Thorough curriculum review needed for COEs – Minister

The Minister of State for Education, Dr Tanko Sununu, has said that for Colleges of Education (COEs) in Nigeria to achieve the mandate of concurrently running the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) and degree programmes, they required a thorough curriculum review to achieve the new set of qualified teachers expected from the system. Sununu, who […]

The Minister of State for Education, Dr Tanko Sununu, has said that for Colleges of Education (COEs) in Nigeria to achieve the mandate of concurrently running the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) and degree programmes, they required a thorough curriculum review to achieve the new set of qualified teachers expected from the system.

Sununu, who stated this at the flag-off workshop organised for “Masters’ Trainers on Strengthening Teachers’ English Proficiency (STEP) and Digital Literacy by National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), in partnership with the British Council on Tuesday in Abuja, said there was hope and optimism for the sustainability of the innovative ideas and practices to be introduced therein.

He said, “For this common vision to be achieved, having quality and effective teachers in our classrooms is imperative. In this regard, teachers’ pedagogical, communicative and digital skills will, to a very large extent, determine students’ learning outcomes.

“I do not doubt in my mind that this is what informed the NCCE and British Council joint workshop on STEP, Strengthening Teachers Resourcefulness in Digital Education (STRIDE) and Supporting Pedagogical Rigour in Networking Teaching (SPRINT).”

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Earlier, NCCE’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Paulinus Chijioke Okwelle, said that it was expected that in the next few weeks, 300 master trainers would have been trained across the six geo-political zones in the country.

He said a cluster centre in each of the zones would host the training of 50 educators who were to cascade the same in their various COEs.

He further said, “Although Nigeria is a multilingual and multicultural country with over 540 languages, English remains the official language in government, commerce, teaching, learning and assessment. English is the language of instruction delivery in schools and is a core subject across all grades. In this regard, acquiring its proficiency and mastery in its use, especially by teachers, will in no small way, impact and positively enhance their curriculum facilitations and better learning outcomes by stunts.”