The Federal Government has announced the reintroduction of History as a stand alone subject in basic education curriculum in Nigeria
The action came thirteen years after the abolition of the subject.
Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu,who disclosed on Thursday while flagging-off a programme announcing the reintroduction,said about 3,700 History teachers have also been shortlisted for the first round of training for enhanced teaching of the subject.
He was represented by the Minister of State for Education, Rt. Hon. Goodluck Nanah Opiah at the event attended by Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar and other key stakeholders in the education sector.
He lamented that the national cohesion was being threatened with the country retreating into primodal sentiments because of lack of knowledge of the evolution of Nigeria, following the removal of History from the basic education curriculum.
History was removed from primary and secondary education curriculums from the 2009/2010 academic session.
However,following general reactions then that for a country that was still evolving and grappling with issues of social cohesion, political stability and economic development, it could not afford to forget its past, the current Minister of Education, ordered the reintroduction of the subject in 2019.
Speaking at the flag-off, Adamu said: “History used to be one of the foundational subjects taught in our classroom but for some inexplicable reasons, the steam of teaching and learning was abolished.
“As a result, history was subsequently expunged from the list of subject combination our students could offer in both external and internal examinations compared to the subjects that were made compulsory at basic and secondary levels in Nigeria. This single act no doubt relegated and eroded the knowledge and information that learners could otherwise have been exposed to. It was a monumental mistake and have already started seeing its negative consequences
“The loss created by the absence of this subject has led to a fall in moral values, erosion of civic values, and disconnect from the past. More worrisome was the neglect of the teaching of this subject at basic and post basic levels of education which invariably eroded the knowledge of the evolution of Nigeria as a country”
