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Commission begins accreditation of education colleges' courses
From Mohammed Abubakar, Abuja
THE National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) has begun a fresh round of accreditation exercise for courses offered by Colleges of Education. The exercise, the third in 10 years, is aimed at updating the courses offered by teacher training institutions spread across the country.
At the weekend in Abuja, the commission's Executive Secretary, Dr. Kabiru Isyaku, told journalists that the exercise would bring up to date the minimum standards required in the teaching profession and upgrade the certificates issued by the schools.
The NCCE, which was established in 1989, is a brainchild of the Ashby Commission of 1960.
He said prior to the establishment of the commission, universities, through their instruments of affiliation, catered for the academic standards and certification needs of Colleges of Education. "Though the universities carried out the assignments commendably through their institutes and faculties of education, there was no parity in standards and practices.
"Consequently, universities had more confidence in products of their affiliate Colleges of Education and reflected same in their admission policies. For instance, it was a common thing to find universities admitting National Certificate of Education (NCE) graduates from their affiliate colleges for two-year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree programme, while offering a three-year B.Ed programme for products of the same NCE programmes affiliated to other universities," he said.
Isyaku said that when the NCCE came into being as the third leg of the tripod of excellence in Nigeria's tertiary education, parts of its primary mandate had to do with laying down the minimum standards for NCE programmes and setting out criteria for accreditation of Colleges of Education and other NCE awarding institutions in Nigeria.
Since its inception, NCCE has prescribed and reviewed the minimum standards for the training of NCE teachers twice between 1993 and 1999.
Isyaku said: "In all the reviews, and the accreditation exercise, the commission was guided by the principle that a quality programme is one which fulfils Nigeria's aspirations for a just and utilitarian education at all levels, especially the primary and junior secondary schools levels, that make up the commission's constituency."
The NCCE chief said the commission's current revised minimum academic standards had increased the number of credit loads, thereby making the Primary Education Studies (PES) compulsory for all prospective NCE students. Also, he added, computer education and General English had been made compulsory for all students.
Besides the teaching of the Nigerian constitution in General Studies, relevant themes in the NCE curriculum include; Environmental/Conservation Education; Population and family Life Education; Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Human Immuno deficiency virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (STD/HIV/AIDS) Education; Drug Abuse and some Education among others.
He noted that the unhealthy trend that had emerged over the years was the dwindling enrolment in the colleges, which he said had led to over-reliance on the pre-NCE programme for recruitment of entrants into NCE programmes. The present minimum standards, Isyaku said, had also provided for a standardised pre-NCE curriculum to make up for the poor applications into the colleges via the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
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