Federal Government has been urged to undertake a review of Nigeria’s basic education curriculum and strengthen quality assurance system, to ensure schools deliver globally-competitive education.
The call was made during the 10th anniversary and graduation of Epitome Schools, Lagos, with the theme: ‘A Decade of Impact: Transforming Destinies and Raising Future Leaders.’
The proprietress, Mrs. Bunmi Salami, said the country’s education curriculum had remained unchanged for decades and required urgent restructuring to align with international standards and the evolving demands of 21st-century learning.
She said the existing scheme of work should be benchmarked against global best practices, to enable pupils compete favourably with their counterparts across the world.
‘The curriculum needs to be restructured in the education sector. All these curricula we have been using for decades need to improve. Our scheme of work needs to be compared with what is obtainable across the world so we can see how they operate,’ Salami said.
She advised education authorities to strengthen quality assurance mechanisms by ensuring thorough inspections before schools are granted accreditation or operational approval.
Mrs Salami said government agencies should assess learning environments, teaching standards and instructional methods to ensure schools complied with approved standards.
‘Before a school can be accredited or given approval, they need to go and check. The government needs to enhance or modify the scheme we are using so that we, too, in this part of the world can meet global standards,’ she added.
She advocated increased exposure of nursery and primary school pupils to practical and activity-based learning, saying such an approach would better prepare children for future academic and career opportunities.
Highlighting her school’s integration of coding, robotics and interactive boards into classroom instruction, she said curriculum reform should be accompanied by effective implementation and monitoring across public and private schools.
The School Consultant and Teacher Trainer at Havila Educonsult, Mrs. Philippa Okonji, said reforms in basic education would require greater government investment alongside improved oversight of the sector.
She said education should not be left to private operators, urging authorities to prioritise funding and support for schools and teachers responsible for developing the nation’s future workforce.
Okonji warned that failure to invest in basic education could undermine Nigeria’s long-term development, noting today’s pupils would become tomorrow’s leaders.
The stakeholders commended parents and teachers for supporting the school over the past decade and urged the graduating pupils to remain disciplined and focused as they advance to secondary education.