NAN-H-78
Separation
By Funmi Adeyemi/ Uche Bibilari
Abuja, Oct. 24, 2016 (NAN) Prof. Ismail Junaidu, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Educational Research Development Council (NERDC), has called for the separation of history as a subject in schools, saying it would be beneficial to all and sundry.
Junaidu made this call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja
He said that the archaic way of burying history under social studies was outdated, adding that this had not given the subject the priority it deserved.
“ Putting history under anything is not good, because you have to give it the prominence it deserves.
“History is too important to be put under any umbrella or any cover that is why now we find it very necessary to bring it out of the woods as they would say.
“Children will now clearly know who they are. They would know where they are, and it is only when you know where you are that you will know where you are going.
“So it is clearly very important that history is brought out to stand alone as a subject, particularly in that very crucial stage, which is at the primary and junior secondary school levels.
He said that the council would soon organise a workshop to re-train teachers with regards to the interpretation given to history.
Junaidu said that the workshop would enable the teachers to be abreast of the knowledge of history.
“ Basically the challenge we have to deal with first is the retraining of teachers.
“Yes, the facts of history are clear but the interpretation we give to the fact matters.
“So we want to have a workshop to re-train the teachers with regards to what kind of interpretation we should be giving to our history.
“There are also challenges of textbooks to be written and the members of the Historical Society of Nigeria (HSN) are well mobilised with regards to that.”
He said that the council had also proposed to the Minister of Education and TETFUND with regards to production of history textbooks for Nigerian history.
He said that they are also proposing a visual production of the textbooks, which would assist the primary school level to learn about the history of the country.
“For instance, when you talk about our traditional rulers like the Ooni of Ife, the Emir of Kano and the Obi of Onitsha and so on, you need to teach by showing their pictures.
“They must be able to also visualise not just by words of mouth but what they can see,’’ he said.
Junaidu, however, called on the HSN to brainstorm and proffer solution on how to go about this. (NAN)
FAK/UU/DO/AFA
Edited by David Onilede/Felix Ajide
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