Commission decries obsolete school curriculum, unqualified teachers

The National Senior Secondary School Education Commission has decried the deplorable state of senior secondary schools in the country and called for collaboration to overcome some of the challenges bedevilling the secondary level of education in the country.

The government listed some of the challenges confronting the sector, including infrastructural deficit, unqualified teachers, obsolete curriculum, deplorable libraries and laboratories.

The Executive Secretary of the National Senior Secondary School Education Commission, Dr Ajayi Iyela, stated this during a meeting with the Civil Society Organisation Community Advancement and Humanitarian Empowerment Initiative members.

A statement released by NSSEC’s Head of Public Relations, Fatima Bappare, noted that the meeting focused on the capacity development of teachers in e-Learning and sciences, to equip the students technically and enhance their self-reliance for global impact.

“Dr Iyela, who recounted the deplorable state of our senior secondary schools, highlighted the infrastructural deficit, unqualified teachers, obsolete curriculum, deplorable libraries and laboratories, amongst others, as the numerous challenges confronting the sector.

“He stated in specific terms that the Nigerian government alone cannot fund education and, as such, NSSEC, which is saddled with the responsibility of repositioning the senior secondary education sector, has been fostering collaboration with the development partners and other relevant agencies to ensure it achieves its mandate of empowering the students to be self-reliance upon graduation.

“He then applauded the CSCHEI for partnering with NSSEC in the area of capacity development of teachers in e-Learning, technology, innovation and sciences,” the statement read.

Speaking earlier, the Director General of CSCHEI, Kunle Yusuff, said the organization was established to support the government in promoting humanitarian, community development and social values.

Yusuf said, “As an organisation that upholds transparency in its operations, it believes in ‘no teacher, no development,’ hence the effort to collaborate with NSSEC in retraining teachers in e-Learning, technical and science subjects in line with the Goal 4 SDGs Agenda 2030.”

He said the capacity building of the teachers would be held at the grassroots, to ensure inclusiveness of all schools.

The DG said where the science and technical teachers are not enough for each school, the organisation had put measures in place to bring back retired but not tired science teachers to the classroom as resource persons.

The development, he said, would ensure that the SDGs Agenda was achieved as students would be technically equipped to enhance their self-reliance for global impact upon graduation.