Izu Nwachukwu, a senior lecturer, the University of Calgary, Canada has advocated for competency-based education in Nigeria.
Nwachukwu who was delivering a paper on ‘Rethinking education in Nigeria: Innovating for the future’, a virtual conference by Nigeria Education Conference and Awards (NECA), said Nigeria needs to rethink education to life-long learning and not just to acquire the certificate.
The University don explained that the purpose and aim of education when it was first brought in 1842 by the missionaries have since changed.
“The 21st-century education is competence-based, where students learn to master their chosen careers through learning by practice system,” he said.
He encourages Nigerian education stakeholders and shareholders to embrace the Information Technology (IT) teaching approach to groom graduates that fit into the international labour market.
In doing this, Nwachukwu states that the policymakers and implementers need to integrate school and industry to drive the economic advancement of the country.
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“Industry leaders and progressive entrepreneurs need to be appointed as adjunct lecturers in the various tertiary institutions to enable them to translate their experiences to transform the students. Making experts adjunct lecturers will be an avenue for them to share their experiences with students thereby preparing them for the life long learning,” Nwachukwu stated.
Education, he reiterated should prepare people to live happier, healthier, and more fulfilled in life. And this according to him can only be realised by tailoring the education system to encourage learning to learn and develop transferable skills. The intellectual quotient system of education is outdated. Nigeria needs as a matter of urgency switch to a competency-based education system to meet up with the global community.
Nwachukwu counselled Nigerian education leaders to evolve with time in order to produce youths that will be economically viable in the labour market.
“Emotional intelligence and social skills are ideal to succeed in life. It is a time-consuming venture, but it is worth the sacrifice,” he asserted.
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