NERDC unveils adapted nine-year basic education curriculum for visually impaired

The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) has unveiled the adapted nine-year basic education curriculum (BEC) for visually impaired.

Ismail Junaidu, executive secretary of NERDC, said the initiative was meant to improve education for inclusive learning.

Junaidu spoke in Abuja on Thursday at the presentation of the national language policy, national reading framework, adapted nine-year BEC and other documents.

He said that the adaptation had restored hope to many visually impaired learners as they would now be taught with curriculum content that satisfy their needs.

He said visually impaired teachers would deliver the curriculum content with ease, noting that examples, instructions and teaching strategies recommended in the document were unique to peculiar circumstances of learners.

“This implies that the curriculum can therefore be used in special schools for the blind and regular schools where inclusive education is highly encouraged,” NAN quoted Junaidu as saying.

“Education is a fundamental right, as such opportunities must be created for all citizens to access quality education, irrespective of the circumstance in which they live.

“Although the implementation of the nine-year BEC began nationwide in September 2014, opportunity was not created for learners with visual impairment to benefit from the rich content of the curriculum.”

He said this was primarily because the curriculum was yet to be adapted to suit their learning peculiarities.

He also said that NERDC in accordance with the ministerial strategic plan (2016-2022) recognised the need to do the adaptation of the curriculum for the education of learners with visual impairment.

“So, I am happy to inform you that the nine-year BEC has now been successfully adapted,” he said.

According to Junaidu, the unique feature of the adapted curriculum is that it addresses the needs of learners with low vision and total blindness.

“The adaptation is holistic, covering all the 10 subjects from primary one to three, 12 subjects for JS one to three. Thus, we adapted 35 school curricula,” he said.

He expressed appreciation to Adamu Adamu, minister of education, for being supportive toward the achievements of the council’s mandate.

In his remarks, Adamu said the development of the national language policy and its approval by the federal executive council (FEC) was important for national development.

He said this became necessary given the multilingual and pluralistic nature of Nigeria.