The Federal Ministry of education has proposed a compulsory 12 year basic education system for all pupils in Nigerian schools.
This was disclosed by the minister of education, Dr. Olatunji Alausa, during the National Council on Education Meeting held in Abuja on Thursday, where Alausa presented a proposal that aims to transition to 12 years of compulsory education within the existing 6-3-3 system.
According to him, the major feature of the proposal, is the removal of the examination barrier between Junior Secondary Schools and Senior Secondary Schools, allowing students to progress seamlessly without the need for external assessments at that stage.
However, he stated that the proposal is still under consultation, and its implementation depends on further deliberation, adding that over the next eight months, the ministry will engage in extensive consultations with key stakeholders, including policymakers, state governments, teachers, parents, and others.
Alausa noted that a final decision will be made at the National Council on Education Meeting in October 2025.
He further stated that the council also approved other significant initiatives, including a national anti-bullying policy, the use of native languages in primary education, and policies for minimum age requirements for admission to tertiary institutions.
The minister emphasized that the goal is to emulate global best practices, seen in countries like the US, the UK, and Ghana, where 12 years of education are compulsory, leading to improved educational outcomes.
His words "What we’re saying is that we need to move from what we have now as nine years of compulsory education to 12 years of compulsory education as it’s obtained in other parts of the world.
“If you look back into the history of Nigeria, 30 years ago, people that went to the primary education there and got up to standard six, if you compare the level of education, the level of instruction, even the standard three there, it’s much better than what we get in GSS three now.
“Today, our quality of instruction and education is falling. If we let these kids continue to graduate, if we let these children tell them that they only have nine years of compulsory education, we’re literally just training illiterates. We’re not preparing them for the future.
“We already have a universal basic education that gets 2% of the conservative level. I’m going to go to Mr President about increasing the current level of funding to add basic education to 2% of conservative revenue to 5% of conservative revenue. We’ll ask for that,” he said".
No comments:
Post a Comment