(He is an author, teacher, public administrator, and a former federal minister of State for Education. Recently, he was re-appointed into the Yar’adua government as Board Chairman of the National Commission for Colleges of Education. He spoke to Jerry Adesewo on his new appointment and related issues.)
Vision for the Commission
My personal objective here is to influence the charting of a new course for the commission, to regulate the activities of all colleges of education for the purpose of turning out well qualified teachers from our colleges of Education.
The Executive Secretary is in charge of the day to day running of the commission while the board plays a supervisory role. What this means is that the board is not involved in the administration and management of the commission in the discharge of its regulatory role on our colleges of education. The board which I head is in charge of ensuring quality control, policy formulation, direction and implementation as well as performing some oversight functions. We are here to ensure that everything the commission does is in accordance with laid down rules.
On the essence of a teacher
The essence of a teacher is, first, one who is embodied with all characteristics of goodness, honesty, commitment and dedication with the purpose of impacting knowledge to pupils. He is one that is looked upon as being above board to direct, motivate, inspire and provide direction for those enthrusted into his hands. The teacher is the best being in the universe because of the unique role he has to play.
On Restoring the Novelty of Teaching Profession
The problems facing the teaching profession in Nigeria are legion. Today, not many people want to be a teacher because our society has put the teachers at the lowest rung of society ladder thereby making it not as dignified as it used to be. Teachers are seen as the wretched of the earth such that hardly can you get two out of ten pupils who want to be a teacher if you ask them what they would want to be in the future. In view of these, this board has lined up some programmes intended to use in turning around the fortunes of teacher education and restore the novelty of the teaching profession. Thus, the role of the teacher in the society will be further enhanced.
The board also intends to ensure that the quality of teachers produced by our colleges of education and other institutions of learning meets up with international standards.
On the relationship between NCCE and NTI
These are two different bodies. One is an institution and the other a regulatory body. They are not doing the same thing. The NTI is an autonomous body just as you have the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria and such other bodies involved in ensuring the professionalism and improved quality of the teacher education. Thus, the NCCE is responsible for the accreditation of courses and certificates of any institution responsible for the production of teachers in Nigeria. And that includes the NTI. It is an institution that trains teachers subject to the accreditation of its courses and certificates by the NCCE.
On Curriculum and Literature Development
Curriculum development is a continuous process. You continue to look at the curriculum by asking yourself: What should be there? What should not be there? What is in vogue? What to do to bring about the desired type of development, especially the introduction of technological approach. It is not true to say that curriculum development is not taken seriously. The problem is that those who say this don’t even understand what curriculum development is all about. It obviously is not all about cramming the curriculum with both relevant and irrelevant things. That is why here, we have a well programmed curriculum department which liaise with the different colleges of education to develop the right curriculum which will enhance the quality of teacher training.
And talking about literature development, our colleges of education do have standard texts specifically designed to meet up with the curriculum in use. While it may be true that the use of handouts has become a culture in our tertiary institutions generally – not just colleges of education – we have recommended texts for each of the courses in the curriculum. So, if anybody is saying otherwise, it is either such person is using just one institution as a yardstick or has not bordered to visit our colleges of education to see that we have standard text books. Having said that, I wish to add too that we are not looking away from this scandal of the use of handouts, the commission will continue to encourage lecturers to engage in publications of standard texts as academics.
Teaching Practice and the 7 Point Agenda
We are working very hard towards making Nigeria one of the 20 most developed economies in the world by the year 2020. And remember that one of the 7-points agenda of Mr. President is human resources development under which we have education which includes the teacher’s training. I think we have what it takes to achieve that. The important thing is to work towards it. For instance, the Ministry of Education recently launched its Roadmap for the development of Nigeria’s education, I heard the Honourable Minister, Dr. Sam Egwu saying that he has a four point agenda for Nigeria’s education which if dutifully implemented, the education sector would have been revamped in such a way that it would have contributed to the overall objectives of Mr. President’s agenda. And if you look at this roadmap, you will discover that it gives priority to teacher training. The Minister had set up an Implementation Committee to ensure that the provision of that Roadmap is implemented. And that is a giant step towards repositioning the education sector.
On Teaching and National Intergration
The best and only way to achieve national intergration is through the teacher. When you talk about national intergration, just look at the whole segment of the society and tell me which one you can talk about without the teacher. If you talk about power generation, the people that are working there today to ensure that we have constant electricity supply. Is it not a teacher that trained them to become engineers, scientists and whatever they are? What about politics? To be a politician you need to have knowledge. You need to go through series of tutelage because you don’t just wake up overnight and announce that you are a politician. The teaching profession is at the fore front of all professions and it is the teacher that is at the middle of it all. So, teaching is about the best means of achieving the much desired national intergration. Unfortunately, as at now, the teacher is being looked down upon but by the time that essence of a teacher is fully displayed, our people will realize that it is a mistake we are making by relegating teachers to the background. If we want progress, if we desire sustainable development, we must give teachers the pride of place in our society. We must take the welfare of the teacher, the comfort of the teacher more seriously. The teacher is the missing link in Nigeria’s developmental quest. The teacher is a critical partner in national intergration.
On the face off between teachers and Benue State Government.
The situation in Benue State is not different from what obtains in other parts of the country as regards the clamourng for the implementation of the Teachers’ Salary Scheme. The Federal Government has made it very clear that request for the implementation of the TSS should be directed to the various state governments as provided for in the constitution. And the state governments, under the auspices of the Governor’s Forum met with the leadership of NUT and had agreed on what to do. What is left now is for the various governments to implement the TSS has agreed. Therefore, what teachers in Benue are supposed to do is to meet with the leadership of the state for the implementation of the TSS as agreed by the Governors. My advice therefore is for the state government to find a way of resolving the matter as amicably as possible so that the teachers will not suffer because, if the teachers suffer, our children who are the students will suffer and the state as a whole will also suffer. It’s like the ill-wind that does not blow any good.
On possibility of undergoing a teacher’s conversion programme
It is a truism that some students in colleges of education today are not there because they are interested in teaching as a career but because they see it as the last resort and opportunity to get into higher institution. Many of them pursue other trades as soon as they obtain their certificates. One sure way to avoid this kind of situation is the new converged examination programme being introduced by JAMB. All candidates for higher institutions will now take one single examination and will be placed according to their marks into Universities, Colleges of Education and Polytechnics respectively. With this arrangement, even those who see the colleges of education as the last resort may even find it difficult to get admission.
As for conversion programmes, it is not a new thing. It’s been tried before and it had worked effectively. I am a very good example; I did not go to any Teacher Training College. After my secondary school, I went to Kaduna Polytechnic for my Ordinary National Diploma. There was shortage of teachers then and so those of us who didn’t have teaching qualifications were ask to go to National Technical Teachers College for a One-year program to do the Pedagogy of teaching which would help you impact knowledge effectively. NTTC Yaba in Lagos and the present Federal College of Education, Technical, Gombe State were the two centres in Nigeria then. That is the conversion programme we are talking about.
On his life as a Teacher
I have no regrets for being a Teacher. If I ever say I have regrets, God will not forgive me. I can say for sure that if I have the opportunity to relive my life, I will prefer to be a teacher again and again. I will even want to do it better by going into the Teacher Training College from the beginning and not through a conversion programme like I did so that by the time I come out, I will be a well rounded teacher. This is because as I have always told people, there is no height you aspire to reach as a person that you cannot reach being a Teacher. I have risen from being a classroom Teacher to become a Principal (On a Special Grade Level 16). I became the Executive Secretary of my State’s Examinations Board and later Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education. At a point I was the Acting Commissioner of Education in my State. To crown it all, as you all know, I was appointed into the Federal Executive Council as a Federal minister of State for Education. What more could I ask for? So, if through being in the teaching profession I have achieved all these, why would I have any regrets? If I had been an accountant, engineer, lawyer or doctor, it is possible that I would not have been what I am today. Teaching has always been and will remain a prestigious profession.
Vision for the Commission
My personal objective here is to influence the charting of a new course for the commission, to regulate the activities of all colleges of education for the purpose of turning out well qualified teachers from our colleges of Education.
The Executive Secretary is in charge of the day to day running of the commission while the board plays a supervisory role. What this means is that the board is not involved in the administration and management of the commission in the discharge of its regulatory role on our colleges of education. The board which I head is in charge of ensuring quality control, policy formulation, direction and implementation as well as performing some oversight functions. We are here to ensure that everything the commission does is in accordance with laid down rules.
On the essence of a teacher
The essence of a teacher is, first, one who is embodied with all characteristics of goodness, honesty, commitment and dedication with the purpose of impacting knowledge to pupils. He is one that is looked upon as being above board to direct, motivate, inspire and provide direction for those enthrusted into his hands. The teacher is the best being in the universe because of the unique role he has to play.
On Restoring the Novelty of Teaching Profession
The problems facing the teaching profession in Nigeria are legion. Today, not many people want to be a teacher because our society has put the teachers at the lowest rung of society ladder thereby making it not as dignified as it used to be. Teachers are seen as the wretched of the earth such that hardly can you get two out of ten pupils who want to be a teacher if you ask them what they would want to be in the future. In view of these, this board has lined up some programmes intended to use in turning around the fortunes of teacher education and restore the novelty of the teaching profession. Thus, the role of the teacher in the society will be further enhanced.
The board also intends to ensure that the quality of teachers produced by our colleges of education and other institutions of learning meets up with international standards.
On the relationship between NCCE and NTI
These are two different bodies. One is an institution and the other a regulatory body. They are not doing the same thing. The NTI is an autonomous body just as you have the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria and such other bodies involved in ensuring the professionalism and improved quality of the teacher education. Thus, the NCCE is responsible for the accreditation of courses and certificates of any institution responsible for the production of teachers in Nigeria. And that includes the NTI. It is an institution that trains teachers subject to the accreditation of its courses and certificates by the NCCE.
On Curriculum and Literature Development
Curriculum development is a continuous process. You continue to look at the curriculum by asking yourself: What should be there? What should not be there? What is in vogue? What to do to bring about the desired type of development, especially the introduction of technological approach. It is not true to say that curriculum development is not taken seriously. The problem is that those who say this don’t even understand what curriculum development is all about. It obviously is not all about cramming the curriculum with both relevant and irrelevant things. That is why here, we have a well programmed curriculum department which liaise with the different colleges of education to develop the right curriculum which will enhance the quality of teacher training.
And talking about literature development, our colleges of education do have standard texts specifically designed to meet up with the curriculum in use. While it may be true that the use of handouts has become a culture in our tertiary institutions generally – not just colleges of education – we have recommended texts for each of the courses in the curriculum. So, if anybody is saying otherwise, it is either such person is using just one institution as a yardstick or has not bordered to visit our colleges of education to see that we have standard text books. Having said that, I wish to add too that we are not looking away from this scandal of the use of handouts, the commission will continue to encourage lecturers to engage in publications of standard texts as academics.
Teaching Practice and the 7 Point Agenda
We are working very hard towards making Nigeria one of the 20 most developed economies in the world by the year 2020. And remember that one of the 7-points agenda of Mr. President is human resources development under which we have education which includes the teacher’s training. I think we have what it takes to achieve that. The important thing is to work towards it. For instance, the Ministry of Education recently launched its Roadmap for the development of Nigeria’s education, I heard the Honourable Minister, Dr. Sam Egwu saying that he has a four point agenda for Nigeria’s education which if dutifully implemented, the education sector would have been revamped in such a way that it would have contributed to the overall objectives of Mr. President’s agenda. And if you look at this roadmap, you will discover that it gives priority to teacher training. The Minister had set up an Implementation Committee to ensure that the provision of that Roadmap is implemented. And that is a giant step towards repositioning the education sector.
On Teaching and National Intergration
The best and only way to achieve national intergration is through the teacher. When you talk about national intergration, just look at the whole segment of the society and tell me which one you can talk about without the teacher. If you talk about power generation, the people that are working there today to ensure that we have constant electricity supply. Is it not a teacher that trained them to become engineers, scientists and whatever they are? What about politics? To be a politician you need to have knowledge. You need to go through series of tutelage because you don’t just wake up overnight and announce that you are a politician. The teaching profession is at the fore front of all professions and it is the teacher that is at the middle of it all. So, teaching is about the best means of achieving the much desired national intergration. Unfortunately, as at now, the teacher is being looked down upon but by the time that essence of a teacher is fully displayed, our people will realize that it is a mistake we are making by relegating teachers to the background. If we want progress, if we desire sustainable development, we must give teachers the pride of place in our society. We must take the welfare of the teacher, the comfort of the teacher more seriously. The teacher is the missing link in Nigeria’s developmental quest. The teacher is a critical partner in national intergration.
On the face off between teachers and Benue State Government.
The situation in Benue State is not different from what obtains in other parts of the country as regards the clamourng for the implementation of the Teachers’ Salary Scheme. The Federal Government has made it very clear that request for the implementation of the TSS should be directed to the various state governments as provided for in the constitution. And the state governments, under the auspices of the Governor’s Forum met with the leadership of NUT and had agreed on what to do. What is left now is for the various governments to implement the TSS has agreed. Therefore, what teachers in Benue are supposed to do is to meet with the leadership of the state for the implementation of the TSS as agreed by the Governors. My advice therefore is for the state government to find a way of resolving the matter as amicably as possible so that the teachers will not suffer because, if the teachers suffer, our children who are the students will suffer and the state as a whole will also suffer. It’s like the ill-wind that does not blow any good.
On possibility of undergoing a teacher’s conversion programme
It is a truism that some students in colleges of education today are not there because they are interested in teaching as a career but because they see it as the last resort and opportunity to get into higher institution. Many of them pursue other trades as soon as they obtain their certificates. One sure way to avoid this kind of situation is the new converged examination programme being introduced by JAMB. All candidates for higher institutions will now take one single examination and will be placed according to their marks into Universities, Colleges of Education and Polytechnics respectively. With this arrangement, even those who see the colleges of education as the last resort may even find it difficult to get admission.
As for conversion programmes, it is not a new thing. It’s been tried before and it had worked effectively. I am a very good example; I did not go to any Teacher Training College. After my secondary school, I went to Kaduna Polytechnic for my Ordinary National Diploma. There was shortage of teachers then and so those of us who didn’t have teaching qualifications were ask to go to National Technical Teachers College for a One-year program to do the Pedagogy of teaching which would help you impact knowledge effectively. NTTC Yaba in Lagos and the present Federal College of Education, Technical, Gombe State were the two centres in Nigeria then. That is the conversion programme we are talking about.
On his life as a Teacher
I have no regrets for being a Teacher. If I ever say I have regrets, God will not forgive me. I can say for sure that if I have the opportunity to relive my life, I will prefer to be a teacher again and again. I will even want to do it better by going into the Teacher Training College from the beginning and not through a conversion programme like I did so that by the time I come out, I will be a well rounded teacher. This is because as I have always told people, there is no height you aspire to reach as a person that you cannot reach being a Teacher. I have risen from being a classroom Teacher to become a Principal (On a Special Grade Level 16). I became the Executive Secretary of my State’s Examinations Board and later Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education. At a point I was the Acting Commissioner of Education in my State. To crown it all, as you all know, I was appointed into the Federal Executive Council as a Federal minister of State for Education. What more could I ask for? So, if through being in the teaching profession I have achieved all these, why would I have any regrets? If I had been an accountant, engineer, lawyer or doctor, it is possible that I would not have been what I am today. Teaching has always been and will remain a prestigious profession.
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