contents were replaced with suitable ones among others.

At the editorial state, the documents were fine-tuned in terms of spelling errors and wrong use of expressions while preliminary pages of the curriculum were developed.

The Executive Director of dRPC Judith-Ann Walker, said the project trained civil society organisations on a wide range of skills and topics, including fundraising for the society to function properly.

She said the curriculum was viewed as a significant aspect in the education system that recognised the role of civil society groups, women and youth in strengthening governance.

The deputy director-general, Nigerian Law School, Bagauda, Kano, Dr Nasirdeen Usman, said teachers should be trained on the new methods of teaching required by the curriculum.

The head of curriculum of NERDC, Dr Garba Gandu, called on education authorities to effectively implement the revised curriculum. He recalled an instance where new curriculum booklets were abandoned in a government warehouse.

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