Twenty years of STEAM education have left three critical blind spots in Nigeria's learning system, according to a lecturer at Crescent University, Abeokuta, who has now proposed an alternative framework to address them. Dr Kola Adesina, a journalism lecturer at the institution, unveiled the MASHET model on his LinkedIn page, arguing that it offers a more comprehensive educational structure than the widely adopted Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics model.

MASHET, which stands for Maths, Arts, Science, Humanities, Engineering and Technology, reorganises the six disciplines in a sequence Adesina contends better reflects how knowledge is built and applied. "For 20 years, we've pushed STEAM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths. STEAM got us far. But it has three blind spots," he wrote.

His first objection centres on the placement of Mathematics. Adesina argued that positioning it at the end of the STEAM acronym misrepresents its role as the foundational language of every other discipline. In MASHET, Mathematics leads.

His second critique targets the grouping of Science and Technology within the same conceptual block. He contended that research and discovery differ fundamentally from technological application, and that treating both as a single unit obscures that distinction.

The third and most pointed criticism concerns the Humanities. Adesina argued that the Arts component in STEAM is largely confined to design and creative arts, effectively excluding history, philosophy, ethics and journalism from the framework entirely. "The Humanities are explicit because AI ethics, storytelling, and critical thinking aren't extras. They're core," he wrote.

The lecturer noted that his journalism background directly shaped the framework's emphasis on ethics, context and human centred innovation. "Journalism taught me that facts without context are noise. Tech without ethics is dangerous," he stated.

Adesina drew a clear distinction between what each model ultimately teaches. "STEAM taught us how to build," he wrote. "MASHET teaches us what to build, and why it matters to humans."

STEAM was formally introduced in Nigeria as a federal initiative in 2023, with a pilot project launched across Adamawa, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Ondo, Rivers and Sokoto states. Adesina acknowledged the model's contributions but maintained that MASHET, unlike what he described as "STEM plus one add on," gives equal prominence to all six disciplines it encompasses.