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The National
Universities Commission recently introduced entrepreneurship studies as a
compulsory subject for all university undergraduates in Nigeria. So the
Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) has also
included entrepreneurship studies in its newly-developed curriculum for
secondary schools. Godswill Obioma, executive secretary of the NERDC
told journalists at the weekend in Abuja that the effort is geared
towards inculcating requisites skills to empower young secondary school
graduates who do not have resources for acquiring higher education to
earn a living.

“When we came on
board in 2005, the first target was to see how we can link up with the
reform; NEEDS was adopted in 2004 and we have curriculum which we
revised for basic education captured the very essence of NEEDS: poverty
eradication and wealth creation,” he said. “We have revived the basic
education curriculum, taking into account HIV/AIDS education, basic
technology which creates basic element of national training. Another
major impact is the senior secondary school curriculum.”

Mr. Obioma said that
in the new curriculum, students are expected to take the normal
subjects and also, one technical and entrepreneurship.

“So when it comes on
board in 2011 and by 2014, graduates of senior secondary school would
have gotten at least one technical entrepreneurial skill. So if they
cannot go into the university, they could move on with their lives. We
have created that foundation to drive the acquisition of skills.”

He added that NERDC
has within the past four years produced nine-year Basic Education
Curriculum as well as the teachers guide for the curriculum; 34
entrepreneurship trades for senior secondary education due to commence
in September; over 3,000 indigenous sign languages for BEC;
entrepreneurial skill acquisition curriculum for out-of-school youth.

“The council is
currently working on teachers handbook for the implementation of the new
senior secondary curriculum and has also revised National Education
policy (2007 draft edition); produced national language policy as well
as language map for Nigeria; bilingual dictionaries in Hausa, Igbo and
Yoruba for basic education.

“NERDC has equally
produced orthographies/meta languages in over 34 Nigerian languages;
school curriculum for some of Nigerian languages like Efik, Izon,
Kanuri, Fulfulde, Tangale, Tiv, Edo for basic education and has,
conducted predictive research on the co-relationship between
achievement in public examination and university performance,” he said.