The Executive Secretary of the National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC), Dr Benjamin Abakpa, has said for a nation to attain greatness, it must embrace Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
Dr Abakpa, who stated this in Abuja when the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) visited him, said the commission is working with relevant agencies towards early teaching and training of students on the trade subjects in all senior secondary schools.
He also noted that NSSEC is seeking collaboration with the World Bank in skills enhancement for senior secondary school teachers in their various trade subjects.
While noting that senior secondary school has a total of 35 trade subjects captured in the curriculum, he said some of the trade subjects have no instructors and that some instructors are yet to be well trained in their various fields.
The executive secretary maintained that for the commission to reposition senior secondary education to meet societal and global needs, the retraining of teachers in their various trade subjects is paramount.
Dr Abakpa, however, urged AGILE to also extend its work beyond the states to include renovation of dilapidated buildings in secondary schools, refurbishing of laboratories and extending their services to accommodate boy child education.
Responding, the leader of the delegation, Aisha Garba stated that AGILE is a World Bank project with a focus on improving secondary education opportunities for adolescent girls aged 10 to 20 with a duration of five years to accomplish.