TRANSFORMING AND PLANNING THE PRIMARY CURRICULUM IN AN ERA OF ECONOMIC RECESSION IN NIGERIA
Primary education serves as the foundational stage of learning, with its fundamental objective being to create, establish, and provide equal opportunities for all children irrespective of age, gender, or country of origin to attain a well-rounded cognitive, emotional, and psychomotor development. However, Nigeria’s prevailing economic challenges have contributed to a moral vacuum in the lives of parents and youths, leaving many unable to fulfill their financial responsibilities. This situation has significantly disrupted the core objectives of the primary education curriculum. To address this, transformation and strategic planning through character education are essential for effectively restructuring the primary curriculum. This paper explores key concepts such as transformation, entrepreneurship education as a solution to economic recession, primary education, curriculum value re-orientation, sustainable quality education, enhancement of school standards, economic recession and its causes, as well as strategies for transforming and planning the primary curriculum in times of economic downturn. Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of an entrepreneurial approach to primary education. In light of these discussions, it is recommended that the primary education curriculum should be designed to foster self-realization and equip learners with the skills necessary for self-sufficiency and economic resilience.
Keywords: Transforming, planning, primary curriculum, economic recession
