In every sane society, civic responsibility is intentionally embedded in the academic curriculum. A curriculum carried out in schools should show the values, realities, and goals of the society it serves. Class guideline need to not simply prepare trainees to pass examinations; it should prepare them for life after school. Trainees are expected to show in their conduct the lessons and worths imparted to them in the class. Sadly, this is contrary to what we frequently witness in Nigeria today.
Providing complimentary education for people is one thing; ensuring that such education is meaningful and impactful is another. Required basic education can become mostly inadequate if it lacks the important components needed to shape accountable and productive residents.
There are two major problems that should be dealt with if our education system is to achieve its purpose.
First, education authorities, school proprietors, and administrators have neglected a crucial element of education: the efficient tracking of mentor and learning activities in the class. Their primary concern is typically the completion of the syllabus throughout all subjects. Educators who fail to complete the plan of work are frequently approved, sometimes badly. Nevertheless, whether meaningful knowing has really occurred is rarely scrutinized. As long as an affordable number of trainees perform well in examinations, the system considers its task done. Yet, excellent assessment results do not necessarily equate into genuine academic quality or useful understanding.
The second problem lies with the teaching workforce itself. The present economic realities in Nigeria have actually driven many gifted, ingenious, and committed instructors far from the classroom. Lots of have actually moved to more financially rewarding professions, services, and online endeavors. A significant variety of those still mentor are merely waiting on better chances somewhere else. Subsequently, numerous schools across the country continue to lament the lack of certified and passionate instructors.
There are teachers who teach in the abstract due to the fact that they fail to use instructional products and teaching help that assist in understanding. There are others who continue to recycle outdated teaching resources that bear little importance to contemporary realities. For example, some teachers talking about wars and disputes still rely entirely on recommendations to historic hostilities such as the Ife-Modakeke conflict in Osun State. Meanwhile, they have no access to, or make no effort to use, present examples of worldwide conflicts through videos and multimedia resources. Such real-life products would not only make lessons more concrete but would likewise deepen trainees’ understanding and engagement.
Many instructors have actually confined themselves strictly to the contents of the prescribed curriculum. As a result, discovering typically begins and ends within the 4 walls of the classroom.
The essence of education is to construct a better society. Federal governments invest in complimentary and required education since they believe that an educated population adds to peace, advancement, and social stability. In principle, this presumption is proper. However, those entrusted with providing guideline are often either inadequately equipped or insufficiently trained to do so effectively. Consequently, the education being delivered loses much of its useful worth.
In Nigeria today, whenever a young person acts irresponsibly, older individuals frequently ask, “Didn’t you go to school?” That question reflects society’s expectation that education need to shape character as much as it imparts knowledge. Even a secondary school graduate is expected to have the standard values, discipline, and social awareness required for accountable living. Such expectations come from the belief that schools offer not only academic training however likewise ethical and civic orientation. If this is not the case, then our instructional system has failed in among its most fundamental responsibilities.
Our youth continue to participate in different forms of misconduct despite spending years in school. This suggests that the education they get has actually had little influence on their mindsets and behaviour.
In education, there is an idea called realia– the practice of linking classroom direction to real-life experiences. The class needs to be a reflection of society, and society must find expression in what is taught in schools. Civic obligation must therefore be taught in useful and relatable methods.
Students must comprehend the consequences of constituting a nuisance in their neighborhoods. They must understand the implications of tossing refuse from moving cars and cluttering public areas. They need to be taught the environmental and health hazards connected with disposing waste in drainage channels. Beyond theoretical explanations, students need to be exposed to videos, documentaries, real-life case studies, court judgments, and disciplinary measures including such offences. These examples would serve both as educational tools and as deterrents.
It is no longer sufficient to rely entirely on repetitive textbook examples that typically stop working to get in touch with modern truths.
A Civic Education teacher discussing cultism must exceed meanings and book descriptions. Such a teacher ought to present real-life experiences and proof efficient in discouraging trainees from welcoming such dangerous activities. A radio speaker in Lagos State as soon as recommended that students be taken on excursions to reformatories so they might witness firsthand the painful repercussions of criminal and violent behaviour. The concept was basic: seeing the extreme truths of prison life might provide an effective lesson that no book can properly communicate.
Similarly, thoroughly selected educational videos revealing the devastating consequences of cult-related violence and criminal activities can be utilized to discourage students from such behaviour. The goal is not to sensationalize violence but to inform and hinder. When trainees see the suffering, remorse, and destruction connected with these acts, numerous will reconsider and keep away from them.
Knowing can never ever be truly effective when teaching remains exceedingly abstract. It just can not.
School administrators must move beyond their fixation with finishing the plan of work. They need to establish robust methods for monitoring and keeping an eye on classroom activities to ensure that meaningful instruction is really happening. The focus should shift from simply covering the curriculum to guaranteeing that students really comprehend and use what they are taught.
The federal government likewise has a responsibility to initiate a comprehensive review of the national curriculum. Many crucial components are either missing or inadequately dealt with. The curriculum ought to be routinely upgraded to show our societal realities and developmental requirements. Ministers and Commissioners for Education should work closely with school owners, curriculum professionals, educators, and instructors’ agents to undertake an extensive review of the curriculum.
Nigeria can not continue to operate an educational system that produces certificate holders without effectively producing responsible people. Our curriculum should be developed not only to prepare trainees for assessments but also to prepare them for life, citizenship, and nation-building.
There is an immediate need for this evaluation before the beginning of the next scholastic session.