CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
The importance of history to an individual and the entire society cannot be over emphasized. This is because history is a conveyor of a society‟s morals and values. And without a sound understanding of the past, we would find it difficult to fathom how the present challenges evolved and how we might be able to devise solution to them. Chukwu (2019).
In the realm of intellectual discipline, the study of history can train pupils or students to be accurate in comprehension and expression, to weigh evidence, to separate the trivial from the significant, to distinguish between propaganda and truth. History can provide twentieth-century men with standards of reference against which they can measure the values and achievements of their own age; it can encourage an enlightened awareness of the problems of modern communities, political, social and economic. Anyanwu(2010)
Not least important, it can train men to handle controversial questions in a spirit which searches for truth, insists on free discussion, and permits compromise. This is a rich harvest for any school subject to yield. As such, if history is properly placed in schools and the society at large, the upcoming youth will be able to internalize the values of integrity, tolerance and hard work which are celebrated in the history of our peoples but which are totally lacking in our public service today.
However, despite the importance of history to everyone and the various efforts of curriculum planners, HSN and the teachers, there have being a persistent decline in the study of history. This decline has become so outrageous that in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) annual report of 2006, 1,154,266 candidates sat for the examination but only 63,276 of them did history. This represents an insignificant 5.5 percent as against 81 percent in 1960 (WASSCE annual report, 2006). This is a dangerous trend to individuals and society at large considering the importance of history to humankind.