NTI Asks for Improved Teachers’ Professionalism

At the fourth convocation lecture of the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI) in Kaduna, the NTI team called on stakeholders in the education sector to exploit the potential of the institute in developing teachers’ professionalism. The institute believes that providing quality education in an equitable and accessible manner to Nigerians remained one of the country’s major concerns. They observed that the dearth of quality teachers, among other factors, had continued to undermine the efforts of the stakeholders to provide good education for its citizens. They argued that not much could be achieved in the education sector without availability of reasonable number of professional teachers. These among other observations birthed NTI’s Open and Distance Education (ODE), which is a veritable programme for promoting professionalism in teaching. Professor Vincent Tenebe, Vice-Chancellor, National Open University (NOUN), who graced the ceremony, said, “ODE would promote capacity building training for in-service teachers, especially when a large number of teachers were involved with limited funds available for conventional training. The strategy is already yielding the desired result by eliminating illiteracy and breeding professional teachers. Tenebe added, “There is a need for states and local governments in the country to take advantage of the various programmes being offered by NTI through its ODE programmes and invest in the quality of their teachers.” The Director-General of the institute, Dr. Ladan Sharehu said the institute, established in 1976, had been positioned over the years to deliver quality teacher trainings through ODE. According to him, ODE presents a viable option that guarantees continuous teacher professional development in the country. He described ODE as a learning option that allowed learners to learn at a distance from their tutors and institutions. Sharehu reiterated; “ODE remained the best strategy in addressing the challenge of access to higher education in the country. A total of 17, 610 students completed their programmes for the 2014 academic session out of which 9, 455 students’ had the institute’s Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) while 8,033 students graduated with National Certificate of Education (NCE). Another 122 students also graduated with Advanced Diploma in Education. “We are planning to expand our academic activities in the construction of micro-teaching laboratories in the country’s six geopolitical zones for use by the institute’s teacher trainees. Necessary structures and mechanism are being put in place to give Nigerian teachers the best in terms of professional training and retraining,’’ he added.