Policy, Philosophy and Pedagogical Initiative to HIV/AIDS Education in the Nigerian Secondary School's Social Studies Curriculum

This paper attempts a review of the Nigerian National Policy on Education, in the context of the overall philosophy of the Nigerian national life as reflected in the objectives of Social Studies--a subject in the Nigerian Junior Secondary Social Studies curriculum. Its main objective is to make justification for the teaching of the subject-matter of HIV/AIDS as an emerging national problem in the school, and to provide some paradigm by which its learning content could be taught, using Social Studies as a carrier subject. The paper thus reviews policy provisions and philosophical background to Social Studies teaching, and provides some guidelines by which curriculum developers could design relevant content-valid curricula; and also provides a possible guide to classroom teachers in planning and implementing teaching plans. It also suggests some ideas that are likely to guide and facilitate the development of textbooks that may integrate the learning content of HIV/AIDS within the Social Studies curriculum.