The Federal Government on Monday said the review of the curriculum for senior secondary schools is nearing completion.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, made this known during the 2025 International Conference of the African Curriculum Association hosted by the Nigerian Education Research and Development Council in Abuja.
Recall that the Federal Ministry of Education on Sunday announced the unveiling of the curriculum for basic and technical education.
The implementation of the new curriculum described as “future ready” curriculum is expected to kick off soon.
“The review and streamlining of the Basic Education Curriculum for Primary 1 – 6 and JSS 1-3 had been completed and approved while that of the Senior Secondary School is nearing completion soonest.
“The review of these curricula is based on best practices and design approach following the requisite stages, criteria and involving broad-spectrum of critical stakeholders. The framework, structure and content of the curricula are based on competency and outcome approach and leveraged on the thematic, spiral-cyclical model. It contains effective pedagogies, resources, and guideline on the use and acquisition of 21st century skills.
“The content of the curricula covers new areas pertaining to digital literacy, robotics and artificial intelligent, new technologies and subject based skills, 21st century skills that are transferrable and issues of values, national heritage and effective citizenship. The newly designed curricula are learner centred implementable and devoid of content overload. One thing we want to achieve in the curriculum reform process is to ensure content learnability and coverage thereby improving learning outcomes across all subjects.
“Thus, the curricula and subjects offerings have been scaled down drastically to align with global standards and endanger effective learning at the various level of primary and senior secondary education.
“The newly revised curricula are to be introduce soonest into the school system for effective implementation,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of the NERDC, Prof. Salisu Shehu, in his paper presentation tagged, “approaching curriculum development from the perspective of a changing social system and learning interest,” stressed the need for curriculum development to be structured after emerging needs.
He said, “As previously noted, we now live in a changing social system influenced by the rise of digital economies, increasing cultural pluralism, demands for inclusivity and learners who seek flexible, personalised education that is connected to real-world experiences and, somewhat beyond the now as they desire to embrace the future at a faster pace.
“Curriculum development, in this case, would best be viewed as an adaptive process that balances the broad demands of our society with the learning interests of learners. But beyond this, there is the challenge of prospective curriculum which seeks to create a learning experience that transcend the now to peep broadly into the future.
“These learning interests comprise both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations that inspire learners to engage with educational content (Renninger & Hidi, 2016), and are shaped by age, socio-cultural backgrounds and the level of desire for skills that enhance employability. Recognising and integrating these learning interests into curriculum design is vital for creating meaningful learning experiences.
“It is in this regard that the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council has sustained efforts to ensure that our curriculum development process reflects the perspectives of a changing social system and the varied learning interests of learners by adopting an inclusive, learner-centred, competency/outcome-based curriculum framework.
“For instance, we recently revised the 9-Year Basic Education Curriculum to incorporate 21st-century skills and align with societal needs for employability and global citizenship,” he added.
