Executive Secretary of National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Professor Paulinus Okwelle, has said that the challenge of poor quality of teachers in Nigeria is worrisome and that the commission is working hard to reverse the trend.
Okwelle, who was recently appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari, said he was aware of the enormous challenges confronting teaching and teacher education and strategising on how to ameliorate the situation.
He spoke at a two-day training programme on reviewed curricula on Family Life and Emerging Health Issues organised by the NCCE in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and other partners held at Auta Ba Laifi, Nasarawa State, insisting that there was no way to get the education sector right without quality teachers in the classrooms.
The workshop was organised to strengthen the capacity of 300 pre-service and in-service teaching educators on the delivery of new curricula covering Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW), Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), Harmful Practices (HP) and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR).
The NCCE boss noted that apart from the curriculum review, he had been in the field and well-acquainted with the problems of the sub-sector, saying the commission had continued to engage the provosts and the colleges generally on the need to improve on teaching and learning in the system.
On the poor quality of teachers, he said: “Yes we are aware of poor qualities of teachers in our schools today but the assurance we are giving you is that we are in the field too and we are strategising how we can improve on the situation.
The director, Information and Communication Technology, NCCE, Mr Pius Ekireghwo, explained that the training for the 300 pre-service and in-service teachers on the new curriculum had been scheduled into batches and that the other three batches would hold within the next three weeks.
He noted that in response to reducing the HIV infection and mitigating the impact of AIDS as well as other health issues, the NCCE with support from MacAthur Foundation in 2009 introduced Family Life and Health Issues as a General Studies (GSE 124) course in all NCE-awarding institutions in Nigeria, adding that the concepts of Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW), Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), Harmful Practices (HP) and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) were all embedded in the 2020 newly reviewed FLEHI (GSE 124) Minimum Standards of the NCCE.
Ekireghwo, further revealed that the GSE 124 is compulsory for all students in all NCE-awarding institutions in Nigeria.
He said the workshop was build the capacity of in-service teachers who will in turn train pre-service teachers to effectively implement FLEHI curriculum in NCE-awarding institutions, adding that in November, 2019, the commission in collaboration with UNESCO, trained more than 100 teachers from select Colleges of Education and Federal Government Unity Schools in Nigeria.
Mrs Ngozi Amanze, the national programme officer on Education, UNESCO, Abuja Regional Office, in her remarks at the event, said her organisation supported NCCE to organise the capacity-building workshop for teacher educators because the concepts of FLEHI as incorporated in the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) curriculum, helps the young people to make good decision concerning their lives.
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