Provost advocates national curriculum review to promote entrepreneurship

…As 39 graduates at Orange Academy

Provost, Orange Academy, Mr. Femi Odugbemi has advocated the need for the Federal Ministry of Education and experts in the education industry to review the schools curriculum, such that it will begin to produce entrepreneurs rather than skilled labourers.

He noted that most Nigerian graduates realised upon leaving school that what they learnt does not fit into the realities of the world as well as market demands.

Odugbemi, in an interview with The Guardian at the 8th Annual Immersion of Orange Academy/Art of Positive Thinking (APT) Exhibition, in which 39 participants graduated, insisted that an educational system whereby graduates are thrown off balance in the world of work must be reviewed, as such trends slow down economic progress of a nation.

He said: “The structure of Nigerian educational system needs to be reviewed. The basic assumption of our educational system is that when you graduate, you will work for someone. We have to change that thinking, and start creating entrepreneurs not skilled labourers. To do that is a systemic thing, we have to truly fix our educational sector. Today the only guarantee of good education comes from the private education and it is too expensive.

“We have commercialised education, we have to get our bearings right, we have to begin to take care of our children not just to be labourers however skilled, but to be creators and entrepreneurs. Government and all stakeholders must come together to rethink our educational structure. Orange Academy is the first practical school of Integrated Brand Experience and Idea management.

Mr. Tunde Phoster, a board member and lecturer, said the graduating students are creative as they think beyond the norm and are beginning to cause social change through their APT and not for profit activities. Ovuson John Ogonna emerged the best overall graduate at the ceremony, which also featured APT videos on internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other social vices whilst proffering solution to them.