Lagos — By and large, modern education practices that are more abstract and often not relevant to the child's immediate surrounding eroded important traditional education tools and methodology like the 'apprenticeship' and 'participatory observation.' Consequently, the educational system was unable to unleash the potentials, nor exploit some cultural skills and talents for the promotion of national and self-development. Generally, in traditional education, schools are cultural laboratories where parents, teachers and students contribute their input.

The current globalization or new world order with its attendant 'cross-cultural transfer though signals the age of mutual interdependence, but on close scrutiny, the transfer may not be totally appropriate and/or relevant to our context. International comparative education literature provides ample evidence of the tendency for African nation states to adopt the latest educational strategies from the West without ensuring their appropriateness and relevance to their respective situation and context.

The thesis proposed in this paper, which supports that of Araia is that in an increasingly globalized world and the enormous impact of the latter on the entire planet. Nigeria cannot afford to pursue an isolationist inward-looking policy, nor must they simply emulate Europe, America or other developed countries in designing and implementing curriculum for schools and specific strategies for development. Rather we need to assess better the strengths and weaknesses of the alternative options in order to improve our understanding of cross-cultural issues, and for the avoidance of the pitfalls of uncritical transfer.

Let's start with the principles that follow from the definition of culture in this paper that: 'if the process of learning is an essential characteristic of culture, then the way culture is taught and reproduced is itself an important component of culture.' From the above, it can be said that education is not only a cultural activity, but also fundamental to cultural transformation. It is obvious that education and schooling is to modern society what initiation rites were to traditional societies. Youths of today are incorporated into modern societies and life, including its values, norms hopes and aspirations through schools. Thus education in Nigeria (basic education in particular) holds the keys to new social and economic roles. That schools play very important role in transmitting the culture of both modern and traditional societies to children is not debatable. What students are taught, and especially the way they are taught, essentially defines for children the values needed to be initiated and incorporated into the new global culture.

Integrating Cultural Competence into Education

People in a school are uniquely different. These differences are manifested in several ways, ranging from socio-economic backgrounds, customs, spoken language, values and traditions, to their thoughts, preferred recreational activities and even choice of subjects of study. Usually, the choices that individuals make are powerfully affected by culture. It is not only individuals that have culture to express, but institutions, such as schools, have and embody a culture as well. Thus education must not only recognize diversity between cultures, but also the diversity within them. Successful strategies that have been found useful for the integration of culture in education include:

- selecting texts and other curriculum materials that accurately represent the diversity of cultures in the school community,

- helping teachers and learners to become more knowledgeable themselves, and competent in cross-cultural functioning;

- creating a school climate that values ethnic diversity.

Being competent in cross-cultural functioning means learning new patterns of behaviour and effectively applying them in the appropriate settings. Educational activities should help learners; teachers and other school personnel to develop an awareness of the organizational cultural processes of the school, their own cultural assumptions and how those assumptions affect others. There are five essential elements that contribute to and influence the ability of education systems to exhibit cultural competency. The five elements are: (a) value for cultural diversity; (b) capacity for cultural self-assessment; (c) be conscious of the "dynamics" inherent when cultures interact; (d) instiuttionalize cultural knowledge; and (e) services reflecting an understanding of diversity between and within cultures.

Further more, these five elements must be manifested at every level of the educational system. Knowledge of these elements can help a school, or any organization serving diverse people. People's attitudes, as well as in educational structures, policies, and services should re-elect these elements. The key is developing mechanisms that provide ongoing feedback and suggestions for change. At this juncture, it will be necessary to understand the Universal Basic Education programme in Nigeria in the context of current curriculum reforms tackle cross-cultural issues for meaningful development.

Addressing Cultural Issues: The UBE Perspective. The rapid increase in globalisation and the strenghtening of democratic institutions witnessed all over the world and indeed in Nigeria, becomes more pronounced in the 21st century. As nations seek closer cooperation, the improvement of basic quality of life, learning to live together, respect for the rule of law, and basic human rights, improvement of the environment and peaceful coexistence among and across nationalities and communities, etc. are some of the global issues that are critical and transcended national boundaries. Nigeria's response to these glogabl emerging issues was the development, adoption and implementation of a National Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) in 2004. NEEDS defines a process of development for Nigeria that addresses a clear national vision, sound values and enduring cultural principles.

NEEDS which is also anchored on the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) has four critical elements: value re-orientation; poverty eradication; wealth generation and job creation; and empowering people through education.

Thus, if education will be used to achieve the goals of NEEDS then its contents and delivery processes should be reformed in the context of improving the quality of life and facilitating our cherished value of peaceful co-existence amongst the diverse ethnic groups as well as with other peoples of the world. NEEDS recognizes education as an instrument per excellent for cultural transmission and economic transformation.

For basic education to be able to transform the people, it should be able to relfect on our cultural heritage as expressed in language, cultural tools and values. In this context the new basic education curriculum structure that was approved by the National Council for Education (NCE) in December 2005, has the following critical features among others:

-Core basic subjects: English Studies, Mathematics, Basic Science and Technology, Social Studies, Cultural and Creative Arts, Health and Physical Education, Language, Religious Studies (Christian/Islamic).

-Elective subjects: include Arabic, Agriculture, Computer Studies, Business Studies, and Home Economics.

-Introduction of French in primary 4 as a core subject, for trans-national acculturation; the separation of Basic Science and Basic Technology in JSS1.

-The introduction of Vocational Subjects into primary school curriculum. In this regard, collaboration between the schools, the organized private sector, craftesmen and artisans in the local industry, will provide workplace experience through the much desired traditional education tool of "learning by doing," and "schooling beyond participants observation."

The inclusion of electives in JSS1. -The infusion of emerging issues from NEEDS, MDG, EFA goals, positive values, peace studies and entrepreneural skills into the contents of various subject curricula.

Conclusion: Integrating culture into education is a worthy and important goal for all schools. Effective integration requires that teachers, learners, etc. acquire new patterns of behaviour and effectively applying them in the appropriate settings. Further, if the goals of developing cultural pride, self-esteem, and respect for diversity are to be fully achieved, the total school environment inside and outside the classroom must respect diversity and display an appreciation of the diverse Nigerian cultural heritage. The philosophy and methodology of the new education structure and curriculum attempt to accommodate the diversity of the various ethnic cultures in it. However, curriculum materials that accurately represent the diversity of cultures in the school community; teachers and learners who are knowledgable and competent in cross-cultural functioning; and a school climate that values ethnic diversity; is required for successful cultural integration in education. The key lies in developing a mechanism through action research that provides ongoing feedback and suggestions for change.

-Prof. Obioma is the executive secretary, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Abuja.