Exploring Curriculum Innovation as a Tool Towards Attainment of Self Reliance of NCE Graduates of Islamic Studies

Abstract

Islamic Studies is offered from the primary level of education to the tertiary level of education in Nigeria and have contributed a lot to the development of knowledge in the world by producing great scholars in various fields of knowledge such as Al kindi, Ibn khaldun, and Al-Ghazali, Al-Razi, to mention but a few. Islamic education was the first to introduce a formal, organized and certificated education which provided job opportunities as its products were equipped with skills needed in the management of various affairs of man. In recent time graduates of Islamic Studies are becoming irrelevant in the knowledge economy and finding it difficult to attain self reliance. This paper examines the factors that is hindering Islamic Studies graduates from attaining self reliance and which includes irrelevance curriculum content, low enrolment, inadequate teaching and learning materials, lack of skill development in the application of information and communication in technology, admission criteria, methods of delivery, lack of proper funding, poor attitudes of lecturers to research among others. This study is literature survey and data is presented based on direct deductions from the available documents. The study reveals that the present Islamic Studies curriculum content is inadequate to enhance the attainment of self reliance among Islamic Studies graduates. The study recommends the need for curriculum innovation in Islamic Studies by integrating sciences, and vocational courses that can enhance the attainment of self reliance among graduates of Islamic Studies.