From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Federal Government has alerted Nigerians about the rise in illegal colleges of education springing up across the country in addition to some unapproved National Certificate of Education (NCE) programmes being run by some universities.
The Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Prof Paulinus Okwelle, raised the alarm at a national summit on the theme “Nigeria Certificate in Education: The Way Forward” held in Abuja on Wednesday.
He explained that the summit was organised against the backdrop of the slide in the fortunes of NCE awarding institutions in Nigeria, noting that basic education is the first tier of formal education in the country, hence they should be fed with quality teachers.
‘At the last meeting of the National Council on Education in Jalingo, Taraba State, the problem of illegal NCE awarding institutions was raised. Consequently, the Commission decided to confront the problem by embarking on a highly intensive verification exercise of unapproved NCE awarding bodies across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory,’ Prof Okwelle stated.
‘The reports of the various teams were mind-boggling. Many illegal colleges were discovered in most states. Equally, findings indicated that some recognised colleges of education were not only running numerous illegal study centres far away from their approved locations but also mentoring’ illegal colleges of education.
‘The verification exercise equally revealed that a lot of NCE holders passed through these study centres, and some approved colleges of education do connive in awarding its NCE certificates to products of illegal institutions.
‘In addition to that, few universities were found running NCE programmes without approval. However, the reports have been harmonised and will soon be forwarded to the Minister of education for consideration and further directive.’
The NCCE boss observed that prospective candidates prefer universities as their first choice and polytechnics as second choice, and in some cases, none indicate interest in colleges of education.
‘An insignificant number of candidates willingly subscribe for an NCE programme in the UTME, hence the enrolment of candidates into the colleges has drastic slid down in the recent past,’ he stated.
‘Currently, in the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) platform, some NCE awarding institutions do not have a single candidate indicating a willingness to pursue an NCE programme in the institution.
‘The desire to acquire a university degree has negatively affected enrolment in colleges of education. The NCE is always the last choice for candidates to resort to after they might have failed to secure admission into the universities or polytechnics.
‘For some admission seekers, they would rather stay at home for more years and continue trying until they can secure admission into university degree programmes. This is posing a serious danger to the existence of NCE awarding institutions across the nation. There is, therefore, an urgent need to address this downward trend and seek remediation,’ he stated.
The NCCE boss observed that one of the factors responsible for the dwindling fortunes of NCE awarding institutions is high admission requirements.
‘Candidates seeking admission into colleges of education are required to have five credits with English and Mathematics just like that of the university degree programmes,’ he stated.
‘The effect of this is low enrolment into the NCE programme as candidates prefer getting admission into universities than colleges of education with five credits.’
The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, in his remarks, desired that the summit discuss all the issues thoroughly and make informed suggestions on ways of tackling the development.
He said the ministry was committed to the implementation of the African Charter Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals 4, and that quality teachers form a critical component for both.