Minister Set To Reposition Teachers' Institute

The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to re-position the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI) to assume its role as the leading Open Distance Learning (ODL) institution for teachers.

Professor Ruqayyatu Rufa’I, the Minister of Education, stated this on Monday at the opening of the MDG’s nationwide Capacity Building Workshops for Primary and Junior Secondary Schools’ Teachers in Abuja.

She said that teachers’ education and motivation were central to vibrant and productive sectors of the economy.

The minister assured Nigerians that the present administration would give the necessary support needed to revitilise teachers’ education in the country.

“I am urging all state governments and particularly Universal Basic Education (UBE) and State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEB’s) to co-operate with the institute for the monitoring of short and continuous professional training for their teachers.”

Earlier, Mr. Nyesom Wike, the Minister of State for Education, said that the annual retraining programme for teachers is an event that sought to improve their professional practises.

He noted that the approach adopted for this year’s workshop emphasises peer-interaction, group activity and mass participation.

Wike urged the participants to learn from the exercise to enable them impact positively on the performance of their students.

According to him, the ministry has recently approved the conduct of a research by the institute on the skill gaps of teachers in the public schools and the census of the private schools in the country.

In his remarks, NTI Director-General Aminu Sharehu, observed that the institute has the capacity to conduct any professional training for the teeming population of teachers in the country.

He added that the institute has forged strong partnership with first generation universities and some Colleges of Education to tap from their reservoir of talents.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 125,000 teachers and 3,000 resource persons are participating in this year’s training nationwide.