Only 2% of JAMB candidates choose colleges, polytechnics — COEASU warns of teacher education crisis

The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has raised alarm over what it described as a deepening collapse in teacher education enrolment, revealing that only two per cent of candidates who sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) opted for colleges of education and polytechnics.   COEASU President, Dr Ahmed Lawan Bazza, disclosed […]

The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has raised alarm over what it described as a deepening collapse in teacher education enrolment, revealing that only two per cent of candidates who sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) opted for colleges of education and polytechnics.

 

COEASU President, Dr Ahmed Lawan Bazza, disclosed this while briefing journalists on the communique issued after the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held from May 6 to 9 at the College of Education, Warri, Delta State.

 

According to him, the trend reflects growing public apathy towards teacher education and technical institutions, warning that the development poses a major threat to Nigeria’s education foundation.

 

“Over two million candidates wrote JAMB. Ninety percent of those two million subscribed to university education. One per cent Colleges of Education, one percent Polytechnic. So this is alarming,” Bazza said.

 

He said the pattern showed that Nigeria was gradually neglecting the sectors responsible for producing teachers and technical manpower, despite their importance to national development.

 

“The apathy on teacher education is not about JAMB processes, it’s about the incentives, it’s about how a teacher is treated in Nigeria,” he said.

 

Bazza argued that recent policy efforts aimed at boosting enrolment, including easing admission pathways into colleges of education, would have limited impact unless the government addressed poor teacher welfare, remuneration and public perception.

 

“Once we can address issues that will attract the welfare of teachers, remuneration of teachers, working conditions and so many other things, it will assist in boosting the love for teacher education,” he said.

 

He noted that COEASU was not opposed to reforms designed to increase access, but insisted quality assurance mechanisms must remain intact.

 

“Yes, one of these pronouncements by the government removing JAMB, of course we hope it will boost enrolment, but there must be checks in place to ensure that quality is not dropped,” he added.

 

The union also linked dwindling enrolment to structural problems within the colleges of education system, including outdated curricula and prolonged academic pathways that discourage prospective students.

 

 

Bazza said COEASU had backed the dual mandate structure under the Federal Colleges of Education Act 2023, which allows colleges to award both NCE and degree qualifications, describing it as a critical step toward reversing declining interest.

 

He said the union was also pushing curriculum reforms, course unbundling and broader institutional rebranding to make colleges more competitive.

 

While warning that teacher education was central to Nigeria’s survival, Bazza said, “If we get the foundation wrong, we can never get it right.”

 

COEASU also urged the federal and state governments to improve salaries, implement agreements with education unions and prioritise teacher development as part of wider efforts to prevent what it described as the gradual extinction of teacher education in Nigeria.