Omiete Joseph
An educationist, Mrs Eugenia Nwanekwu, has called for the reform of the country’s educational curriculum to align with current realities, especially in terms of public examinations.
Mrs Nwanekwu made these call while reacting to the poor performance of candidates in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), had in its recent report on the concluded UTME, revealed an overwhelmingly abysmal performance by candidates, with 75 percent scoring below 200 and just over 1 percent scoring above 300.
In an interview with journalists in Port Harcourt, the educationist, said “The curriculum should be reformed to align with current education needs. It is possible that the current curriculum is outdated and does not meet the needs of today’s students”.
Nwanekwu who is a retired director in the Rivers State ministry of education, emphasised the need for training and retraining of teachers to meet current educational requirements.
The educationist highlighted the lack of advanced knowledge among some teachers and their reluctance to further their education as factors that could impact teachers’ effectiveness and, in turn, students’ performance.
She noted that, “teachers should update their knowledge by participating in training workshops in order to acquire more knowledge to impart to children.”
“Many teachers are not fit for the teaching profession. When a teacher is knowledgeable, they will be able to effectively teach their students, leading to better performance in examinations.” She added.