29th March, 2018
The Ebonyi Commissioner for Education, Prof. John Eke says that the reintroduction of History in the nation’s educational curriculum will reinforce Nigeria’s unity and engender patriotism.
Eke made the disclosure in an interview with newsmen on Thursday in Abakaliki.
The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, gave the directive, at the launch of history curriculum and teacher’s guidelines recently in Abuja.
Adamu said the reintroduction would allow students to know the history of the country and commended the Federal Government for the gesture.
According to Eke, the teaching and knowledge of history at the basic levels of education will reinforce Nigeria’s unity, cohesion and engender spirit of patriotism amongst Nigerians.
The commissioner noted that the importance of teaching and learning of history at the primary and junior secondary schools in Nigeria could not be over emphasised.
“The knowledge of history will enable school children appreciate more effectively their environment, culture, custom and socio political evolution of the society,’’ he said.
He said that the decision to return the teaching of history in primary and junior secondary schools was reached during the National Council on Education (NCE) meeting held in Kano in July 2017.
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“History you know is very important, if you lose your history, you have lost your identity and origin.
“Students need to know what happened before they were born and in every aspect of our lives including governance.
“The history of everything needed to be put down and taught the people.
“Even the Bible is a history and so history is inevitable, hence the importance of history generally cannot be over emphasised.
“The students need to know what happened in the ancient times as well as the pre-colonial, colonial and the struggles for Independence,” Eke said.
Eke explained that the reintroduction of the subject would enhance social reengineering as well as promoting social justice.
According to him, one of the cardinal principles of the present administration is social and behavioral change, and history is a key to its realisation.
The commissioner said that history was in late 80s buried under social studies curriculum, which had generated controversies among education stakeholders in the country.