Dear Moderator,
The age range 15-17 is a crucial short transition period that comes and goes with new entrants so fast that program design and implementation must be coherent and accurate for any meaningful achievement to be made. Scale, communities and governance environment are the specifics to watch. One of the most feasible options in my opinion, for securing decent employment opportunities for 15-17 is to intensify agriculture education and skill development during the youth’s rudimentary years in school. There is now global paradigm shift to ‘Newagriculture’ consequent of climate change, bio-fuel research, rising food price, food production shortfall and globalization that is effectively enhanced by ICT phenomenon. By implications of positive and negative impact on local agriculture say in Nigeria, it is very important to equally redesign the traditional agriculture curriculum and incorporate diverse practical aspects for intensive skills development.
Tradition
In Nigeria, the traditional education system that a child must pass through consists of the followings:
1) Common Entrance Examination designed to filter primary school pupils for secondary education
2) West African Examination Council (WAEC) examination is to certify secondary school completion
3) Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination to validate WAEC qualification in preparing for university registration. 4) National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) examination is designed for career pursue by youth with entrepreneurship indications
Present-day Approach
Due to increasing youth population and corresponding mounting pressure to create employment opportunities for the 15-17-18, an index new-agriculture examination (INDEX) is urgently required to filter out apt secondary school agric-entrepreneurs for special advance training and or engagement by industry operators. Underage may bear legal problem but in such a dire food insecurity and unemployment situations it is far better to engage the 15-17 in agric-industries than to be allowed to drift into the crime industry. The choice is really ours.
Piloting INDEX examination
A ten to twenty-year experiment could be launched in developing countries to pilot INDEX examination concept for 15-17 agric-entrepreneurship development. INDEX curriculum designers should bear in mind the different skills demand of 15-17-18 for securing decent employment. Decent agriculture-based employment hinges on capable knowledge and skills.
Starting point
The starting point for INDEX launching bears in the core activities of the young farmers club (YFC) in primary and secondary schools. In fact, INDEX examination designers should be urged to provide training modules and classroom learning activities for YFC development. ICT contribution to pilot networking, scaling and replication of the INDEX system through m-agriculture, e-farming and Open Data management, the Internet and Mobile phone can be made highly available in rural primary/secondary schools to accelerate the effort. It may be worth trying.
Thank you.
M. Rabiu Auwalu Yakasai