FG begins retraining of technical college teachers

THE Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to revamping technical education in Nigeria and has commenced retraining programme for Federal Government Technical College Teachers across the country.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of a 4-day Retooling programme at the Federal College of Education Technical, Akoka, Lagos on Tuesday, the permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Sonny Echono said that the retraining programme was necessary to empower teachers to effectively deliver the curricula.

He said the Federal Government has deliberately focussed on Technical, Vocational Education and Training in order to address the challenge relating to skills development as a means of poverty eradication.

The Director, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs Priscilla Ihuoma, in a statement in Abuja, quoted the Permanent Secretary as saying that this would be achieved through the various steps being taken by Government including the recently flagged-off National Vocational Qualification Framework, production of Science equipment/ technical instructional materials, upgrading of physical infrastructure and empowering of out of school youths.

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The Director of Technology and Science Education, Mrs Tina Eyaru earlier in her address acknowledged the problem of inadequate training of teachers, especially technical teachers which has prevailed for a very long time.

Speaking further, Mrs Eyaru said that Assessment conducted on 21 FSTC revealed that majority of the serving teachers have not participated in capacity building programme since they were employed 10 – 15 years ago, adding that many of them are deficient in practical skill and unable to use the modern machine.

The Provost of Federal College of Education Technical, Akoka. Dr Sojibomi Olusanya assured that the College was blessed with seasoned lecturer and equipment to deliver effective retraining.

The principal of Queens College, Mrs Biola Are called for more regular and longer training sessions for the teachers, noting that equipment worth millions of naira are lying waste in many schools because of lack of capacity to operate them.