The Director-General of the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), Dr Aminu Sharehu, on Thursday said the institute would soon commence degree programmes for teachers.
Sharehu said this during the nationwide matriculation and orientation ceremony of the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE), Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) and Advanced Diploma in Education (ADE) students in Kaduna.
He said the institute had got an approval from all the necessary bodies and would affiliate with other universities to begin teaching degree programmes in various fields of education.
“ The institute has completed all arrangements to mount her long-awaited degree programmes in education next year (2015).
“ Our plan to introduce the B.A. Ed and B.Sc. Ed programmes was a response to the yearnings of many serving teachers who cannot afford to leave their work places to start programmes with the conventional institutions.’’
According to him, 38,075 students were granted admission for the 2014 academic session, comprising of 18,466 PGDE students, 19,246 NCE and 363 for the ADE programme.
He said the institute currently had 248 NCE centres and 87 PGDE centres spread across the country to facilitate teaching with reference to open and distance learning.
He said that only eligible facilitators were recruited to ensure success in the education sector.
The institute boss advised the new students to devote at least four hours daily for self study, attend regular tutorials as well as utilise the supports services packaged materials.
The Kaduna State Commissioner for Education, Malam Ibrahim Ali, reiterated the commitment of the state government to transform the education sector to improve the literacy level.
Ali, represented by the Director for Schools, Malam Ya’u Jumare, assured the institute that the state government would continue to collaborate with it towards producing quality teachers, particularly in its public schools.
One of the students, Hajiya Hadiza Baba, emphasised the importance of teacher’s education, which she said, would improve the nation’s development.
