The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has announced a new policy that will waive the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for candidates seeking admission into Colleges of Education.

Under the proposed arrangement, applicants will only be required to obtain credits in four Ordinary Level subjects. According to the minister, the policy is intended to encourage teacher education and broaden access to tertiary education.

However, the policy has raised concerns about whether lowering admission requirements for Colleges of Education will improve the quality of teacher training and ultimately strengthen Nigeria’s education system.

Candidates with lower Ordinary Level certificates and UTME grades have traditionally been admitted into Colleges of Education, where they undergo training to become teachers. After completing a three-year programme, successful students are awarded the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE).

A similar pattern is also seen among students admitted to study education at the Bachelor’s degree level in Nigerian universities. Those candidates often have lower UTME grades, while students with higher scores tend to gain admission into courses regarded as “lucrative”, including medicine, engineering, accounting, law, architecture and business administration.

Against this background, the removal of the UTME requirement for College of Education applicants, while easing the admission process, does not clearly establish how the measure will accomplish its stated objectives.

Statistics on admission preferences further highlight the challenge facing Colleges of Education. Each year, about 90 per cent of UTME applicants select universities, while fewer than five (5) per cent apply to Colleges of Education. As a result, hundreds of thousands of spaces remain unoccupied in Colleges of Education after each admission cycle.

The situation recalls comments by two former JAMB registrars, who had lamented that “rats and cockroaches” were taking up a large chunk of space in polytechnics and Colleges of Education.

There are concerns that the new policy could further weaken the quality of education available to Nigerian children by lowering the academic threshold for teacher training. The argument is that people with low academic performance should not be placed in charge of educating future leaders.

Nigeria already has one of the highest numbers of out-of-school children globally. Against this backdrop, the emergence of a critical mass of incompetent teachers could further worsen the country’s already difficult education situation.

Rather than lowering admission requirements, the government has been urged to make the teaching profession more attractive by substantially improving teachers’ remuneration and working conditions.

The teaching profession remains at the bottom of Nigeria’s compensation structure. While successive administrations routinely emphasise the importance of teacher education, the conditions of service for teachers remain among the lowest levels on the public remuneration ladder. In developed countries, teachers can occupy a position comparable to other elite professions.

Improving the terms of employment for teachers across the country, therefore, could attract more intelligent and capable Nigerians into the profession. The argument is that this would provide a more effective route towards achieving the government’s objective of strengthening teacher education.

The government has also been urged to reconsider the policy direction pursued during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, when Dr. Oby Ezekwesili served as Minister of Education.

The plan, which was regarded as laudable but was not implemented before the change of government, proposed converting polytechnics and Colleges of Education into campuses of contiguous universities.

The quality of education, supported by competent teachers, remains fundamental to economic development and Nigeria’s overall progress. This is because the country’s future development depends heavily on the quality of personnel who will operate every part of the national system.

Attention has also been drawn to Sections 65(2)(a), 106(c), 131(d) and 177(d) of the Nigerian Constitution, which state that “A person shall be qualified for election (into any elective office) if he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.”

The provision has been described as retrogressive and restrictive, with the argument that it may have contributed to the perception that higher education is not essential for teachers or for people who will occupy leadership positions and manage Nigeria’s economic resources.

It has also been suggested that the provision could help explain the prevalence of mediocrity across several areas of Nigerian national life, including the education sector, which is responsible for preparing the people who will eventually inherit and manage the country.

Questions have consequently been raised about how a president, governor or local government chairman whose highest qualification is an Ordinary Level school certificate, or its equivalent, would relate to and lead subordinates holding higher degrees or professional qualifications, particularly in specialised fields such as quantum physics, digital technology, investment banking, war strategies and biotechnology.

Higher education, the argument goes, expands the human mind and broadens its horizon.

The Minister of Education has therefore been urged to reconsider the proposed policy, with the dual objective of raising the standard of teacher training and expanding access to tertiary education.

Teaching, it is argued, should be treated as one of the most prestigious professions in the country.

Source: Independent