By Stella Odueme
The Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Dr. Angela Ajala, has urged the Federal Government and other stakeholders to make teacher education a major priority in Nigeria’s development agenda, describing it as critical to building a world-class education system and producing competent professionals.
Ajala made the appeal on Tuesday in Abuja during an interview with the Association of Corporate Online Editors (ACOE), where she called for increased investment, strategic partnerships and reforms to strengthen teacher education.
She maintained that the quality of teachers directly determines the standard of professionals produced by any country, stressing that every profession depends on the foundation laid by teachers.
According to her, Nigeria's ambition to develop a world-class education system would remain unattainable without adequate attention to teacher preparation and development.
"Teacher education must be the priority at the front burner of anything Nigeria wants to do. If you miss it with teacher education, you miss it with Nigeria," she said.
The NCCE executive secretary, who disclosed that she had over 30 years of experience as a trained teacher, said the commission was pursuing reforms to make Colleges of Education more attractive and equip future teachers with relevant competencies.
She identified the introduction of the dual mandate, which empowers Colleges of Education to award both the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) and Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degrees, as a significant intervention to revitalise the teaching profession.
She explained that the policy, signed into law by President Bola Tinubu in 2023, was designed to reverse declining interest in teacher education and enhance the relevance and status of the NCE qualification.
Ajala also disclosed that the commission had reviewed the teacher education curriculum, adopting a competency-based approach that devotes 70 per cent of learning to practical training and 30 per cent to theoretical instruction.
She said the revised curriculum now incorporates emerging areas such as Artificial Intelligence, robotics, data analytics, cybersecurity and coding, particularly in Computer Education.
As part of efforts to broaden graduates' career opportunities, she said the NCCE had introduced skills certification into the five-year programme, comprising three years of NCE studies and two years of degree education.
According to her, the initiative would equip students with vocational and entrepreneurial competencies to enable them to pursue other economic opportunities in addition to teaching.
On funding, Ajala noted that government resources alone were insufficient to implement the reforms, emphasising the importance of partnerships with international institutions and development organisations.
She disclosed that the commission was working with the European Union, UNESCO and the British Council, while Oxford University was supporting some aspects of the reforms and Cambridge University had expressed interest in providing assistance.
The NCCE boss further revealed that a Reform Delivery Unit had been established to monitor the implementation of the initiatives and submit quarterly progress reports.
She added that the commission was also developing a digital dashboard to monitor activities and track progress across Colleges of Education nationwide.
Ajala said the NCCE's 2026–2031 strategic plan targets the integration of at least 80 per cent of Colleges of Education into the dual mandate system by 2031.
She stressed that attracting more young Nigerians into teaching would require improved professional opportunities, quality training and deliberate efforts to demonstrate the career prospects available in the profession.
The NCCE executive secretary called on policymakers, development partners and other stakeholders to invest more in teacher education, insisting that strengthening the profession was essential to Nigeria's human capital development and overall national growth.