The Education Minister, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has announced postponement of the implementation of the revised basic education curriculum until September 2025.
THE WHISTLER reported in October 2024 that the immediate past education minister, Prof. Tahir Mamman, announced that the new curriculum for basic education would commence across schools in January 2025.
Mamman had stated that under the new curriculum for basic schools, pupils will be required to acquire at least two skills.
However, Alausa in a press briefing on Friday in Abuja, said the commencement of the curriculum will be shifted to allow for proper preparation.
He noted that the next seven months would be used for the preparatory stage, including preparing teachers’ guides for using the curriculum, training teachers, setting up classrooms, among other tasks.
“That curriculum starts in September 2025 with the new student enrollment. We are now going through the last phase of it, which is teacher training. We are training our teachers to implement that curriculum. So it is set to start in the new academic session in the September 2025 admission year,” he said.
The minister also announced that the new compulsory 12-year basic education programme will replace the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), also known as ‘Junior WAEC’.
He stated that the BECE will be phased out as part of the education reform and the proposal will be presented to the National Council on Education for approval later in the year.
He said consultations are ongoing with stakeholders in the education sector to gain their buy-in.
“Currently, we have Primary Six. After finishing Primary Six, they go to Junior Secondary School. The Common Entrance exam has been abolished, except for those going to Federal Unity Schools. Now you have BECE that you take from Junior Secondary School to Senior Secondary School. We will phase out BECE as well. So the kids will just flow from Primary Six, Junior Secondary School, and Senior Secondary School.
“If we do that, we would have inculcated better education in these children. We won’t have people dropping off at JSS Three. At that point when they drop out at that level, they are not equipped. They don’t have enough education. So they become not useful to themselves and society.
“It is just adding three more years of education for our children. This, we believe, will improve their ability to move forward in life,” he said.
Alausa added that plans are underway to make a case to President Tinubu to increase the share of the Consolidated Revenue Fund allocated to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) from two percent to five percent.
He further stated that one percent of the allocated funds will be dedicated to supporting the previously unfunded Early Child Care Development Education program.
