Teacher training, priority in 2013 – Rufa’i

Category: News Published on Friday, 18 January 2013 06:00 Written by Boco Edet

Federal Government would place premium on the training and re-training of teachers this year as a way of addressing the problem of quality in the education sector.

Minister of education Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i made the statement at the post 2012 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) nationwide capacity building workshops review meeting in Abuja on Thursday.

The Minister who said government was concerned about the poor quality of education in the country, cautioned employers to verify certificates of teachers before employing them.

Rufa’i said the ministry was still conducting certificate verification of teachers through the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria and it would be in the interest of the education sector if only qualified teachers are retained in the system.

Minister of state for education Barrister Nyesom Wike said the annual training workshop has proven useful in the policy direction of federal government as many public schools are populated by qualified and skillful teachers.

Wike advised the National Teachers Institute (NTI) to scale up the training programme to accommodate more teachers so they can improve their skills.

Director General of NTI Dr. Aminu Ladan Sharehu said so far over 98% of the participants have received their allowances and the few who had not was due to account number discrepancies.

Sharehu said the review meeting would discuss selection and registration of participants, organization of the workshops, suitability of the training manuals, instructional strategies, training centres among others.

He said the training recorded “huge success” despite challenges posed by short notice and other logistics.

Chairman House Committee on MDGs Alhassan Ado Doguwa said the National Assembly has secured constituency projects under the MDGs programme and it would not be relying on the statutory provision of $1million.

Dogwa said Nigeria had made progress in the attainment of the MDGs especially in the areas of health and education and Nigeria was one of the few countries in Africa that had an institutional framework for the implementation of the programme.

He said federal government has performed well in the implementation of the programme especially in the area of quick release of funds and improved budgeting.