Many
academic experts believe that Nigerian education system is dysfunctional and
strongly needs to transform in order to provide quality education to the
students and develop trained and skilled graduates for the workforce. Although,
the federal government of Nigeria has taken several steps, but the challenges
and difficulties prove to be far greater than the attempts. Hence, to improve
the scenario, the government has declared that all aspiring and existing
teachers in the country will soon need to earn a university degree as it will
become the minimum requirement for re-establishing the decorum in the teaching
profession.
Restoring The Status Of Educators
According
to The Punch, university degrees are about to become the minimum teaching requirement
for all educators at every level of the Nigerian education system. IbrahimShekarau, Minister of Education, announced this news during a visit Pirjo
Suomela-Chowdhur, Finland Ambassador to Nigeria. Shekarau stated that the
federal government is focussed on taking the necessary steps in order to re-establish
the status, dignity and respect of Nigerian educators.
He
said that the Nigerian government is planning to “make First Degree as minimum
teaching qualification” in the nation. He added “We hope that a day will come
when all our schools, including pre-primary will be handled by university
graduates.” The Education Minister also clarified that since 1980 the National Certificate in Education (NCE) has been the minimum teaching requirement in
Nigerian schools. Previously Teacher Grade II was the minimum qualification
during the 1970s and Teacher Grade III during the 1960s.
Shekarau said “The level was raised to Teacher Grade III in the 1960s and later on in
the early 70s, it was minimum of Grade II, this was later phased out in early
80s to minimum of NCE. Gradually we will get there.”
Improving Education And Educators
Ibrahim
Shekarau further commented that federal government is currently in plans to
develop the quality of teachers and education across Nigeria. “We must
continuously increase the number of teachers, improve the quality of teachers,
improve the condition of teacher training institutions and continuously review
the curriculum of teacher education to make sure it catches up with the
challenges, address that issue of teachers’ welfare and job security,” he
added.
Additionally,
Pirjo Suomela-Chowdhur mentioned that in Finland the minimum requirement for
this “highly competitive profession” is a Master’s Degree.
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