An Agricultural Science teacher, Mrs Latifat Ibrahim, has urged the Federal Ministry of Education, to make Agricultural Science compulsory in the senior secondary schools’ curriculum.
Ibrahim, a teacher at Comprehensive Senior High School, Alapere, Lagos, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday, in Lagos, that making the subject compulsory would arouse students’ interest in farming.
She said that it would also encourage the students to have more practical and theoretical knowledge on agriculture, rather than when it was left as an elective subject.
She said that students in most secondary schools were only being taught the theory, adding that the theoretical knowledge was not enough to attract the youths to farming, as a venture in the future.
Ibrahim noted that youths were not embracing farming because schools generally were not making agriculture compulsory and attractive to youths.
According to her, agricultural science should be made compulsory to all students in the senior secondary schools.
“Even if they are not sitting for it in their senior school certificate examination, at least they should make it compulsory for all students, to enable them learn one farming skill or the other.
“It will also equip the students with not only theory but the practical aspects as well.
“Before now, students are only embracing the theoretical aspect, because most schools don’t teach practical, due to limited resources.
“Now that there will be practical aspects in schools, I believe it will go a long way in arousing the interest of the students in farming.
“Majority of schools are already into poultry farming, you can never see a snail farm, but with the introduction of snail farming in my school now, the children are likely to develop more interest in agriculture.
“If we can catch these children young, we will be able to have more adults that will go into agriculture in future and in turn boost food production, as well as eradicate hunger and poverty in the society,” she said.
She commended the Lagos state government for introducing the Lagos Agricultural Scholars’ Programme, to teach teachers and students snail, vegetable, rabbit and grasscutter farming, and goat rearing. (NAN)