By Our Correspondent <\/p>\n
The Senate on Tuesday at plenary mandated its Committee on Basic and Secondary Education to summon the Minister of Education and heads of other relevant agencies over what it described as a sudden implementation of a new curriculum and registration guideline issued by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).<\/p>\n
This followed strong reservations expressed by Senators during debate on motion over the sudden implementation of the new curriculum and registration guideline issued by WAEC.<\/p>\n
They warned that the move could cause widespread failure among students scheduled to sit for the 2026 Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE).<\/p>\n
The motion, sponsored by Karimi Sunday-Steve, highlighted an abrupt and \u201cill-prepared\u201d policy change by the Federal Ministry of Education and WAEC. He said while leading the debate, that the new guideline requires all SS3 students nationwide to adopt a new curriculum originally planned to take effect in two years\u2019 time, for candidates currently in SS1 and billed to write WAEC in 2027\u20132028.<\/p>\n
Karimi noted that the shift had led to the removal of subjects such as Computer Studies, Civic Education and other pre-existing courses from the WAEC syllabus for the May\/June 2026 examination, despite students\u2019 years of preparation, warning that most students would now be left with only six examinable subjects instead of the required minimum of eight and maximum of nine.<\/p>\n
The Senate, he said, must act in line with Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution, which places the welfare of citizens at the centre of governance, and Section 18 which mandates government to ensure equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels.<\/p>\n
Contributing to the debate, Adams Oshiomhole, who seconded the motion, condemned what he called a \u201cculture of anarchism\u201d in policy implementation. He faulted the introduction of a new curriculum without adequate teachers, laboratories, equipment or proper notification to parents and schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot wake up overnight and say that in June students will be examined in a subject they have not been taught,\u201d Oshiomhole said. \u201cIntentions are not enough. Proper homework must be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
He urged the Senate to invite the Minister of Education and relevant agencies to provide evidence of preparedness before such a major policy shift is allowed.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Idiat Oluranti Adebule supported the motion but noted that major educational decisions must pass through the National Council on Education involving all state commissioners. She called for a wider investigation into the entire proposed curriculum review.<\/p>\n
Senator Solomon Adeola also backed the motion, observing that many of the newly introduced subjects including cosmetology, fashion design, garment making, livestock farming, GSM repairs and solar installation, were highly practical and required facilities most schools do not have.<\/p>\n
After extensive deliberations, Senate President Godswill Akpabio ruled that the Minister of Education, heads of relevant education agencies, and the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education should meet to address the concerns raised.<\/p>\n
Akpabio noted that the Senate had already adopted one of the prayers regarding exclusion of current SS3 students but agreed that full engagement with the ministry was necessary before any final directive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are very weighty issues,\u201d he said. \u201cWe cannot risk mass failure in the 2026 WAEC examinations. The relevant committees should invite the Minister immediately and report back within two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Senate insisted that the matter must be resolved before the end of the year to safeguard academic future of students nationwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent The Senate on Tuesday at plenary mandated its Committee on Basic and Secondary Education to summon the Minister of Education and heads of other relevant agencies over what it described as a sudden implementation of a new curriculum and registration guideline issued by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC). This followed strong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[232,2032,2879,5605,5421,810,5606],"class_list":["post-9275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","category-uncategorized","tag-council","tag-curriculum","tag-examinations","tag-guideline","tag-issued","tag-registration","tag-west-african"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9276,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9275\/revisions\/9276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}