Abia UBEB Ready To Meet Challenges

The Abia State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUBEB) said on Monday that schools in Aba were ready for the proposed new curriculum for students of JSS 3, in spite of the challenges.

The Secretary of the board in-charge of Aba, Mrs Mary Otigbuo, stated this in an interview with newsmen in Awka.

The Federal Ministry of Education has introduced 35 technical subjects for the students of JSS3, which will begin this month.

Otigbuo said that the subjects were already being practised in the state through the nine-year basic curriculum now in place.

She, however, said that the new curriculum was no longer teacher-centered in approach, but rather learner-centered.

According to her, therefore, adequate facilities are needed to make it succeed.

“In view of the technicalities of the new curriculum, government is actually facing some challenges in the areas of classroom demands, facilities needed and manpower required,” she said.

Otigbuo said that if the new curriculum should work in the area, ASUBEB should be more effectively equipped to be able to meet the demands of the new realities.

“We have the resource input needed, but the inadequacy of facilities is what is going to draw the hand of the clock back,” she said.

The Director of Schools’ Services, ASUBEB, Aba Zonal Office, Mr. Josiah Anonaba, said the new curriculum required teachers’ specialised training in subject areas.

According to him, the 35 subjects being introduced in one swoop are too many, adding,” there is no way 35 subjects can be managed within a time table.

“What we really need is not prompting new educational curriculum from time to time, but to internalise the existing ones to give maximum productivity of the graduands,” Anonaba said.