FG, provosts meet to revamp teacher education

THE federal government has met with the Committee of Provosts of Colleges of Education in Nigeria as part of the ongoing efforts to revamp teacher education in the country.

Speaking at the meeting with the members of the Committee of Provosts, led by its chairman, Dr. Nwanze I Ezoem, the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, expressed the determination of the federal government to take teacher education to enviable standards.

He said that the ministry takes teacher education as a priority in the drive to transform the education sector; hence it formed one of the pillars in the Ministerial Strategic Plan.

He promised to look into some of the complaints presented by the committee that are within the purview of his ministry with a view to addressing them.

Speaking earlier, the chairman of the committee, Dr. Nwanze I Ezoem, congratulated the minister, saying that his appointment had not only brought sanity to the education sector but is a signpost of a visionary step to a pragmatic education in the country.

“We have also observed that the short time you have spent in the ministry has witnessed a lot of positive policy thrust for the sector,” he said.

Dr. Ezoem pledged the committee’s unalloyed support to the minister and his management team, saying that the committee was bent on making teacher education a “Professional Reality” and not just a pastime occupation for quacks.

He, however, listed some of the teething challenges facing colleges of education to include low enrolment of students, late disbursement of TETFund allocations for salary and promotion arrears, among others; and urged the minister to look into them with a view to proffering solutions.