Conference urges FG to approve internship for pre-service teachers  

An annual national conference on education has called on the federal government to approve a mandatory one-year internship programme for pre-service teachers in Nigeria to be domiciled at the National Teachers Institute (NTI). 

A communiqué issued at the end of the First Annual National Conference 2023, organised by NTI with the theme, “Redirecting the focus of Education Stakeholders Toward Modern Processes of Producing Competent, Dedicated and Professional Teachers in Nigeria,” said the participants also called for modern technology in education delivery, upward review of federal budgetary allocation for education, improvement in remuneration of all teachers in line with current economic realities across the country and wide sensitisation/ advocacy on the proposed teacher internship programme.

The communiqué observed that, “there are disparities in training, resource allocation and application of effective teaching strategies by teachers in Nigeria and need to leverage modern technology in educational delivery at all levels, as well as, need for teacher internship programme, to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application by providing interns with a carefully mentored experience, with university-based programmes, school-based programmes and hybrid models as the most suitable internship models for the programme. 

“There should be upward review of federal budgetary allocation for education; this will help to improve infrastructure, delivery and general educational quality. There should be improvement in remuneration of all teachers in line with the current economic realities of the country. There should be a wider sensitization/advocacy on the proposed teacher internship programme.’’

Addressing the conference, the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu, who was represented by the Special Assistant (Projects) to the Minister of State for Education, Rufai Sani Adamu, said the federal government is focused on restoring quality of education, particularly teacher’s education and continuous development of teachers. He noted that the Ministry will continue to support teacher’s education and NTI in line with policies that will help bring teachers’ development and its sustainability in the country. 

The Director and Chief Executive of NTI, Kaduna, Prof. Musa Garba Maitafsir said NTI in the last two years has been transformed to a full-fledged academic Institute. He said the Institute has gone far on the Internship Programme, which is in collaboration with the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), adding that the internship document, which was well written, with concept note, has an entrepreneurship component, aimed to make the intern self-reliant.

“Our focus now is on e-facilitation as we have now embarked on the training of the Institute’s staff to be e-facilitators,” he said.

By AbdulRaheem Aodu

https://blueprint.ng/conference-urges-fg-to-approve-internship-for-pre-service-teachers/