The Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) programme has been withering from among the courses of choice in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions in the last 10 years, and current statistics point to its death in the next few years. A glaring indicator that the programme has lost its attraction is the fact that fewer students apply through the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to our colleges of education for the NCE.
Some of the data from JAMB shows that the combined 204 colleges of education, made up of 29 Federal Colleges of Education, 61 State Colleges of Education and 114 privately-owned Colleges of Education fill less than 10 per cent of the quota for admission reserved for NCE applicants. For instance, in 2021, the JAMB quota for NCE was 454,700, but the number of students who were admitted was 30,731, representing 6.75 per cent. In 2022, the quota was 269,125, but 35,466, representing 7.56 per cent was admitted, while in 2023 the quota was 472,200, but 11,735, representing 2.49 per cent were admitted.
From the National Policy on Education (2014), the NCE teacher-education level is imperative for the country’s education. It states that the goals of the NCE programme included “producing highly motivated, conscientious and efficient classroom teachers; building prospective teachers intellectually and professionally; encouraging the spirit of enquiry and creativity in teachers; arming teachers with the nitty-gritty of social life and enhancing their commitment to national goals and the teaching profession.”
The lack of interest in teacher-education makes it difficult for the achievement of these goals. Due to the low rate of applications for enrolment for NCE programmes, the various colleges of education have introduced the Pre-NCE programmes where candidates with one or two credits in the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), with few passes in relevant subjects are admitted to take a crash programme for one year, and later admitted into the full NCE programme. Under this arrangement, those who eventually graduate with NCE certificates may not be well groomed for the important job of training the future leaders of the country.
This was evident in Kaduna State in 2017 where, in an assessment of the quality of teachers, as many as 21,780, about two-thirds of the teachers, failed to score up to 75 per cent in the subjects they taught in primary schools. It showed that some teachers were taking primary school pupils in subjects they did not clearly understand. This may be the situation in other states.
A major discouragement from applying for NCE programmes is the fact that teachers’ remuneration, especially for NCE holders, is not attractive. Though it varies from state to state, many NCE teachers are paid by local governments that barely pay much more than the minimum wage of N30,000. Such low wages do not only make living difficult, they also affect the prestige of the teacher, who may feel inferior to other professionals. The Federal Government’s incentives that teachers could retire from service at the age of 65 instead of 60 years and the much talked about special salary scale for teachers in rural areas have not manifestly helped the situation.
However, teaching profession is treated differently in developed countries. In Finland, teachers are among the highly-paid workers. So also is the United Kingdom, where the teaching profession is not only lucrative, but well sought after. In these countries, the basic teaching qualification is a university degree in the Arts, Social Sciences, Sciences, Technical /Vocational Education and Education courses. For those who did not acquire a degree in Education, they must possess a post-graduate diploma in Education. It is important for Nigeria to follow this strategy.
Historically, several teaching qualifications have been eliminated in Nigeria when they outlived their usefulness. In the 1920s teachers training institutions awarded Grade III certificate, which was eventually phased out. As at 1948, the Grade II teachers’ certificate was introduced, but it was later scrapped. Then in1960, the government introduced the Advanced Teachers’ Colleges that awarded the Grade I Certificate in Education to Grade II teachers who were exposed to a 3-year programme at ATCs. All these certificates are no longer in vogue, as the NCE is now the minimum qualification for teaching in primary schools. It is becoming clearer that the NCE may have outlived its usefulness and needs to be phased out without delay.
We call on government to come up with a policy scrapping the NCE certificate and make the first degree as the basic teaching qualification. All the distance learning institutions offering courses in Education should be converted to outposts of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) to ensure quality training for teachers.
Our colleges of education should be converted to degree-awarding institutions that admit only students with the minimum WASSCE O’ Level qualifications. This way, every teacher shall earn salaries and emoluments equal to those of other bachelor’s degree holders in the civil service and/or the private sector. The federal, state and local governments must embrace the call for the Teachers’ Salary Structure (TSS) just as government has approved special salary structures for medical doctors, university lecturers, and other professionals. We expect the best from the education sector. The starting point should be an enhanced training and an improved remuneration for our teachers.
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