In August, the Lagos state government’s Ministry of Education through its Office of Education Quality Assurance issued a memo directing private school owners of the reintroduction of History as a stand-alone subject into the basic and junior secondary schools in the state. According to the Memo, the subject is compulsory for both primary and junior secondary classes but elective for senior secondary classes.
The memo stated, “You are to note that while the subject (History) is compulsory for both primary and junior secondary school classes, it is an elective subject in the secondary school. To this end, I am further directed to inform you that the subject should be taught in primary 1 and 2 and JSS 1 and 2 classes in the 2022/2023 academic session,” the memo signed by Pelumi E. I., Director of Research at the Office of Education Quality Assurance, stated.
The decision of the Lagos State government is borne out of the 2018 directive of the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who ordered that the subject should be reintroduced into the basic and junior secondary school curriculum. The minister believed that the subject would allow students to know more about the history of the country.
Impact News agrees with the directive of the Minister and the initiative of the Lagos State Government to key into the directive. There is no doubting the fact that the importance of history to nation building, national identity, patriotism and overall human development cannot be over emphasized. For any nation to advance economically financially, and experience all round development, the nation must ensure that its history is preserved and served to the younger generation in order to preserve cultural and national identity.
According to the Adamu Adamu, “the national clamour for it to be back, informed our decision to reintroduce the teaching of history in Nigeria’s primary and junior secondary schools. The Federal Ministry of Education developed its strategic plan – Education for Change: A ministerial strategic plan (2016-2019) which contained several initiatives. This initiative was approved by the National Council on Education during its 61st ministerial session in September 2016,” he said.
Removing History from the curriculum was an error the Federal government made and we are consoled with the fact that the government has retraced its steps and reintroduced the subject into the curriculum. We commend the Lagos state government for blazing the trail while urging other state governments to do same.
Furthermore, reintroducing the subject into academic curriculum of basic, junior and senior secondary schools is one thing, ensuring that the subject is taught without prejudice, half-baked and distortion is another. This should be the concern of the government at both the Federal and State levels. We therefore advise that there should be a general consensus on how our national history is taught to students all across the country with the purpose of ensuring peaceful coexistence and cohesion amongst young generation.
