College of Education (COE), Agbor has hosted the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) five days workshop on the review of the 2012 edition of the NCE minimum standards of its science programme.
Speaking at the opening ceremony at the workshop held on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, Dr. Joseph Onyisi Ukadike, Provost, College of Education, Agbor, on-behalf of the college community welcomed the NCCE personnel and all participants to the college, assuring them of their full co-operation in ensuring a hitch-free and rewarding workshop.
While stating that COE, Agbor was established in October, 1979 by the then Bendel State Government to train professional teachers with an award of the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE), Dr. Ukadike said the college has lived up to its expectations by producing well-trained and competent teachers that have contributed to the development of education in Delta State and beyond.
He lauded the efforts of the NCCE on the workshop, which he said was directed at ensuring the implementation of a relevant and current curriculum. “The complaints by many that the content of NCE courses and credit units are over bloated will expectedly be laid to rest as the outcome of this workshop would have thoroughly addressed the issue. Thus, this workshop is aimed at sensitizing and creating awareness among the participants, on the science curriculum and it’s implementation for the benefit of the students”, Dr. Ukadike noted.
In his address, the Education Secretary, NCCE, Prof. Bappah Aliyu-Muhammadu said NCCE has a statutory mandate to monitor and ensure the high quality of courses offered by Colleges of Education in order to produce qualitative teachers for the overall development of the nation.
His words, “The workshop is to provide a platform where the NCCE, the implementers and other stakeholders will rub minds, share experiences and discuss needed modification for a functional NCE teacher preparation for Basic Education. The overall objective is to produce creative, resourceful and efficient Basic Education classroom teachers for Nigeria. In 2012, the Commission published the NCE minimum standards in line with the Basic Education Programme. This was in response to the demand for training of teachers at the Colleges of Education in Nigeria to have more direct relevance on the nation’s education system. The review was influenced by factors such as the observed gaps between prescribed curriculum content and good curriculum practice to improve the educational standards”.
Prof. Aliyu-Muhammadu said it is a usual practice to review the NCE curriculum every five (5) years, which according to him, would acquaint participants with the rationale for a second look at the curriculum and strengthen what was already being done to respond to the public outcry about the poor quality of NCE teachers. He, therefore charged the participants to examine the necessary changes that must be made in sciences in the NCE minimum standards that shall engender the growth and development of the nation.
In a chat with newsmen, the Acting Director, Academic Programme Department of NCCE, Abuja, Mr. Vitalis Iorwua Uji said the five days workshop is to review the minimum standard for science programme at NCE level. According to him, “it is all about having a second critical look at the existing curriculum of science subjects offered at the colleges of education such as Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Integrated Science, Computer, Physical and Health Education, among others to see if there are areas to modify so as to produce more effective teachers that will teach at the Basic Education level in particular. The review will position the curriculum in such a way that training a student in various subject areas will be effective and eventually, when they graduate, we will have more effective teachers. We are looking at the totality of the curriculum to the point of view of curriculum content, facilities needed for training and so on. Contents that appear to be duplicated will be streamlined. We are giving no room for duplication. The core science students will no longer be subjected to offer sciences in the general studies”.
He used the opportunity to assure members of the public that NCCE is ever ready to ensure that the teachers being produced will serve the society better, saying that NCCE is always looking at the modalities of improving the quality of teachers.
The Deputy Director, Curriculum Development and Innovation NCCE, Dr. M.A Abelega, on his part appreciated the management of COE, Agbor for accepting to host the NCCE workshop on such short notice, eulogizing the provost for his simplicity. While stating that the workshop is the fifth in the series since 1989, when the NCCE was established, he noted that the essence is to produce quality teachers at the NCE level. He added that it is in the interest of all that the review takes place every five years, in order to better the educational system of Nigeria. He therefore welcomed all the delegates to the programme and wished them a successful deliberation.