NIGERIAN EDUCATION: NEW SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL EDUCATION CURRICULUM SETS IN AS OLD CURRICULUM FACES OUT.

A new senior secondary school Curriculum has been developed by the NERDC and approved by the National Council on Education (NCE). This new secondary school curriculum structure was launched in all Senior Secondary Schools by the Federal Government in September 2011. The new Secondary School curriculum is planned to consolidate further the gains of the new basic education programme as well as ensure the actualization of Government's 7 point agenda for national development, especially in the area of HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT.

The curriculum known as Senior Secondary Education Curriculum, SSEC,  is aimed to producing secondary school graduate who are well prepared for higher education as well as having relevant functional trade and entrepreneurship skills needed for poverty eradication, job creation and wealth generation,

The new SSEC commenced in September 2011 beginning with the year one of the Senior Secondary School and the first batch of the Basic Education Certificate holders. This implementation process will be systematically through year 2 to year 3 until the old SSEC is gradually phased out in June 2014. The first batches of graduates are expected to graduate by June 2014.

The first public examinations based on the new SSEC would be conducted by the West African Examination Council, WAEC, National Examination Council, NECO, and the National Board for Technical and Business Education, NBTE, in 2014.

SUMMARY OF THE NEW SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM

The New Curriculum

The new curriculum is broadly divided into three categories as: compulsory cross-cutting core subjects, Field of Specialization and Elective. There are 4 fields of specializations as follows: Humanities, Science/Mathematics, Business Studies and Technology. Subjects under each of the fields are as follows:

Core Subjects	Humanities	Science/Math	Business Studies	Technology
1. English 2. Math 3. Trade 4. Comp-Stud 5. Civic Education	1. Nigerian Lang 2. Lit-In-English 3. Geography 4. Government 5. CRS 6. IRS 7. History 8. Visual Art 9. Music 10. French 11. Arabic 12. Economics	1. Biology 2. Chemistry 3. Physics 4. Further Math 5. Agriculture 6. Physical Education 7. Health Education	1. Account 2. Store Mgt 3. Office Practice 4. Insurance 5. Commerce	1. T-D 2. Metal Work 3. Basic Electricity 4. Electronics 5. Auto Mechanics 6. Building Construction 7. Wood Work 8. Home Mgt 9. Foods & Nut 10. Clothing & Text

Implementation/strategy

1. The new curriculum takes effect from September 2011. However, the old SS curriculum is to be phased out systematically over a period of three years i.e. September 2011 to June 2014.
2. All students are to offer all 5 core compulsory subjects.
3. Students are to choose 3 or 4 subjects from their field of specialization i.e. Humanities, Science/Math, Business Studies or Technology.
4. Students are to choose their compulsory entrepreneurship from the available list of 35 trades.
5. Students may choose 1 elective subject outside their field of specialization provided that the total number of examinable subjects is NOT more than nine (9).
6. In summary, students must offer: 5-core subjects, 3-4 subjects from field of specialization and 1 elective subject.