A Professor of Curriculum and Pedagogy in the University of Lagos, Professor Rosita Igwe has advocated the need for an urgent review of the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) with emphasis on competencies and appropriate expertise.
Prof. Igwe also wants the establishment of full-fledged Departments of Curriculum Development in Ministries of Education at both the state and federal levels to facilitate the training of curriculum managers and other stakeholders in the education sector.
This formed part of recommendations given at the 23rd Inaugural Lecture in the 2023/2024 Academic Session of the University of Lagos delivered on Wednesday, August 7, 2024, at the J.F. Ade. Ajayi Auditorium, UNILAG, Akoka.
Titled “No Curriculum, No Education: Demystifying and Deconstructing the Myth”, the inaugural lecturer, Professor Rosita Igwe emphasized the importance of curriculum as the hub and determinant of the quality of education in any country. She stressed the need for every stakeholder involved in curriculum formulation and reforms to be abreast of trends in curriculum development, with a view to evolving a robust, resourceful and a more effective curriculum system which would ensure the training of efficient manpower and drive all-around development of the education sector.
Prof Igwe took time to do a re-conceptualization of curriculum, stressed its indispensability in education development and charged government at all levels to harness current expertise in curriculum to oversee effective planning and execution of curriculum-related activities.
The Professor of Curriculum and Pedagogy charged the National Universities Commission (NUC) to prioritize the establishment of curriculum and research centres in universities to facilitate research, updating and guidance in various curriculum-related issues.
She also wants management of universities to establish Curriculum Training Institutes for the award of Diploma and certificate programmes for school owners and teachers with a view to promoting knowledge, understanding, and skills in curriculum issues and processes.
Born in September 1954, in Owerri, Imo State, Professor Rosita Igwe earned her degrees in the University of Lagos between 1982 and 1994 when she bagged her Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies (Curriculum Theory).
She became a Lecturer II in 1998 and rose through the ranks to become a Professor of Curriculum and Pedagogy in 2018.
Report: Gbenga Gbelee
Photography: Ayomide Oloyede
