Principal of Marafa Comprehensive School, Marafa Estate, Kaduna State, Mr Bayo Yusuf, says on Wednesday, that majority of holders of the National Certificate in Education (NCE) cannot deliver quality teaching in classroom.

Yusuf said in an interview in Kaduna that 90 per cent of NCE holders he had come across have no mastery of their subjects and cannot therefore impart quality knowledge to their students.

“In series of interviews for employment in my school, only one out of 10 demonstrate proficiency in their subject.”

He lamented that the quality of teachers that come out of teachers training institutions have been on the downward trend in the country.

Yusuf blamed the development on lack of adequate and quality teachers at the training institutions and neglect of the teaching profession by government.

The principal also attributed the problem to the lack of interest in the teaching profession, as those admitted to Colleges of Education were students who largely failed to secure admission to other tertiary institutions.

“Such people find their way to colleges of education because of the lowered admission requirements that accommodates them.

“The students lack significant interest and passion in teaching as a profession.”

Yusuf added that the high rate of examination malpractice was also facilitating the churning out of half baked teachers in the country.

The principal said that until these challenges are addressed, Nigeria would continue to produce high number of NCE holders who have nothing to offer.

The educationist advised government to pay more attention to the retraining of teachers, improve funding for education including teachers welfare and protection of their image, to make the profession attractive.

“Supervision is also key in improving the quality of teaching in schools.

“Not only that, teacher training institutions should increase the entry requirements and screens students based on interest and passion to teach, ” Yusuf said. (NAN)