[lg policy] Nigeria’s education policy outdated, archaic

[Harold Schiffman]

 Nigeria’s education policy outdated, archaic – El-Rufai
May 1, 2018
<https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/266744-nigerias-education-policy-outdated-archaic-el-rufai.html>Josiah
Oluwole <https://www.premiumtimesng.com/author/josiah>
[image: Nasir El-Eufai [Photo Credit: The Whistler]]
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Eufai [Photo Credit: The Whistler]
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The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has described Nigeria’s
policy on education as outdated and needing immediate and holistic review.

He said a review of the policy was necessary to ensure young Nigerians
could be prepared for the challenges of of the 21st century.

The governor spoke on Monday while delivering the 4th Distinguished Guest
Lecture of the University of Medical Science, in Ondo.

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.

“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.

“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.

“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.”

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.

“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.

“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.

“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?

“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.”

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.

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.

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.


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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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