Teaching

By Abdullahi Mukhtar Algasgaini

The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has issued a strict new directive that will compel academic staff in Nigeria’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions to further their education or be reassigned.

In a circular dated September 10, 2025, and addressed to all Rectors and Provosts, the NBTE expressed dismay that many staff with Bachelor’s degrees and Higher National Diplomas (HND) have failed to pursue higher qualifications.

The Board has now approved a five-year moratorium for all academic staff, starting from their date of employment, to acquire a Master’s degree.

The policy states that any lecturer or instructor who fails to meet this requirement within the five-year window will be automatically converted from an academic to a non-teaching staff role.

The directive is effective immediately, meaning current staff with over five years of service may be affected.

The move is seen as part of a broader effort by the regulatory body to enhance the quality of teaching and academic standards in polytechnics, monotechnics, and other technical colleges across the country.

Prof. Idris M. Bugaje, the Executive Secretary of the NBTE, signed the circular, urging all heads of institutions to ensure strict compliance with the new rule.

By Ibrahim Tukur

Teaching, a practice dating back to the inception of human civilisation, remains the cornerstone of knowledge dissemination and societal development. Across diverse forms, teaching has profoundly influenced our lives and the world at large. It’s the vessel through which knowledge, information, and invaluable experiences are preserved and transmitted across generations. In the structured confines of schools, students engage with various disciplines, not solely to absorb knowledge but also to challenge, reframe, and contribute to a brighter future.

Yet, despite being the progenitor of all professions, Nigeria seems to overlook the significance of the teaching profession, unlike professions like law or medicine, where extensive training and years of study are prerequisites, teaching frequently appears as an accessible career path, sometimes attracting individuals without the essential pedagogical skills or comprehensive subject mastery.

This oversight manifests glaringly in the underappreciation of teachers by the Nigerian government, notably in the form of insufficient compensation. The meagre salaries offered to educators fail to recognise the intricacies and demands inherent in their roles, severely limiting their ability to perform optimally and affecting their morale.

Additionally, the teaching landscape in Nigeria grapples with a multitude of challenges that impede effective education delivery. Inadequate infrastructure, including a scarcity of classrooms, laboratories, libraries, and teaching materials, is a significant barrier to teaching and learning. This scarcity, coupled with a shortage of qualified educators and deficiencies in teaching methodologies, hampers students’ ability to reach their academic potential.

The lack of comprehensive and quality teacher training programs is a significant challenge educators face in Nigeria. Many teachers enter the profession without adequate preparation, lacking essential pedagogical skills and updated teaching methodologies. This deficiency in training directly impacts their ability to engage students effectively, cater to diverse learning needs, and employ innovative teaching techniques. Insufficient training also hampers educators in adapting to evolving educational trends, impacting the quality of education imparted to students across various levels of schooling.

Consequently, Nigeria’s education system suffers, and the ramifications are dire. If not rectified, this neglect of teaching—the bedrock of all professions—will perpetuate the birth of underqualified professionals. It’s a situation that could escalate brain drain, where competent educators seek opportunities abroad where their expertise is appreciated and duly rewarded.

Recognising the pivotal role teachers play in shaping society, there’s an urgent need for substantial reforms. It starts with acknowledging and properly compensating teachers for their arduous task of moulding minds and futures. Additionally, investing in comprehensive teacher training programs, extending the duration of educational courses to allow for a more thorough mastery of teaching methodologies, and implementing stringent selection processes for educators are imperative steps.

The government’s commitment to furnishing all schools with adequate resources and facilities is equally crucial. This holistic approach ensures seamless teaching and learning experiences, vital for the nation’s educational advancement.

In conclusion, it’s paramount to accord teachers the reverence and support they deserve. Their pivotal role in shaping both individuals and the world demands acknowledgement and concrete actions aimed at rectifying the systemic deficiencies currently hampering the teaching profession in Nigeria.

Ibrahim Tukur is a hearing–impaired individual from Ingawa, a town in Katsina. He earned his first degree in Special Education/Sociology. He is a Disability Rights Advocate and can be reached via inventorngw@gmail.com.

By Mustapha Dauda

People should be screened thoroughly before becoming certified teachers. Now, Colleges of Education are home to lazy and mainly copy-and-paste students. Although there are several academic gurus in the field, a higher percentage of educational students chose to be only there because of their inability to secure admissions in their various intended courses of study.

The alarming nature and downfall of the educational system in this country will be halfway associated with this very problem. So sad. Lack of potential and rigidly talented persons in the academic career is as dangerous as a fire outbreak is to wildlife in a bush to our society. Very dangerous and heart-breaking indeed. 

Teaching is the master of every profession, no doubt. Teachers nurture students in their preferred disciplines. Teachers head and guide and direct in every place of learning. They impact the character and learning of students: they play a vital role in inculcating good moral behaviours, knowledge impassion and impartation. How beautiful and nice of a profession. Moreso, they play a parental role during school hours. 

Though the responsibilities of teachers are beyond that which I have queued and listed here, even with the little above listed, we must agree that this is not a lazy profession. Hence, it should simply be handled by readily authentic, prepared, learned and responsible personalities. A kind of people that shun examination malpractice and any illegalities. Having fully reliable teachers guarantees the production of well-educated students from all levels of education. And, God forbid, vice versa. 

The only effective weapon that will end educational failures is the availability of qualified teachers. Steps in providing qualified teachers include: Demanding higher Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, scores before getting admission into any institution capable of certifying one as a teacher. It also comprises impromptu student-teacher supervision during their Teaching Practice, TP, periods.

And an important aspect is an instalment of a well-paid salary system to newly employed and already teaching teachers the government. This, for sure, will get the educational system many brilliant minds. Most students go for courses they expect can fetch them money. And for already teaching staff, a kind of test of qualification can be given, perhaps, through external bodies, thereby confirming their strength and teaching capabilities, and also changing the unqualified ones to the non-academic part of the institution, to at least help them maintain the source of income and from being unemployed.

A quack doctor can only kill or jeopardise one person at a time. A building engineer endangers a family or a building at a time. For teachers, it is a different case. An unqualified teacher cheats and misleads a whole generation. And the scary part is that what he wrongly misled the current generation is the same thing that will be passed and taught to the upcoming generation by the current ones, for they’re the leaders of tomorrow. And the problem, the misleading, the imperfection will go like that. The whole generation is in vain. Uncontrollably. Unknown to all, where it may stop, just perhaps. And all these, Just a single damage, by a single teacher. Just one person. Ohh! What will a class of unqualified teachers do to our society? Or what do we think all those quack teachers out there have been doing? 

Everything is just as straightforward as everyone can see it, yeah. Students sitting silently and helplessly listening to quack teachers are helpless and hapless and don’t know the misleading they’re in the middle of. The work is ours and the government’s. From our side, we don’t encourage and invite brilliant and vibrant students to teach. Ohh, sad; one will ask that, after graduating as a well-learned and certified teacher, what will I do, as much as a source of income? This question is too head shocking, and one may hardly get an answer to continue further convincing him to go for teaching.

How I wish and how beautiful to see teachers, too, being screened, being made to practice what they were taught, being made to face challenges that make them look every inch equal to their tasks like it’s usually done to qualified engineers and doctors and every other highly regarded course of study. It will make meaning this way. Indeed, there’s a huge need to look at and upgrade our educational system, of which teachers are the backbone.

Mustapha Dauda wrote from Azare, Bauchi State, via mustaphadauda399@gmail.com.

By Ibrahim Musa (BK)

While on teaching service, there are a lot of discoveries I make in the noble profession. In fact, I have seen some reasons why many students cannot do well academically in many schools despite all the efforts and sacrifices teachers make to ensure students’ academic accomplishments that will help them (students) and prepare them for future life.

Teachers are there to make necessary sacrifices in helping students attain quality education that will help them meet their potentials in life and establish a foundation to build their future upon.

However, many teachers have different reasons for being in the classrooms. Some take the teaching job to satisfy their needs with their salary. Some are there just because they cannot get a well-paid job and due to the blow of unemployment. They reluctantly take teaching jobs without the intention of helping students, while some (reasonably few) are there to make sacrifices in assisting students in attaining a good education. Every reason of each teacher will determine whether or not students will get a good education.

I discovered that many teachers are doing one thing very well, which is teaching students in the classrooms but abandoning one other vital thing: research. Thus, All teachers in primary and secondary schools need to teach and engage in research that will help them formulate effective teaching methodologies because students have different needs that require different teaching methodologies that will enable students to meet their educational needs in the classrooms.

Suppose all teachers engage in both teaching and research together. In that case, they will encounter individual differences exhibited by students. With this discovery, they will be able to formulate effective teaching methodologies to help the students to understand the contents of the lessons very well and meet their educational needs.

It is vitally important to note that research is the adequate foundation upon which teaching methodologies are formulated. Therefore, every teacher should not overlook or neglect research because it is beneficial to both students, teachers themselves, and society.

Life is dynamic, and research will help teachers understand the nature, scope, and prospect of every dynamism to determine and design effective teaching methods that match students’ learning paces.

RESEARCH EXPANDS OUR TEACHING PROFESSIONALISM. Therefore, keep on teaching and researching.

Ibrahim Musa BK is an English Language teacher at Government School For the Deaf Malumfashi, Katsina State. He sent this article via musaibrahimbk@gmail.com.