A one day advocacy and orientation workshop for teachers on the structure and effective implementation of the new secondary school education curriculum has ended in Port Harcourt with a commendation on the Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi led administration in Rivers State for his tremendous development in education sector, stressing that the present administration has invested much in education being its major focus.
The Rivers State Commissioner for Education Dame Alice Lawrence Nemi made the commendation while addressing participants at the workshop in Port Harcourt.
Dame Lawrence Nemi further said that if there is no effective teaching there will be low implementation of the curriculum, revealing that the list of the newly employed 13,000 teachers has been published, adding that the philosophy of SSS education is for every graduate from secondary school to proceed to higher school, adding that Rivers State government will soon come up with elaborate work to create awareness in education and advised the organizers of the workshop to come up with plans on how to organize more effective sensitization programmes. She pointed out that the ministry is prepared to partner with National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy all the times.
Earlier in his address the Executive Secretary of National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy Professor Godswill Obioma described NERDC as a key parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Education that has the statutory responsibility of improving and sustaining the quality of education through implementation of its programmes and projects in educational research renewal, book and language Development as well as library, information and extension services.
He added that the council on behalf of the federal government of Nigeria undertakes implementation of special development with other agencies and international development partners, adding that to carry out mandates in responds to the ongoing national and global reforms in the socio-economic context, NERDC has developed a 9 year basic Education curriculum that will not only facilitate the attainment of core element of the national economic empowerment and development strategy (NERDC), but goal of education for all millennium Development Goals (MDGS) and implementation of the curriculum started in 2008.
He further explained that in enhancing the gains of the new basic education programme and also ensure the actualization agenda for national of government transformation agenda for national development, particularly in the area of Human Capital Development.
He added that NERDC has developed a new curriculum structure for senior secondary schools in Nigeria and approved by the national council on Education (NCE) and has been used since September, 2011.
According to the new curriculum structure includes trade entrepreneurship and civic education as part of compulsory cross cutting subjects and that NERDC in addition to curricular restructure also developed instructional hand books to equip teachers with practical skills in the use of the curriculum.
The body also stated that the philosophy of the new senior secondary education curriculum ensures that every senior secondary school graduate is well prepared for higher education and has acquired relevant functional trade entrepreneurship skills for poverty eradication, job creation and wealth generation.###
By Emeka Jilly Ejiowhor
