AU Education Ministers Propose Standardised Curriculum

Abuja — Representatives of the Ministries of
Education in African Union member states have
met in Abuja where they have agreed on an
urgent need to develop education syllabus that
will lead to a democratic culture on the
continent.
The ministers had gathered for the joint
consultative meeting on the inclusion and the
mainstreaming of the African Charter on
Democracy, Elections (ACDEG).
The three-day meeting, which has ended, was
seen an opportunity for the participants to
closely examine ACDEG and other AU shared
value instruments as well as to identify the
values to be promoted in school curricula.
They also highlighted the necessity to spread the
values of the Charter beyond leaders to ordinary
African citizens and to establish curriculum on
education for democracy to ensure the
attainment of the AU vision of “an integrated,
prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own
citizens and representing a dynamic force in the
international arena.”
The experts also focused on the ACDEG content
to be mainstreamed within the school curricula.
They agreed on six clusters including
constitutionalism and the rule of law, democracy
and human rights, culture and peace, governance
institutions, elections and electoral processes,
and political, social and economic issues.

Regarding the strategic orientation for the
development and implementation of the
programme, the experts discussed the technical
and political processes to consider towards
mainstreaming the values of the charter.
They proposed the establishment of a panel of
experts to develop standardized manual on the
topics which will be validated, adopted and
disseminated as well as a comprehensive model
of training of trainers for Curriculum
Implementers. Moreover, they recommended that
AU should develop a comprehensive mechanism
for lobbying and advocacy for all stakeholders
and a method for monitoring, evaluation and
reporting.
The representative of Nigeria, Olutayo Adeola,
Director of programmes at the Federal Ministry
of Education, underlined that the mainstreaming
of ACDEG in African education systems should
come under structural policy of education.
“I urge all delegations to provide a faithful and
detailed account of the outcomes of the
consultation to their respective relevant
authorities and to go beyond the passive position
of its promotion and become active vectors of
information and communication of its values at
all levels,” said Adeola.

By CEMCSL | October 4, 2015 | Blog |

Previous

States Still Owe WAEC N2 Billion Registration Fees
Next

High-tension wire still at UNILAG hostel • The severed cable...on Monday Three weeks after the electrocution of a 300- Level Accounting student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Oluchi Anekwe, the high- tension cable, which killed the students at the front of New Hall, is yet to be removed from the spot. The development is generating concern among students, who queried the value the school management attached to human lives. The students said it was insensitive for the school to keep the wire at the spot. When CAMPUSLIFE visited the spot on Monday, the perimeter fence of the hostel was barricaded with safety tape. The pole to which the high-tension wire is attached did not have restriction tape, while the wire remained on the spot. Although the wire was said to have been de- energise, students felt uncomfortable with the cable still left on the spot. A 300-Level Law student, who gave her name as Bukola, said the development showed the management did not care about the safety of students. “Perhaps, they are waiting for another tragedy to occur,” she said. Another student, Olanike Ibiyemi, said: “If the school management said the cables are not serving the school, what is the logic of leaving the severed wire on the hostel’s entrance? Do they think another tragedy cannot happen because there is no power flow in wire? The management needs to be alive with its responsibility.” At the time of this report, the wire remained on the spot.  Share