By Dayo Adesulu & Daud Olatunji

HAVING realized the importance of history to our children, the Federal Government, few weeks ago, restored the teaching of History as a subject to the curriculum. After the official pronouncement by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, many schools in the states are yet to commence the teaching due to lack of History teachers. In some schools, the few available teachers are already engaged in teaching other subjects.

Vanguard investigations revealed that apart from the shortage of History teachers, many students are not interested in the subject. They prefer Government to History.

Compulsory subject

Historians who spoke with our correspondent posited that except History is made a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools, many students will not choose it.

Feelers from Ogun State revealed that the State is facing challenges of dearth of History teachers of History in public secondary schools as few of them who could teach the subject have been swapped for other subjects. Findings have shown that the directive to return History to the school curriculum was greeted with a shortfall of teachers. The stakeholders, mostly teachers, who spoke in separate interviews under the condition of anonymity, commended the action to return the subject which they said was needed by the students.

Some of the teachers told Vanguard that the subject might not receive immediate implementation owing to the acute short of teachers to handle the subject.

According to some of them,   except new history teachers were employed by the government and posted to all the public schools,   the subject may remain in the curriculum unattended to.

They said,   even,   if the government  teachers, the students need to be talked to and persuaded on the need to embrace the subject as most of them had lost interest in the subject. Attempt to get the state government’s reaction on the directive was unsuccessful as the commissioner for education could not be reached as at the time of filing this report.

However, an official in the ministry of education who pleaded anonymity said the government was willing to implement it because it believes the subject is very important.

In Lagos State, the situation is the same, as schools visited were yet to commence the teaching of History. Efforts made to get reaction from the Lagos State Ministry of Education, proved abortive as the Personal Assistant to  the governor on Education, Mrs Kehinde Fashola refused to comment on the issue.

Appointment made with our correspondent to speak with Authorities was not honoured. Speaking with some Historians on the practicability of commencing teaching of History in schools after a long time of vacation from the curriculum, the former Vice Chancellor of Caleb University, Professor Ayodeji Olukoju said, it is a multi-faceted subject.  He asked: ‘’Can the Federal Government by fiat or decree re-introduce history?

The answer is both yes and no.

‘’No, because the states  have free hand  in primary school education and junior secondary school education. It is only from JSS3 upwards that you can say every body must concur.

For instance, in 2015, the Lagos State Government commissioned me  and some people to do text books for history in primary schools from primary 4-6 and JSS 1-3.

Pproblem of transition

‘’I assembled people from several Universities  across this country ,we delivered the text books in May 2015,but the initiative was killed. The balance of the money was never paid, and they took the text books but never developed them. ‘’The decision was taken at cabinet level under Fashola Government and we submitted it in the dying days of the Government. The government was busy with transition, however, it was  from APC to APC.

‘’There is a problem of Cartier relationship between federal and states, there is a problem of transition from one government to another in terms of continuity of policy and there is the issue of taking decision and forgetting implementation through the bureaucracy in Alausa. It was the bureaucracy that killed this idea,because bureaucracy does not change, it is fraud.’’

He posited that the national council on education should absolve the policy and get all the commissioners of education across the country to buy into it and then develop common parameter for implementation.

The expert said, if the Ministry of Education  is serious about it, they should push it into the National Council on Education which  aggregates all the stakeholders. He explained that  since it was not a tertiary thing, the NUC can do whatever they want with jamb at university level, but am still concerned about teaching it at primary school level, primary 4-6 and teaching it at JSS 1-3.

‘’If you don’t have  the foundation,  introducing or offering History at SSS level is meaningless, because it is like a house without foundation,’’ he said. As regards the issue of dearth of history teachers, Olukoju maintained that the person that studied history all his  life can not unlearn all he had learnt. According to him, such a person needs to adjust and brush himself up.

He said: ‘’We need to come together and agree on the curriculum and what  to teach these children. Once we have a conclusion,  a lot of stakeholders can buy into it.

Rewarding diligence

‘’Historical Association of Nigeria and other societies like the one I lead, the   universities, colleges of education, the faculties of education teaching history and the department of  history across the nations universities are the stake holders.

‘’I think the policy is good. It’s long over due. The implementation should be systematic and there should be mechanism not only for fashioning out a common curriculum not only for developing common text books with local arrangement, but there should be mechanism for implementation. We want to see the impact.

‘’In America no matter your course of study you must study history . There should be a means of injecting it into the curriculum, there should be a means of making students like and learn it. ‘’There should be a means of rewarding diligence in studying it and in learning it. It is not just a government problem, many people in our society don’t like history, the society must buy into it.

‘’It is good for people to have an idea of history. History is what we live with,  live for and make every day. A societal awareness also should be created along with this government project. Teachers, associations, principals of schools,  teachers of history especially the ones that studied history education and the  press should be carried along.