President of Historical Society of Nigeria, HSN, Prof Okpeh Okpeh Jr has said the history that will be re-introduced in basic education is going to emphasize that children should know themselves first before any other thing.
TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports this was disclosed by the renown historian at a three-day 67th Annual Conference/Congress of Historical Society of Nigeria, HSN with the theme: Nigeria’Historicising Our Connections as a Nation Since the Precolonial Period ‘.
Hear him:
“The students are not coping, it is too rigorous. We sat down and said those challenges can be addressed by the professional historians and so we decided to trim down the syllabus.
“The history our children are going to be reading is the history that emphasizes knowing yourself first. You cannot know any other person until you have known yourself.
“So who are your heroes? From what village do you come from? Who are your elders? What are your cultures? What can of norms can be have from that culture? These are the things we are emphasising.
“We are also emphasising our bonds of common destiny, our bonds of unity, you know that is a major challenge of national integration. Who are your neighbours? What do you share with your neighbours? How can you build that into a concrete relationship where you have common interest and therefore common destiny; these are the emphasis.
“The syllabus we have now is simplified syllabus that will address national integration problem and therefore promote national development.
Culture is not static, we should also know that culture is dynamic.
“Today you are using android and all kinds of phones to popularize whatever you have in terms of news and all that, it was never like that before. We need to adjust to this culture.
“Our argument and charge is that in an adjusting to this culture including the culture the West has thrown on us, we should do that in the perspective with the deep knowledge from our past, until you understand yourself, you cannot even appreciate what you take from these other people, this is the emphasis. Know your past in order to understand your present and then prepare for the future.
“We are emphasising knowing ourselves, knowing your past on the basis of which you understand where you are today and therefore with the knowledge of the past and where you are today, you will be able to prognosticate the future, that is the core, the kernel of what we are doing.