Educationist Decries Inconsistency in Nigeria’s Education Policies

An educationist, Mr Henson Oduware, has blamed the falling standard of the country’s education on inconsistency in the implementation of policies initiated by various administrations.

Oduware said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Benin that the inconsistencies were responsible for poor performance of students in examinations.

He said that if government had ensured proper implementation of educational policies over the years, such policies would have had positive impacts on the polity.

“Nigeria’s educational policy has not been consistent over the years and this has been responsible for the poor performance of students in major examinations.

“There is no consistency in the implementation of the curriculum. Today, you make one subject compulsory only to reverse the policy the next day.

“In the past, Mathematics, English, Biology, Economics and even Agricultural Science used to be core subjects in senior secondary schools.

“But now, what you have is Mathematics, English Language, Civic Education and one entrepreneurial subject,’’ he said.

Oduware said that with the frequent changes, the students were not conversant with the subjects they offer in major examinations.
“How do you make a particular subject compulsory for students in Senior Secondary School (SSS) when they never offered the same subject right from Junior Secondary School (JSS)?’’

He said that the 6-3-3-4 system of education if well implemented would have helped in reducing unemployment in the country.

The educationist said that with the introduction of entrepreneurial studies, before a child finished JSS III, he or she would have a trade such as tailoring, hairdressing or any other.

He noted that in spite of the advantages of the 6-3-3-4 system, most schools in the country lacked facilities to really impart the skills to the students.

Oduware said that the 9-3-4 system currently run was good because it allowed a child to go through primary school to JSS3.

He, however, noted that “the problem is that the children are supposed to write one general examination when they are in the ninth year.

“They now write one general examination when they are in the sixth year and this is wrong.

“We are operating the 9-3-4 system but in actual sense what we still run is the 6-3-3-4 system.’’