The N-Power initiative of the Federal Government to recruit 500,000 graduate teachers to teach in schools and communities is ongoing. However, students and teachers of education have condemned the scheme for excluding products of colleges of education who are specifically trained to be teachers.
It was with enthusiasm that Nigerians received the announcement that the Federal Government would employ 500,000 teachers last December.
Hopes were high that the job opening would give opportunity to many trained but unemployed teachers. However, when the initiative tagged N-Power Graduate Teachers Corps was unveiled last month and advertisements calling for application came up, it excluded holders of the National Certificate in Education (NCE), who train in colleges of education for three years to teach at the primary and junior secondary education levels.
Only graduates of universities and polytechnics (Higher National Diploma) can apply for the N-Power teacher slots under four categories – teaching, health, community education, and agriculture. But only those recruited for the N-Teach category would be deployed to primary and secondary schools to serve as support teachers and “also assist in taking basic education to children in marginalised communities.” The graduate teachers, who do not need to have studied an education-related field, would serve under the initiative and get training in other areas for the two years that the programme would last.
Nevertheless NCE holders can still apply for the 100,000 slots dedicated to non-graduates in the areas of technology, construction, and knowledge.
Many lecturers and students of colleges of education are unhappy about the relegation of NCE holders in the scheme, particularly as the teachers are to be deployed at a level they are competent to handle.
A top official of the College of Education, Akamkpa, Cross River State (names withheld), faulted the policy, saying it was tailor made for NCE graduates, yet excluded them by recruiting only graduates who have undergone the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.
“The essence of the NCE programme we offer here is to prepare to produce manpower for the Universal Basic Education (UBE) level. So how come now that those who really trained for that purpose are left out? Basically those who should be given preference are those originally trained. I don’t see how if you want to give loan to farmers or empower them, then you rather give the facility to economists or bankers. It is just not right. It ought to favour those mandated for such level of education. Preference should be given to College of Education graduates before anyone else in this programme because they have the basic training.
A teacher at the Adeniran Ogundanya College of Education (AOCOED), Oto/Ijanikin chapter, Adeyemi Adesanya, said it would be difficult for the government to achieve its aim of training the teachers adequately in such a short time.
“At present, Nigeria has so many unemployed professional teachers. So when the information was first announced, a lot of us out there were happy that for the first time, government specifically put teachers in their plan. But we were later disappointed when we read the breakdown and realised the policy was an all-comers affair. The exercise will end disastrously.
“Government cannot just employ fresh graduates and say they want to train them as teachers for two years; the exercise will fail because a lot of things are attached to producing qualified teachers, not the kind of fire brigade approach they want to embark on,” said Ogundanya, a former chairman of COEASU at the college.
Another lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Adekunle Ajasin University (AAU), Akungba-Akoko, Prof Clement Daramola, also condemned the exclusion of NCE teachers, saying it rubbished efforts to professionalise teaching.
“The substance of professionalism must become part of each nation’s identity so that professional attitudes and values are not compromised.
“Sociologists tell us that society uses professions to organise the essential complex services that it requires.
“Unless we truly believe there has been a conspiracy to deny good educational practice to our children, we need to acknowledge that the present decision to exclude trained teachers from teaching and replace them with untrained ones has serious challenges to our future educational development.
“It is widely assumed that teachers do not need a great deal of training because the tasks are rather simple and straight forward and could be performed by any educated person. This is erroneous and fallacious,” Daramola said.
Mr Francis Olaoye, a lecturer at the Department of Home Economics, FCE (Tech), said even if the government did not want NCE graduates, the initiative should have been limited to education graduates of universities only, and not made an all-comers affair.
“This scheme should only be for education departments in the universities; even if they don’t want graduates of the colleges of education. I don’t think people who have BSc at the university would even agree to go and teach at primary schools. They will see it as beneath them,” he said.
On the implication of the exclusion, Prof Daramola said it would make trainee NCE teachers feel inferior.
“Our children who opted for teaching career should feel inspired as well as encouraged about their career choice. It is clearly a statement of lack of faith in the innate capacity of teachers as such decision would lead to low efficacy and lack of professionalism in Nigeria and should be reversed forthwith.
“Many of the NCE teachers may misinterpret government action as being their own personal fault to pursue a career in teaching,” he said.
Glory Akpan, a student of COE Akamkpa, feels that way. She queried why those not trained to teach should get better opportunities than trained teachers.
She said: “The whole situation just makes us unappreciated. We almost feel like what we are doing here is a waste of time. It is a total disregard for the certificate we obtain from this place. It once more brings to the fore the issue of the superiority of a university certificate over all other kinds of qualifications. A situation where the university certificate is treated as such would not augur well for the society. I am not trying to undermine university education or anything, all I am saying is that everyone should be respected.
“This particular case is very painful to me because we are particularly trained to teach especially at the primary and junior secondary level, but rather university graduates who are mostly not trained to teach, except few in Education Faculties, are given the opportunity. I believe it is very unfair and something should be done immediately about it, else the essence of the entire programme would be defeated.”
Lola Adekunle, a 200-Level Accounting student of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Lagos, attributed the failure to include NCE teachers as the practice of government to initiate programmes without conducting research.
“I don’t think the government made proper research before embarking on this project. Why would they disallow college graduates from the scheme? It is wrong and should be reviewed please,” she said.
But Ife Sodipo, 400-Level, Primary School Education student, is not optimistic that the government would reverse its decision because NCE trainees are unhappy.
“I am sure we don’t have a choice but to follow government’s directive. If they say college graduates are not qualified, then that is it. Even if we complain, government would not listen to us. It is unfair, but there is nothing we can do about it,” she said.
In future, Provost, Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, Prof Kamoru Usman, said the Federal Government should consult more with stakeholders before announcing new policies, so it may not end up wasting public funds.
“You cannot quarrel with government policy; they are entitled to their decision. Had they consulted us (stakeholders) before the policy, perhaps we would have advised them more appropriately. What they said was that they would engage these people and train them before dispatching them to schools; maybe they would engaged us at the point of training; that I still don’t know.
“At the end, they are not going to make the teachers permanent. Government will engage some while leaving many others. I think that’s just government policy of wasting money.
“A very good policy such as this should have been backed up by research. Government was supposed to have commissioned people as in: ‘What exactly do we need? Which areas do we require teachers?’ and all that.”
