HISTORY AS AN ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE IN NIGERIA'S EDUCATION SYSTEM , INTERROGATING A STORE HOUSE OF KNOWLEDGE

All over the world, history is a worthwhile and enviable discipline. It builds the man and the society in democracy, industry, patriotism, loyalty, unity, autonomy, justice, egalitarianism, nationalism, service, transparency, dynamism and peaceful co-existence etc. But today, the waning interest in history as an academic discipline especially in the Nigerian secondary educational system is not in controversy. Presently, history seems not only to have been accorded low status, but given an inferior and neglected position among the subjects studied especially in the nation’s secondary schools. In almost all Nigerian universities of today history has survived because it hides under the canopy of international studies,  diplomatic and strategies studies. This paper has a dual charge before it. First, it tries to identify the problems causing the people’s lack of interest in this “living” subject and famous field of study. Second it seeks to suggest ways of repacking the subject to assume its place, position and role in the country’s education industry. The pedagogical defeats in imparting the historical knowledge to the learner, the vastness of the subject in the secondary school certificate syllabus, the official discouragement of the subject by some powers that be in the government of the land among others have been identified as issue killing the interest of the people in the subject.

Keywords: History, Education system, Academic discipline, knowledge, Nigeria