In late 2025 the Federal Ministry of Education announced a major overhaul of Nigeria's curriculum, framed as "lighter load, stronger minds." For schools, this is not a minor tweak. It changes how many subjects pupils take, adds practical trades, brings back Nigerian History, and reshapes senior secondary study. If you run a school, you need to understand what changed and, just as importantly, make sure your systems reflect it. Here is the plain version.
Fewer subjects across every level
The headline change is a deliberate reduction in subject load. Pupils were carrying too many subjects, and the reform cuts that back. Primary 1 to 3 now sit around nine to ten subjects, Primary 4 to 6 around ten to twelve, junior secondary twelve to fourteen, and senior secondary a tighter eight to nine. Technical streams are trimmed too. The intention is depth over breadth, letting children focus rather than spreading them thin.
A real push on practical trade skills
One of the biggest shifts is the emphasis on employable skills. For non-technical schools, the long, unwieldy list of trade subjects has been streamlined to six practical areas: Solar PV Installation and Maintenance, Fashion Design and Garment Making, Livestock Farming, Beauty and Cosmetology, Computer Hardware and GSM Repairs, and Horticulture and Crop Production. Every senior secondary student now takes a trade as part of their core. It's a clear signal that the system wants graduates who leave with a skill, not just a certificate.
Nigerian History returns, and a new subject arrives
Nigerian History has been reintroduced as a compulsory subject from Primary 1 through junior secondary. At senior secondary, a new subject, Citizenship and Heritage Studies, merges the old Nigerian History, Civic Education and Social Studies into one. The Nigerian Language subject has also been streamlined to Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, with pupils taking one.
The new senior secondary core
Senior secondary now hangs on five core, compulsory subjects: English Language, General Mathematics, a trade subject, Citizenship and Heritage Studies, and Digital Technologies. Around that core, students choose from the sciences, humanities and business. The inclusion of Digital Technologies and a trade in the compulsory core is the reform in miniature: every school leaver should have digital literacy and a practical skill.
What this means for how you run your school
A curriculum change is also an operations change, and this is where schools feel it. Your subject lists are different now. Some subjects are gone or merged, new ones like Citizenship and Heritage Studies and the trade subjects need to exist, and the counts per class have shifted. That ripples straight into your timetables, your schemes of work, your score sheets and your report cards. A school still running this on spreadsheets faces a tedious, error-prone rebuild across every class.
This is exactly where a flexible system earns its place. In UnifyLearn, your subjects and classes are yours to configure, so you can retire merged subjects, add the new ones, assign the six trades, and have your timetables and report cards follow suit, rather than being stuck with a fixed list someone else decided. New subjects need fresh schemes of work, and the AI scheme-of-work tool can draft a term's plan for a subject you've never taught before, so a teacher starts from a draft rather than a blank page. The schools that adapt to a reform like this in an afternoon are the ones whose system bends to them.
Adapt early, and use it as a selling point
Parents notice which schools are on top of change and which are caught flat-footed. Being able to tell families, confidently, that your school already reflects the new curriculum, teaches the new trades, and has Citizenship and Heritage Studies and the digital core in place, is a genuine advantage in a competitive market. The reform is a chance to look modern and organised, if your systems let you move quickly.
To set your own subjects, classes and report cards up for the new curriculum, start a free trial or see pricing. If you're also setting up a fresh session, our guide on setting up a new academic session walks through it, and faster results and report cards covers the reporting side.