REFLECTING ON THE CHALLENGES ON THE ATTAINMENT OF MDGs IN SCIENCE EDUCATION IN NIGERIA AND THE WAY FORWARD

Iniobong F. Akpan

Department of Science Education,

Akwa Ibom State University, Ikot Akpaden, Mkpat Enin L.G.A.

Email: finiobong@yahoo.com

Abstract: Nigeria as a country has always had highly recommended education programmes which sometimes have no positive effect on the society or often times die natural death due to poor implementation. This paper assesses the implementation related problems that hinders the attainment of MDGs in science education as well as the general goals of education. The paper identifies lack of proper retraining of teachers and supply, large class size, inadequate teaching facilities, deficient curriculum and overloaded syllabus as some of the problems.  The paper suggested the roles of government such as the recruitment of more science teachers and support staff, reform of the teacher education programme, the construction of more classroom blocks in the already existing schools as well as self improvement of individual teachers through workshops, seminars and in- service short training programmes in science if the country is to overcome the challenges of the MDGs in science education.