• Imagine a child with an opportunity to acquire formal education being deprived of the opportunity to learn and study his or her own history.

    Call it the confirmation of the existence of comprador-bourgeoisie in the positions of power across the African continent, and you won’t be wrong. How else can one justify the decision by a government of a country to scrap the teaching of local history to students in primary and secondary schools in the country?

    What is the importance of Mathematics and Science if a student does not know where he is from?

    In the past, history – especially local history whose curriculum was centered on the colonization of Africa and activities of colonial masters in Nigeria, the Nigerian civil war, independence, past leadership, governments, coups etc. - was taught in schools from primary to junior secondary level before students were allowed to choose their subjects of interest.

    However, this has been stopped and students are currently not permitted to receive history classes in schools.

    According to the government which approved the law some years ago after it was passed by the parliament, the study of history did more harm than good. They claimed that through learning the history of the country and the continent, the children are set on the wrong part of taking sides and having affiliations to certain schools of thoughts.

    Thus, it was better to keep them in the dark and not teach them of history! What does that even mean?

    No matter how hard I try to think this through with the hope to fathom it, it seems laughable and annoying at the same time.

    How can the government take conscious efforts to keep its citizens in the dark – uneducated and uninformed? There has got to be more to this!

    Critics of the decision expressed concern over the bill and decision of the government to go on with it; but as is now the case in Nigeria and many other African countries, activism has become the mere barking of toothless dogs which fades with time.

    The number of activists and critics who continue to fight the course for a better society reduces by the day as many of them jump ship on a daily basis to have their share of the national cake and soil their integrity on the dinner table with corrupt politicians.

    So, the government had its way and the education of history studies was scrapped from Nigerian schools.

    What are your thoughts?

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