Expert advocates AI-driven curriculum to transform Nigeria’s education system

As education systems around the world evolve with technological advancements, an education expert, Ayoola Akinyeye, has called for deeper reforms to embed artificial intelligence (AI) into Nigeria’s education curriculum.

In a recent interview with journalists in Lagos, Mrs Akinyeye, the Director of Schools at Chrisland Schools, Lagos, emphasised the need to integrate AI into the curriculum to better prepare students for a technology-driven future.

She urged Nigerian educators and policymakers to learn from countries that have successfully integrated AI into their education systems, like China, Finland, and the United Arab Emirates.

This call for reforms comes weeks after the federal government announced a nationwide AI training initiative for 6,000 senior secondary school teachers.

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Launched by the Ministry of Education through the National Senior Secondary Education Commission, the programme, which was flagged off in February in Abuja, aims to enhance teaching methods and better equip students for a technology-driven future.

“The world is undergoing a technological revolution, and Artificial Intelligence is at its core,” said Education Minister Tunji Alausa at the launch.

Mr Alausa said AI is no longer a futuristic concept but a present-day reality, transforming industries, economies, and societies.

Global best practices

Reflecting on the limitations of Nigeria’s current curriculum, Mrs Akinyeye noted that many schools use a mix of the Nigerian and British curricula.

She, however, stressed that mere adoption without localisation can limit the relevance and impact of education on students.

Mrs Akinyeye explained that Chrisland has begun to adopt a hybrid approach — combining the depth of the British curriculum with the scope of the Nigerian system — while ensuring all content is contextualised for local realities.

“In primary school, we adopt the British curriculum for English because it has a stronger scheme of work. But we contextualise the stories and methods to reflect our environment,” she said.

“The Nigerian maths curriculum is quite rigorous. So, we’re keeping that but borrowing advanced methodologies from the UK to deepen students’ understanding.”

According to her, the major flaw in the Nigerian curriculum is its lack of depth, explaining that the international systems often cover fewer topics but with more exploration.

“What Nigeria lacks in depth, we have in scope,” she noted, suggesting that the best approach is to give the Nigerian curriculum the depth of the British’s.

Bridging gap

To bridge these gaps, Mrs Akinyeye revealed plans to develop a custom curriculum known as the “Chrisland Curriculum Plus”, which will be AI-driven and technology-centric.

The initiative will be designed by the Chrisland Teachers Academy, a new institution the school group is setting up to train teachers.

She said, “We are setting up the Chrisland Teachers Academy. With the chain of 16 schools, it’s almost a no-brainer that we have a teacher’s academy. The Teachers Academy is going to have the sole responsibility of designing a curriculum that has AI embedded.

“I’m not talking about simply doing a task and using AI; I’m talking about a curriculum that has AI/tech as the core. To do that, we need to learn lessons from China. We need to learn lessons from Finland.

“We need to learn lessons from Dubai, whether you like it or not, and see how they have pivoted the educational system using AI and tech.”

Educational institutions adopting AI

While national efforts to embrace AI are gaining momentum, leading educational institutions are also stepping up.

Also in February, the University of Lagos (UNILAG) announced plans to introduce a policy document on the ethical use of AI in academic activities.

During a three-day workshop on ethics in higher education at the university, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academics and Research, Bola Oboh, revealed that the new policy aims to promote critical thinking while discouraging academic dishonesty such as plagiarism.

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“The policy is designed to enhance critical thinking rather than fostering plagiarism and academic indolence,” Ms Oboh said.

The workshop, facilitated by Russell Porter, a Fulbright Specialist Awardee and Deputy Ethics Officer at Texas A&M University, underscored the growing importance of AI in educational ethics.

Recently, the Vice-Chancellor of the African School of Economics (ASE), Mahfouz Adedimeji, and the Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone Limited, Ibrahim Adeyanju, also called for the responsible integration of AI to improve educational outcomes across Africa.