Dual Mode: Students to be admitted for degree progs in CoEs for 2025/2027 session – FG

The federal government has disclosed that all is set to implement the Dual Mode Policy by admitting students into various degree programmes in Colleges of Education for the 2025/2027 academic session. This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Professor Paulinus Okwelle, at the One-Day Sensitisation meeting for the […]

The federal government has disclosed that all is set to implement the Dual Mode Policy by admitting students into various degree programmes in Colleges of Education for the 2025/2027 academic session.

This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Professor Paulinus Okwelle, at the One-Day Sensitisation meeting for the Implementation of Ministerial Deliverables and Roadmap for the education sector in Abuja on Tuesday.

Daily Trust reports that the federal government opted for the dual mode policy, which will enable the Colleges of Education to run both Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) and Degree programmes concurrently to address the challenge of low enrolment into education programmes.

Prof Okwelle said: “We are still at implementation stage on the dual mode, everything has been put in place, if you observe, JAMB included it in their advert in advance, so we understand that from the 2025/2027 academic session, students will be admitted in under the Dual mode at the colleges of education.

“We believe that with this dual mode, we will make teaching more professional. But by the time you have NCE, which is more professional because you have been trained as a professional teacher and when you get a degree, you go deeper in the contents of your subject area.”

“So we hope our colleges will begin to have more students enrolling into our education programme, both for NCE and for the degree programme as well,” he said.

“So we believe that by the time somebody has all the pedagogy training on how to be an effective teacher, and then they have the content, we should have better teachers for our school system. So the idea behind the dual mode is that we will have NCE and we will also have degree holders so that they can be flexible enough to handle situations within the classroom, but in terms of subject matter and also other pedagogy approaches.”

Speaking on the issue manpower to implement the dual mode mandate, Prof Okwelle noted that the government is doing a lot to encourage lecturers to improve the welfare of the lecturers, saying, “There are so many programmes put in place and even the present minister walking under the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is also doing a lot to improve the welfare of lecturers.”

The executive secretary said the meeting was imperative, given the critical role of the NCCE and the Colleges of Education sub-sector in achieving the objectives outlined in the performance bond signed by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunde Alausa, with the Presidency.

Adding that the performance bond is a strategic tool aimed at restoring public trust in governance by promoting accountability, transparency, and results-driven leadership.

In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Olumuyiwa Enitann said to enhance access and enrollment in Colleges of Education, the federal government approved the establishment of additional Colleges and introduced a Dual Mode Policy.

Represented by Director of Educational planning, Julie Uzor, he said the policy aims to revitalize teacher education and address declining enrollment.

He said: “Regarding quality, the review of the NCE Minimum Standards is currently underway. We remain committed to equipping teacher education programmes with the necessary tools to ensure excellence and relevance.”

Enitan noted that the meeting aims to engage all Colleges of Education to ensure timely and effective reporting of their activities, saying, “It is imperative that all stakeholders fully understand the policy direction set by the Federal Ministry of Education, along with the specific deliverables and their associated KPIs.”

The Provost of College of Education (Technical), Asaba, Prof Josephine Anene-Okeakwa said the president has mapped out some deliverables and all institutions need to do is to follow the instruction and do it timely and accurately.

She said gone are the days they say teachers education does not matter, “without teachers education we are nowhere.”

“The NCCE has brought us together to intimate us well on what to do and we need to do it well if we want the education sector to succeed,” she said.

Meanwhile, the meeting brought together Provosts, Registrars, College Unions, and Desk Officers for a sensitization session about the performance contract signed by the Minister of Education.