ENHANCING CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION FOR GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS: THE ROLE OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN PRE-PRIMARY AND PRIMARY EDUCATION

Abstract

The rate of youth unemployment in Nigeria, no doubt calls for concern. Moreover, innovative and creative skills seem to be lacking among unemployed youths. Consequently, social vices in Nigeria such as armed robbery, extortion through blackmail, and kidnapping and most recently, internet fraud have become rampant. The lack of innovative and creative skills among most of the youth could be adduced to their foundation or upbringing Education atre-primary and primary schools in Nigeria overlook the role of foundational creative and innovative skill development, hence the clustering of curriculum inre-primary and primary schools. Currently, in a globally competitive world of ours, the average Nigerian child needs to explore his/her environment and be nurtured to think in a creative and innovative manner in order to globally compete favorably basCurriculum Developmened on current national and global needs. Making use of secondary data, this study argues that the high youth unemployment rate in Nigeria could be traced to lack of proper curriculum development from the Pre-Primary and Primary schools. This paper posits that the best way to enhance creativity and innovation among the Nigerian youths is to expose them to acquire these skills from their Pre-Primary school education level. Among the recommendations is that there should be a review of the curriculum at the elementary level to minimize the curriculum contents and increase the co-curriculum activities. Emphasis on assessment of learning should be more on vocational skills acquisition than grading and certification.