Currently in Nigeria, the decision by the Federal Ministry of Education on whether to grant Accreditation to secondary schools for the subject of Business Studies to be taught, is based on whether schools own typewriters for students use and practice. In other words, to gain accreditation to teach Business Studies as a subject recommended by the National Examinations Council (NECO), schools must strictly apply the use of typewriters. More shocking is the fact that accreditors overlook the presence of computers and laptops in some schools, insisting on typewriters instead as the operating standard, and so schools with modern ICT facilities are penalized for the absence of Typewriters and therefore denied accreditation in Business Studies, thus affecting their students.

The world over, business in the 21st century is entirely driven by modern Information and Computer Technology (ICT) as well as the Internet of Things (IoT). In its 2016 Global Education Monitoring Report, UNESCO mandates that “Education must keep up with the changing face of work and aim to produce more high skilled workers.” In the transition towards sustainable economies, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, the report emphasizes that the role of education in innovation primarily concerns the dissemination of new technologies for higher education systems and countries must do more to promote high value skills within secondary education. It is therefore essential for today’s learners to be empowered with a 21st century relevant education that ensures actual future readiness. Typewriters no longer drive the world of business and ceased to do so a long time ago. Schools should be required to be equipped with current operative tools in business and work systems. Accreditation standards by your Ministry must therefore be adapted to the changing face of work. An insistence on typewriters as a precondition for Business subject accreditation cannot yield future readiness among the current generation of school children and indeed amounts to a social injustice.