Make History Compulsory in Schools to Regain National Values, University Don Advocates
A Don, Prof. Mohammed Umar-Buratqai, has urged the Federal Government to make the teaching of History as a compulsory subject in from primary school to tertiary education to sustain national values.
Umar-Buratai, a professor of Theatre and Performing Arts, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Zaria.
He spoke on the sideline of the 2018 Conference of the Faculty of Arts of the institution.
The conference, themed “Globalisation, Sovereignty and Role of Humanities in the 21century Africa”, is organised in collaboration with the Centre for Historical Documentation and Research (Arewa House), Kaduna.
According to Umar -Buratai, who is also the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, doing so making, will also reinvigorate values that define Nigeria.
“Our children grow up now without knowing where we are coming from, who we are and our essence as a nation with the diversity of cultures.
“We have such a glorious history of where we are coming from as Nigerians, but we are no longer reflecting on that,” he said.
The don noted that increasing rate of moral decadence, especially among young people and intolerance among Nigerians, were indicative of a loss of sense of the good values and the past they once shared.
“The cause of moral decadence in our society is largely due to lack of the teaching of our core values, which is what history offers.
“The history of the Kanuri, Oyo and Benin empires are all great stories that made us proud of where we are coming from.
“Now, we are busy fighting each other because we see ourselves as strangers and enemies to one another.
“Even, there is an apathy between the nation and its citizens because many now have the mindset that it does not belong to them and do not want to make a commitment toward it.’’
NAN reports that History was scrapped in the Nigerian secondary school curriculum in 2009 by the Federal Government, citing lack of adequate teachers in the field.
In the process, the students lost interest in learning the subject.
The subject has, however, been infused under social studies curriculum, which generated a lot of debates among stakeholders in the education sector.
In March, the current administration ordered the reintroduction of History as an independent subject in the basic and secondary schools.
