Main features of geography education in Libya (Curriculums-textbooks)

Libya's education system has been influenced by various factors throughout history until today.Both the state and the conditions of the country and the current developments around the world are taken into consideration in the planning of educational activities in the country. However, radical and required developments have not yet been carried out in the education and training system. Like many other countries in the world, geography is included in the educational curriculums and programs in Libya. Since geography is a subject that covers many topics of our life on the earth it holds an important place. Therefore, Libya also includes it in the educational curriculum at various levels. Geography lessons in Libya starts in 4th grade and continues until 12th grade. Based on the statements, the purpose of the teachers is to reveal the basic characteristics of geography lessons in Libya. In this work, descriptive research design and document analysis methods were used.In this study, geography education in Libya has been presented by examining the curriculum and books in general.In addition, the current situations, the problems experienced and the suggestions related to the subject were dealt in terms of teachers, curriculum, course materials and teaching methods.The aim of this study, in which we discuss the characteristics of the geography education, is to reveal the geography education and methods that are used in Libya starting from 4th grade until 12th grade.This study also includes statistics of some of the educational institutions in Libya. When the geography education conditions in Libya are observed and analyzed,it can be noticed that geography lessons are limited to 2 or 3 hours a week, which is insufficient to carry out any extra activities besides the lectures. The traditional examination system is the only tool used to measure students' knowledge and the teachers' performance. This creates an obstacle for the development of the lesson, methods as well as teachers' abilities and creativity. Most of the schools do not have enough Education tools to practice Modern Education methods and activities. Besides, school books are not enough. The educational system is still traditional and rote-learning based. That is why it is far from the modern tendencies used in geography education. Geography teachers lack academic competence, training ability, performance and following modern developments related to the subject. One of the shortcomings of our students who graduated from geography departments is the neglect of the practical aspect of the work in geography education. Furthermore, providing the necessary financial support is among other problems. With that, students are not sent to developed countries in order to receive the necessary education and transfer their experiences to the country. In order to solve these problems, it is necessary to give training for the teachers, eliminate the deficiencies of the curriculum and textbooks, and improve the physical infrastructure of the schools.