26 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2015
CURRICULUM SHIFT: A future without HISTORY? Continues from page 25
VISIT: From left: Oluseye Thomas, Business Manager, Oshogbo Branch and Akinleye Ogunleye, Regional Manager, Ibadan Region all of Diamond Bank; Omotoso Oluwaseun, Head Boy, Henry Alex-Duduyemi Memorial College, HAMEC, Ile-Ife; Mrs Deborah Akinpelu, Principal, HAMEC; Esther Onwu, a student of HAMEC; Dele Falade, Business Manager, Ilorin Branch and Titilola Alabi, Team Lead, Corporate Social Responsibility, all of Diamond Bank during a visit of the bank's staff to the school as part of activities marking the 2015 Financial Literacy Day in Ile-Ife, Osun State.
WAEC Int’l Excellence: Nigerian students not among best two in 5yrs Continues from page 25 Incidentally, in 2013 Ghanian students also won the three prestigious International Excellence Awards, where two females, Miss Ivy Ama Mannoh and Miss Rhoda Adu-Boafo emerged first and second respectively. Followed by Master Mwinmaarong Lucio Dery all from Ghana who emerged third. Also, Ghanian students have registered themselves as best candidates in West Africa, by repeating the same feat in 2012, when they clinched the first, second and third positions. Record shows that in 2012 WASSCE, Miss Yvette Yeboah-Kordieh, Master Josbert Ayambire and Master Bright Seyram Tsevi all of Ghana emerged first, second and third respectively. Ghanaian students It will interest you to note that in 2011 WASSCE, Ghanaian students also emerged first and second beating Miss Adeloye Ope from Nigeria who emerged third. In 2010, no winner emerged. However, in 2008 and 2009, Ghanian students took the first, second and third positions in the West African examination. It will be right to assert that for Ghanian students to have won this prestigious international award for five consecutive years, its secondary school education system must be superb and worthy of emulation. The last time Nigerian students won was in 2007, when its students came first consistently from 2002 to 2007. What has happened to Nigeria's secondary school educational system from 2008 to 2013 that no Nigerian students has emerged first or second in WASSCE? Speaking at the WAEC
63rd Annual Council Meeting held in Lagos last week, its registrar, Dr. Iyi Uwadiae said: “The three candidates were selected from a total of 2,018,497 candidates who sat for the examination in the Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.’’ He noted that in addition to the first prize, the Augustus Bandele Oyediran Award for the Best candidate in West Africa will be presented to Master Mickail Hasan, the overall best student. In the breakdown, he said: ‘’A total of 2,450,626 candidates sat the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in all the member countries in 2014. Out of this total figure, 2,018,497 candidates sat the May/June WASSCE conducted for school candidates while 432,129 candidates sat the November/December WASSCE as private candidates.” According to him, the 2014 candidature showed a decrease of 140,161 candidates which was about
For Ghanaian students to have won this prestigious international award for five consecutive years, its secondary school education system must be superb and worthy of emulation
5.41 per cent below the 2013 figure of 2,590,787 and a decrease of 97,604 candidates which was 3.85 per cent below the 2012 figure of 2,548,230. The Registrar who lauded WAEC for efficient conduct of the examination, noted that leakages of question papers did not occur in any office of WAEC in 2014. He, however lamented that other forms of malpractice featured in the conduct of the Council’s examinations in all the member countries. Member countries ‘’The fight against examination malpractice is rigorous and the weapons are expensive,’’ he said. According to him, the National offices have intensified their efforts at eradicating the malaise through various strategies, such as extensive group briefings or meetings. Other media including stakeholders’ dialogue, prime space media advertorials and the use of metal detectors among others. Uwadiae however averred that the afore mentioned effort would soon be rendered futile if all other stakeholders remain indifferent leaving WAEC to wrestle with the highly sophisticated, innovative and resilient perpetrators. He urged member governments and other stakeholders in education to resume a fierce battle against examination malpractice to safeguard the integrity of public examinations in our Sub-region.
"We used to have 20 single subjects listing. We had English as a subject, mathematics, basic science, basic technology, then languages under this listing, if you count them one by one, it will be 20. But in the new curriculum, we have been able to reorganise them into a maximum of 10.” In the big picture, however, what could this ‘greater efficiency’ mean for the future of the country? Barrister Aderemi Brito, a lecturer of History and International Diplomacy, Lagos State University, gives a gloomy answer to this question. “It is very unlikely that our society would be able to move forward without the study of history at the primary and secondary levels. History is the study of the past in relation to the present and the future. We can’t move forward if we do not know where we are coming from.” For the National Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign, Mr. Hassan Soweto, there is the urgent need to review the neo-colonial market-driven curriculum to ensure that we produce graduates that meet the requirement of the capitalist market. Educational stakeholders “As education stakeholders at a recent National Summit organised by ASUU, SSANU, NASU and NAAT agreed, there is the need for a liberating education curriculum focused on educating Nigerians to be conscious of their history, to be equipped with the right ideas not only to contribute to society through their labour but also to liberate our country from imperialist domination and at all times defend the principles of freedom, liberty and community. “Instead of the sense of community, our students are being taught individualism; instead of the real history of Africa and its people, students are being taught that Mongo Park discovered the River Niger. Instead of the dignity of labour, our students are being taught the benefits of the get-rich quick culture of the stock market” Soweto
Instead of scrapping the subject, policy makers should focus on cultural awareness and sensitization of man power in handling the subject to keep students from losing interest in it
posited. The Principal of Excel College Lagos, Mrs. Grace Oke, described the act as a disaster that is borne out of ignorance on the subject’s significance. She likened the deed to that which could impede the fight to foster unity in a nation like Nigeria that is comprised of various ethnic groups and thus expressed that the subject should be brought back to the curriculum. She situated that History as a subject be made mandatory from the primary to the tertiary level because a people that forget their history can never develop. Oke said: “Trying to build a nation like Nigeria without the knowledge of the history of the people is like building a castle in the air. Being a heterogeneous society, to bring unity in diversity so as to live together, Nigerian history must be taught as a compulsory subject from primary school to the university irrespective of one’s course of study.” Broadening their horizons She also posited that the removal of the subject would lead to its extinction in the nearest future and cause the nation to regret the act. According to her, the step has affected the students academically because they have lost some core values which history was meant to instill in them and help to broaden their horizons. The Vice-Principal of Salama High School, Jos, Mr. Harrison Oghenoronva, also lent his voice, saying “History plays a very important role in our national development, we need to go back to history and past events for reference purposes. We need History in order to know our roots and make sense of the present.” Another teacher in Lagos, Mrs. Patience Ihuoma, said “By studying the choices and decision of the past, students can confront today’s problems and choices with a deeper awareness of the alternatives before them and the likely consequences of each. So I think History is recommended for schools not scrapped.” These educationists also debated on the ability of subjects such as Government and Social studies, to fill in the void which the lack of History has created. Ogheneronva said: “When we talk about History and Government as subjects, you discover that they are not the same thing. Government deals with administration and current affairs while History deals with past events and culture. Instead of scrapping the subject, policy makers should focus on cultural awareness and sensitization of man power in handling of the subject, to keep students from losing interest in it.”