ool.

The secondary schools were of many kinds, consisting of four-year
general education courses and four-year vocational and professional
courses (industrial, agricultural, pedagogic, trade, arts, health, and
others). Some of these courses lasted only two years. In his report to
the Party's Central Committee in June 1969 on the reform of the school
year, Prime Minister Shehu said that the secondary schools were to have
a standard curriculum for the school year. Priority was to be given to
academic subjects, followed by production and by physical and military
education.

Shehu formulated the structure of the academic year in all secondary
schools as follows: 6-1/2 months of academic study, 2-1/2 months of
productive work, 1 month of military training, and 2 months of vacation.
The curriculum of the secondary schools and, with slight differences, of
the higher schools was divided as follows: academic subjects, 55 to 56
percent; production work, 26 to 27 percent; and physical and military
education, 17 to 19 percent. Shehu also said that terms borrowed from
the Soviet school system, would be dropped, and in the future secondary
schools would be known by such names as general secondary school and
industrial, agricultural, construction, trade, art, and sanitation
secondary schools.

The terms of study in the higher institutes lasted from three to five
years. Provision was also made to expand higher education by increasing
the number of full-time students, setting up new branches in places
where there were no higher institutes, and organizing specialization
courses for those who had completed higher education to train highly
qualified technical and scientific cadres. All full-time graduate
students had to serve a probationary period of nine months in production
and three months in military training, in addition to the prescribed
military training received while in school.

Adult education had the same structure as that for full-time students,
with two exceptions: first, the eight-year general education was not
compulsory and was contracted into a six-year program allowing for
completion of the first four grades in two years; second, those who
wanted to proceed to higher institutes after graduating from secondary
school had to devote one year to preparatory study instead of engaging
in production work, as did full-time students.

According to official statistics, in the late 1960s, the regime had made
considerable stri