**2. Historical analysis of Nigeria's education reform and the concern for STEM and technical vocational education and training**

Nigeria's education reforms can be deciphered in two phases: the pre-independent and post-independent phases. Unarguably, Western merchants, missionaries and colonial suzerains brought formal education and established schools in Nigeria, with the first primary school established in 1842, long after an attempt by Portugues merchants to do so with restrictions to traditional rulers, who were already exerting

#### *Collaboration in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (Stem) Education… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114148*

so much influence in their respective Kingdom. In other words, European adventurers, whether for business, religious or colonial intentions, brought Nigeria to the limelight of formal/western education. It is often remarked that the type of education handed down to Nigerians was to serve their purposes and not to develop Nigerians. Hence, skilled subjects such as STEM Education and TVET were not introduced into the curriculum. Ossai [1] noted that Nigerians were taught the four Rs – Arithmetic, Reading, Religion and Writing. The curriculum introduced in the school system between 1882 and 1925 marked a significant milestone in Nigeria's educational history. The next phase of curriculum development spanned from 1925 to 1952, marking the establishment of commissions such as the Phelps–Stokes Commission. Interestingly, curriculum development during this period marked a minimal shift from the four Rs to areas of need in Nigeria.

Unfortunately, Nigerians themselves had little understanding of how to adapt to a paradigm shift in this regard. Thus, Afimag.com noted that Nigerians, at the time, favoured academic curriculum above agricultural and technical curriculum because previous students who completed secondary education gained admission into the tertiary institutions with these subjects and saw it as a pathway to securing white-collar jobs. Despite the adherence of Nigeria to the existing curriculum, Phelp-Stoke strongly recommended and made a move intended to match education in Nigeria to the actual needs of Nigerians. This was why the colonial government made efforts towards the provision of agricultural and technical education based on the recommendations of the Phelp-Stoke Commission. The recommendations equally included the need for teacher preparation and registration. Another stage, beginning from 1952 to 1960, marked the birth of examination bodies such as the West African Examination Council (WAEC), which was established in 1952. Notably, emphasis was laid on the development of curriculum, evaluation of academic programmes through services of education inspectors, training of teachers, and funding of schools by colonial masters, missionaries and other proprietors. Meanwhile, during the periods under review, no concerted effort was made to develop STEM Education and TVET.

The second phase of curriculum development witnessed the introduction of STEM and TVET into the curriculum. This followed the recommendations by Ashby Commission that certain vocational and commercial subjects be introduced into the curricula of schools. Subjects introduced include agricultural science, commerce, business mathematics. This is the same period of re-echoed emphasis on technology; thus, Aina [2] noted that technology and engineering education in Nigeria are evolving to date. Aina compared the trends in Nigeria with those of developed countries, where the trajectory of STEM in Nigeria revealed significant achievements in the past and the present critical challenges that require attention. The author further noted that STEM in Nigeria shows substantial achievements in some sectors of the economy such as health, agriculture and telecommunication. Greater parts of the achievement of STEM Education would have been in training students to choose career parts relevant to their aspirations. Rosenzweig and Chen [3] classified career reference into four groups: appealing, unappealing, polarising, and overlooked. They frowned at the poor development of STEM education, which the author reported as hindering national development. Growing out of colonial influence and administration in 1960 gave Nigerians the opportunity to handle their affairs in the education sector based on the peculiarities of Nigeria and global realities.

Basic Education (BE) in Nigeria has STEM offered as Basic Science and Technology with a curriculum segmented into three levels under the 9-year Basic Education Curriculum thus: Basic Science and Technology for Primary 1-3, 4-6, and JSS 1-3 [4, 5].

Subjects are classified in clusters under each stage. For instance, the subjects clustered under Basic Education, according to FRN [6], are Basic Science, Basic Technology, Information Technology and Physical and Health Education. On the other hand, the curriculum structure of STEM at the post-basic education level has Science and Mathematics as a cluster and technology as another cluster. The former (Science and Mathematics) covers Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Further Mathematics, Health Education, Agriculture, Physical Education and Computer studies. The latter (Technology Education) covers Technical Drawing, General Metal Work, Basic Electricity, Electronics, Auto Mechanics, Building Construction, Woodwork, Home Management and Food and Nutrition.
