Nigeria has a high percentage of unemployment, especially for graduates, and stakeholders think that the recently revised Curriculum could help with this issue. The new curriculum has a strong emphasis on practical and vocational training, which should increase employability and encourage entrepreneurship. This Basic Education curriculum was revealed by the Federal Government and is scheduled to go into effect in January 2025. The emphasis is on providing primary and junior secondary pupils with the necessary skills for the contemporary workforce, with a focus on trades like hairstyling, construction, hospitality, and computer literacy.
Professor Tahir Mamman, the minister of education, emphasised during a meeting in Abuja that the curriculum’s objective is to develop self-reliance and produce job creators rather than job seekers. The curriculum has been authorised by the National Council on Education, and a Senior Secondary Education Curriculum is anticipated by September 2025. Infrastructure improvements, instructional manuals, and Teacher training are all part of the preparations for the curriculum’s implementation. The objective of this program is to equip students for the demands of a dynamic workforce and bring Nigeria’s Educational System into line with international norms.
Concerns exist around finance and resource distribution.
More so, the redesigned curriculum, which is scheduled to go into effect in January 2025, offers a big chance to address the high Unemployment rates in the nation—particularly among graduates. But there will probably be a number of difficulties along the way. The willingness of educators and institutions to implement the new vocational and technical curricula is a significant obstacle. A lot of schools, especially those in rural regions, struggle with inadequate infrastructure. This includes a lack of basic amenities like ICT labs and workshops, which are essential for providing hands-on instruction in fields like Construction and digital literacy.
Another issue is teacher preparation; in order to teach the new courses effectively, teachers must undertake considerable retraining. The success of this project mostly rests on whether or not teachers have the expertise and abilities to mentor students via hands-on, practical learning. Concerns exist around Finance and resource distribution as well. Although the government has pledged to modernise educational facilities, it is uncertain how far these improvements will spread to all regions. There’s a chance that underfunded schools would fall behind, which would keep inequity in education alive.
Vocational education has the potential to reduce unemployment rates by 10%.
With the goal of providing students with employable skills that are directly in line with the demands of the labour market, the new curriculum may help lower young unemployment. In 2020, 42.5% of young people were unemployed, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS). A better skilled workforce, greater employment rates, and faster Economic Growth could result from the curriculum’s effective implementation of closing the skills gap. Vocational education has the potential to reduce unemployment rates by up to 10% within five years of implementation, according to research from the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Teachers are cautiously optimistic about the new curriculum, but they also stress the need for continuous assistance. “Although this curriculum shows promise, we must make sure that educators are well trained to teach these new trades. We won’t get the required results without the proper training,” said an Abuja Secondary School principal. Employers, however, are happy about the development. While they are enthusiastic as well, students are worried about the details. This change differs from earlier Nigerian educational programs that prioritised theoretical learning above practical skills.
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While free and mandatory education for all children was the goal of the 1999 launch of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) program, Vocational Training was not emphasised. As a result of connecting education with economic demands, the current curriculum, in contrast, is more focused on entrepreneurship and trades, which helps to address the unemployment crisis. The curriculum could have significant long-term benefits if Nigeria can execute it well, especially if it addresses training and infrastructural problems. Not only might the country lower unemployment rates but improve its standing in the international Economy by developing a trained labour force.