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<h2 class="entry-title">Nigeria’s education policy outdated, archaic – El-Rufai</h2>
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<span class="gmail-date"><a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/266744-nigerias-education-policy-outdated-archaic-el-rufai.html" title="Permalink to Nigeria’s education policy outdated, archaic – El-Rufai" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2018-05-01T07:32:45+00:00">May 1, 2018</time></a></span><a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/author/josiah" title="Posts by Josiah Oluwole" class="gmail-author gmail-url gmail-fn" rel="author">Josiah Oluwole</a> </div>
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<img src="https://i1.wp.com/media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2017/11/Nasir-EL-RUFAI-1.jpg?fit=750%2C448&ssl=1" class="gmail-attachment-860x800 gmail-size-860x800 gmail-wp-post-image" alt="Nasir El-Eufai [Photo Credit: The Whistler]" width="750" height="448"><div class="gmail-caption">Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Eufai [Photo Credit: The Whistler]</div> </div>
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<p>The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has described
Nigeria’s policy on education as outdated and needing immediate and
holistic review.</p>
<p>He said a review of the policy was necessary to ensure young
Nigerians could be prepared for the challenges of of the 21st century.</p>
<p>The governor spoke on Monday while delivering the 4th Distinguished Guest Lecture of the University of Medical Science, in Ondo.</p>
<p>During the lecture titled, “Transforming Nigeria’s Educational System
: Looking back and Looking Forward,” Mr El-Rufai said the current
policy on education was deficient in view of the present-day realities
and emerging issues affecting the education sector.</p>
<p>“I think that fundamental reforms are needed in education and I think
what the Federal Ministry of Education needs to do is to lead in
reviewing the national policy on education, which is already forty or
fifty years old,” he said. </p>
<p>“In my view, it is out of time; in the twenty-first century so much
has changed in education, but there is a need to sit down and get
experts in the subjects to look at what is happening in the educational
policies of countries in the world: what is changing. </p>
<p>“Professions are dying and new ones are coming up. Our curriculum and
policies on education are all grounded in the twentieth century, while
we are in the 21st, there is a need for a holistic review of that.”</p>
<p>The governor advocated a policy that would recognise and adopt one of
the languages spoken in the country as a medium of instruction in the
nation’s institutions.</p>
<p>“Of course, associated to that is the quest of language, should we
still be teaching from primary to university in English Language? What
can we learn from other countries that teach in their own indigenous
languages up to university level?,” he said. </p>
<p>“They teach from primary to tertiary institutions in their own
languages and they have gone to space. China is competing with America
and will soon overtake America as the largest economy in the world. </p><div class="gmail-code-block gmail-code-block-3" style="margin:8px 0px 8px auto;text-align:right;clear:both">
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<p>“They are dominant force in ICT, defence yet they are taught in
Chinese. Is there something we can learn there? Are we slowing down our
development by insisting that the only language of the educational
communication is English? </p>
<p>“This national policy should look at issues like this and come out
with policy on education that will prepare young people of Nigeria for
the 21st century because right now the education we are giving them may
not be fit for purpose for 21st century to compete globally.” </p>
<p>He said since he became governor in Kaduna state, education had been
developed while the problem of girl child marriage had been reduced
drastically in the state.</p>
<p>He said this was possible through the enactment of laws that made
education compulsory in the state while children between the ages of six
and 16 years should be in school. </p>
<p>The Vice Chancellor of UNIMED, Friday Okonofua, said Mr El-Rufai was
picked for the lecture because of the reforms he embarked upon in the
education sector in Kaduna State. </p></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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