The Challenge of Resuscitating Interest in History in Contemporary Nigeria Schools: New Approaches to the Rescue

Abstract

History plays a critical role in the political and socio-economic development of any country. In this connection, proper methods of teaching the subject constitute a crucial development discourse that cannot be overemphasized. Regrettably, the fortunes of History as a discipline nose-dived from the last two decades of the twentieth century to the opening decade of the twenty-first century because of the perceived conception of the sciences as the more crucial tools for national development. This paper examines the challenges of resuscitating interest in History in the twenty-first century and the role that new methods would play in re-awakening such interest in the discipline. The paper adopted the historical method of collection and interpretation of data. The secondary data on which this work relied would be subjected to textual and contextual analysis. The discussion is in five parts. The first section introduces the work while the second section examines the gains of History in sharpening the intellectual skills of students. The third part discusses the dilemma of the Nigerian state and the neglect of History, while the fourth part examines the methods of teaching discipline in Nigerian schools. The concluding section of this work draws attention to the need to adopt new methods of teaching the subject so as to make it relevant in proffering solutions to Nigeria’s leadership and developmental challenges.