Integrate Teachers Training, NCE Into University Of Education, Says Prof. Olaopa

 

Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Professor Tunji Olaopa, has canvassed for the inclusion of Teachers Training Certificate and National Certificate Examination (NCE) into the Universities of Education programmes.

According to him, it is imperative need to institutionalize the Dual NCE and Bachelor of Education Mode as pragmatic Model for Universities of Education.

Olaopa, who made the call while delivering the Distinguished Personality Lecture organized by the Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo, warned that throwing away the Teacher Training and NCE programmes  for the Universities of Education programmes will be counter-productive.

The Professor of Public Administration explained that there is need to bring some measure of innovation to curricula designs for the dual-mode college transition in order to achieve required equilibrium between theoretical learning and practical skills to function as certified teacher.

According to the Retired Federal Permanent Secretary, the objective should not be to weaken or supplant the NCE certification, but to strengthen it by cultivating a cohort of educators who possess formidable blend of scholarly expertise and practical teaching proficiency.

“Indeed, if indeed the dynamics is managed well and the required balancing is achieved between more practically proficient NCE holders and straight B. ED certification, the transformation of COE into dual-mode institutions might indeed mark a paradigm shift in teacher education in Nigeria

“best practice all across the globe really is that tertiary education is modelled in three levels of concurrent significance for different aspects of national development. The universities, the monotechnic and polytechnics, were established to, within framework of complementarity, jointly cater to the human capital imperatives of national development, Unfortunately, our national malaise has played out to undermine that flexible relationship of responsibilities among the critical institutions, in favour of just one of them.

“The import of is that we assume that the universities alone can produce the manpower that Nigeria requires for her productivity turnaround and that it can so do without the full participation of polytechnics and the colleges of education

“For COE already running B.Ed. programmes, the new status for me should translate to continuity for those NCE holders who qualify for automatic transition into degree programmes, I just hope that what is playing out is not one of the B.Ed. degree awards subsuming the NCE awards given Nigerians’ craze for university degree level awards.

“Consequently, are we yielding to parents and students preference for continuous 4-year straight B.Ed. award track rather than a two-step NCE/B.Ed. awards, and therefore the possibility that COE might shut down NCE programmes over time, due to a consistent decline in student enrollment

“I feel strongly that it will be critical for us to bring some measure of innovation to curricula designs in institutional recalibration for the dual-mode college transition.

“This is essential, in order to achieve required equilibrium between theoretical learning and practical skills to function as certified teacher in every sense professional. The objective should therefore not be to weaken or supplant the NCE certification, but to strengthen it by cultivating a cohort of educators who possess formidable blend of scholarly expertise and practical teaching proficiency.

Olaopa listed some of the challenges facing education sector in the country, especially as it affects the Tertiary education in the country.

“the current state of Nigeria’s political economy, that the funding of the education sector and the politics that the nation plays with education remain the number one binding constraint that must be unlocked if we will significantly transform education as the substructure for human capital development as the vital catalyst for driving Nigeria’s transformation journey.

“This state of the education sector is compounded by the depreciating quality and dwindling availability of facilities. There is also the lack of cogent data and statistics to back up the performance of the education sector across the states and local governments.

Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Olanrewaju Olaniyan, in his opening remark, said the institution now boast of no fewer than 5,000 students and 50 academics programmes within its two years of transition from College of Education to the University of Education.