Poor funding affects teachers’ quality, says NCCE scribe

Prof. Monday Joshua

The Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Prof. Monday Joshua, has described poor funding of teachers’ training institutions as a major obstacle to ensuring quality teachers’ preparation.
He said that the presence of unqualified teachers, in both primary and secondary schools, was responsible for the poor performance of students.
 Joshua was speaking on “Repositioning Nigeria’s Educational System for Global Competitiveness” when participants of Senior Executive Course (SEC) No. 37, 2015 of National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, (NIPSS), Kuru, near Jos, visited the commission in Abuja.
According to him, insufficient funding of both the regulatory body and the training institutions has adversely affected the quality of teachers produced in colleges of education.
Joshua, whose paper was presented by Mr. Alex Maiyanga, the commission’s director of planning, research and statistics, said that the falling standards of education in Nigeria has necessitated the need to improve the quality of teachers’ education. 
The NCCE scribe also decried the low entry qualifications into colleges of education, saying that used to result in poor quality products.
He lamented that only candidates rejected by universities and polytechnics hesitantly apply to teacher education institutions, adding: “They go there grudgingly, study and graduate grudgingly, and work in public service grudgingly. So, what do you expect from a grudgingly-produced teacher, other than poor result.”