By John Odunayo
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has said that life skills in Renewable Energy (solar), compressed natural gas (CNG) and mechanised farming would be added to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) curriculum to improve productivity and employability.
Alausa, who quoted Scott Adams, who once said, “Every skill you acquire doubles your odds of success,” said that the life skills to be added to enrich the curriculum were “part of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and our Federal Ministry of Education strategy”.
The minister, in a statement said that adding mechanised farming “is to support the president’s agenda of ensuring food security in our country”.
He said, “This is what America and China are doing — building armies of skilled individuals. For Nigeria to compete with these great nations, we must take a page from their playbook.
“That’s why we are aggressively reviving our technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system.
“We aim to equip young men and women with “life skills” that will enable them to be productive members of their communities, while also improving their employability and career opportunities.
“TVET is one of the cornerstones of our six-point agenda to reform our education system. We will be creating opportunities for our young Nigerians both men and women to give them life skills to improve their employability irrespective of their level of education — from basic education to tertiary institutions.
A skilled workforce is key to President Tinubu’s vision for the nation.
“We will also be adding to our TVET curriculum life skills in Renewable Energy (Solar), compressed natural gas (CNG) and mechanised farming to also support PBAT’s agenda of ensuring food security in our country.
“We are working to build a better nation for the next generation,” the minister said.
