The federal government has announced that all of its Colleges of Education will commence the concurrent running of degree and Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) programmes with effect from September/October 2025 academic session.
This is even as the Minister of Education, Dr Olatunji Alausa, has warned that the Colleges of Education are gradually going into extinction in Nigeria going by the low enrolment into the institutions by candidates, reports Nigerian Tribune.
Alausa spoke on Tuesday during the stakeholders’ follow-up discussion on the resolution of the last biannual breakfast meeting with staff unions and executives of committees of Provosts of all Colleges of Education in Abuja.
According to the minister the initiative was aimed at improving access to teacher education, arresting low enrolment, and ensuring quality production of professional teachers in the country.
The minister noted that the only thing that could save the colleges from going into extinction is the implementation of the dual mandate as prescribed by the Federal Colleges of Education Act 2023, which was signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu shortly on assumption of office.
He added that the implementation of the dual mandate would stop the conversion of Federal Colleges of Education to Universities of Education in the country.
He warned that the “survival of the colleges of education is at stake,” stressing that any college that does not embrace the dual mandate of awarding NCE and degree certificates concurrently would go into extinction.
He expressed the pivotal role of education in the development of any nation and the commitment of the current administration to address the concerns of staff unions in tertiary institutions in order to have seamless and uninterrupted academic calendar.
Alausa described the introduction of the dual mandate as approved by the National Council on Education as a game-changer, adding that all necessary measures were being put in place for all the 18 federal government owned Colleges of Education to start implementation of the dual mandate from September academic session.
He lamented the low enrolment of students in colleges of education, disclosing that less than 1,000 candidates applied to study in Federal Colleges of Education in 2024 according to statistics from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
“Let me give you the statistics. Today, two million students are applying for JAMB yearly, at least last year. Of this, JAMB admitted 33 percent; that’s about 500,000 or 550,000 are admitted. 1.5 million of those students are not admitted”, he added.
He revealed that while the National Universities Commission (NUC) has developed the guidelines for the implementation of the dual mode in colleges of education, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has done its part and has advertised it in addition to meeting various stakeholders.
Alausa, therefore, charged the leadership of the colleges of education to embrace the dual mandate as an innovative measure to save the institutions from going into extinction.
He emphasised the need to move the education forward by restoring its glory highlighting the importance of using more technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and curriculum adaptation.
Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Said, on her part, said awarding NCE and degree certificates would add to the prestige of the colleges of education instead of the degree in affiliation with universities which some the colleges currently run.
President of Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), Dr Smart Olugbeko, in his remark, commended the Minister of Education, Dr Olatunji Alausa for steps so far taken towards implementation of the dual mandate of the Federal Government owned Colleges of Education.
He, however, appealed to the government to make the NCE and degree programme a straight five-year course instead of the proposed three years for NCE and three years for degree to run concurrently.
Olugbeko expressed confidence that the implementation of the dual mandate of the colleges of education would stop the conversion of the colleges to universities, which he noted was unhealthy for the growth and development of teacher education in the country.
