As Nigeria rolls out its new national curriculum, questions are emerging about how well it aligns with the demands of the 21st century, particularly in areas such as digital literacy, critical thinking, creativity, and global competitiveness.
While the reform promises to modernise education, experts and educators are divided on how far-reaching the new curriculum is, and whether it truly meets the evolving needs of today’s learners.
The federal government on Sunday, August 31, unveiled new curriculum, which introduces compulsory digital literacy and basic entrepreneurship at the JSS level, while programming, artificial intelligence, and new languages feature prominently at the SSS level.
The 21st century education obviously aims to promote science and technology. Besides, it is believed that any child who wants to be relevant in the scheme of things going forward must look towards science-oriented courses.
Hence, in the fore of AI, students are encouraged to choose courses that have future. Some of the new courses added to the curriculum include digital literacy and coding where internet research, and robotics, among others are included for the junior students.
While the senior students have philosophy and ethics, entrepreneurship, film/media production and research and project work for the final-year project, data collection, analysis, presentation and defense, among others.
Nubi Achebo, director of academic planning at the Nigerian University of Technology and Management (NUTM), sees the new curriculum as a step in the right direction towards achieving the goal of promoting science and technology.
Achebo said with the inclusion of digital literacy and AI, focus on practical skills, and balance between theory and practice, the curriculum is ideal.
“The curriculum makes digital literacy and basic entrepreneurship compulsory for Junior Secondary School students, while Senior Secondary School students will be introduced to programming, artificial intelligence, and new languages. This aligns with the demands of the 21st-century labor market.
“The new curriculum emphasizes practical learning, with subjects like coding, robotics, and digital entrepreneurship. This should help students develop relevant skills for the modern workforce. The curriculum seems to strike a balance between theoretical knowledge and practical application, which is essential for preparing students for the challenges of the 21st century,” he said.
Read also: New Secondary school curriculum to include AI, coding, journalism from September 2025
Gift Osikoya, a teacher, in the same vein describes the new curriculum is a significant step towards achieving the goals of promoting science and technology in education.
She disclosed that by incorporating subjects such as AI, coding, digital literacy, and entrepreneurship, the curriculum aims to equip students with the skills necessary to thrive in the 21st century labour market.
“The curriculum’s focus on digital skills, AI, and entrepreneurship aligns with the current job market demands, making Nigerian students more competitive globally.
“The inclusion of vocational subjects such as solar technology, fashion design, cosmetology, and ICT repairs will provide students with employable skills, addressing Nigeria’s unemployment crisis,” she noted.
Osikoya maintained that the new curriculum has the potential to transform Nigeria’s education system, producing students who are academically sound, practically skilled, and globally competitive.
Nevertheless, she emphasized that while challenges exist, the benefits of this reform far outweigh the costs, and that with careful implementation, Nigeria’s students will be well-prepared to thrive in the 21st century.
Jessica Osuere, founder/chief executive officer at RubiesHub Educational Services, said that it goes beyond paper works to comprehensive implementation.
“If it won’t just end on paper as our policies have always been, the new curriculum is a welcome improvement because it blends academic learning with practical trade skills like solar installation, fashion design, livestock farming, and GSM repairs.
“It also introduces digital literacy from the early years, which is an important step in preparing learners for today’s technology-driven world. I also love the way Nigerian history was brought in though l would have preferred it merged with social and citizenship studies as a single subject,” she noted.
However, Osuere reiterated that the depth of digital and STEM education is limited, soft skills like critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork are not emphasised, and entrepreneurship is treated as a side subject instead of a culture running through all the various levels of learning, these, she identified as shortfalls that may be a clog to achieving 21st-century job compliance.
“Most importantly, many schools lack the facilities and trained teachers to bring these subjects to life. So, even though the curriculum looks good on paper, its success will depend on strong implementation, teacher training, and investment in infrastructure. “Without this, Nigeria risks producing graduates who know a little of everything but are not fully equipped for the demands of the modern workforce,” she said.
Similarly, Friday Erhabor, director of media and strategies at Marklenez Limited, said it is not enough for the government to come up with a new curriculum, but that it must be constantly updated to be abreast with global reality.
“If you studied journalism or advertising 10 years ago the curriculum used for those courses can’t meet up with the reality of the profession today.
“So those in charge of managing our education must be abreast with developments in these courses so as to be proactive in tweaking our curriculums,” he said.
Isaiah Ogundele, an educator said the old curriculum is still having challenges just because of infrastructural facilities.
Hence, according to him, the introduction of AI into the curriculum is a good motive but that there must be a proper planning to prevent poor performance.
“Before jumping the gun, the policy makers ought to have looked into the following, the personnel, employment opportunities after graduation, facilities, and incentives for both teachers, parents and the students,” he said.
A proprietress, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the curriculum came too sudden and that the Ministry of Education failed to carry stakeholders along.
“We have been on holidays for over a month now, they did not announce this; now that it is only a week or two for schools to resume, they are bringing this change of curriculum. In fact, this should have come before the schools vacated so that schools and parents would have been prepared. This is wrong,” she said.
