Basic education curriculum in South-South Nigeria: challenges and opportunities of quality contents in French language learning

Catherine Alex Agbor,Derick A Ashabua

doi:10.4314/gjedr.v17i2.1

Abstract

The modern Nigerian society is dynamic, divided into zones based on economic, political and educational resources often shared across the zones. The six geopolitical zones in Nigeria are major divisions in modern Nigeria, created during the regime of President Ibrahim, Badamasi Babangida. The Federal Government of Nigeria in accordance with its National Council on Education had earlier directed the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council to restructure its basic education curriculum with the hope to enable the nation meet national and global developmental goals. One of the goals of the 9-year Basic Education Programme is developing in the entire citizenry a strong consciousness for education and a strong commitment to its vigorous promotion. This paper therefore, focused on Basic Education Curriculum in South-South Nigeria: challenges and opportunities of quality contents in French Language learning. It aimed at describing some key issues in Nigeria’s experience on the implementation of the Basic Education Curriculum. One research question was proposed to guide the study. One hundred and eighty (180) teachers were purposefully sampled for the study. Data were collected via group discussions on seven (7) curriculum themes emphasizing learner-centred educational practices. The findings reveal that the curriculum content, among others is inadequate and should be re-examined. Recommendations were made as a panacea to concrete implementation of the basic education curriculum in Nigeria. Keywords: Basic education, quality content, south-south zone

Highlights

The modern Nigerian society is dynamic, divided into zones based on economic, political and educational resources often shared across the zones
Purpose of study The main purpose of this study was to investigate how quality can be achieved in Frenchlanguage classrooms in the South-South geo-political zone of Nigeria, through seeking awareness of somespecific learner-centred educational practices themes
The study examined responses from teachers in South-South States of Nigeria on issuesfacing the Middle Basic Education curriculum, as well as reflects on the dynamics ofameliorating some of the difficulties posed

Summary

Introduction

The modern Nigerian society is dynamic, divided into zones based on economic, political and educational resources often shared across the zones. This paper focused on Basic Education Curriculum in South-South Nigeria: challenges and opportunities of quality contents in French Language learning. The six geopolitical zones in Nigeria are major divisions in modern Nigeria, which are not entirely carved out based on geopolitical location, but rather states with similar cultures, ethnic groups, and common history, were classified in the same zone. They are North Central, North East, North West, South East, South South and SouthWest. For instance,the Punch online newspaper of June, 20, 2018 reported that of the N9,120,334,988,225 budget passed by the senate, N102.907bn was allocated to education which has been described by stakeholders as not good enough

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