By DENNIS AGBO
THE Economics Educators Association of Nigeria, EEAN, an umbrella of Teachers and Lecturers of Economics from different secondary schools, Colleges of Education and Universities in Nigeria, has recommended to the National Universities Commission, NUC, and National Commission for Colleges of Education, NCCE, to include Economics Educators in the Resource verification and Accreditation teams of Economics Education programmes in the Universities and Colleges of Education.
The professional body also asked the federal government to encourage the teaching and learning of Economics through the provision of adequate instructional materials and regular training of teachers that can address the current economic realities.
EEAN’s recommendations were the outcome of its two days median Annual National Virtual Conference, with the theme ‘A New Dimension to Economics Curriculum and Instruction in Developing Economies.’
The body also recommended that no less than 60 per cent of Economics Education courses should be domiciled and taught by Economics Educators lecturers instead of their counterparts in the servicing department (Economics), while it will set up a committee to harmonize the Economics education courses taught in the Universities in Nigeria and discourse them with relevant authorities.
In its communiqué made available to newsmen, National President of the Association, Dr Joseph C. Onuoha and the Chairman of the communiqué drafting committee, Dr Maxwell Ede noted that the Association agreed that more and only qualified teachers and Lecturers (Economics Educators) should be employed to teach Economics subjects and Economics Education courses in the Schools and Higher Institutions of learning, respectively.
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“From various presentations and discussions made during the conference, observations were that over 75 per cent of Economics Education courses in the Universities are hosted and taught by the lecturers in the servicing department (Economics) and very few by lecturers in Economics Education which contribute to the failure rate among undergraduates and teachers’ performance in teaching Economics in secondary schools.
“We also observed that the Economics education curriculum used in Nigerian Universities are obsolete and does not reflect the current Economics and educational realities in the country; there are discrepancies or variations among the course contents of Economics Education programmes taught in Nigerian Universities, while lecturers and students of Economics Department discriminate against Economics Education students in the courses they offer together at the servicing Department,” they noted.
The Association stated that it equally observed that there were an inadequate number of Economics education lecturers in Nigeria to implement Economics education curriculum contents in the Nigerian Colleges of Education and Universities in Nigeria, just like expert Economics Educators were always excluded among the resource verification and Accreditation teams of Economics Education programmes in both the Colleges of Education and Universities.
