By Omeiza Ajayi
MINISTER of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Malam Muhammad Bello, has said his administration is making efforts to review and domesticate the National Policy on Teacher Education in order to enhance teachers’ welfare and improved service delivery.
This is just as the FCT College of Education in Zuba said it has commenced degree programmes in some of its departments.
Provost of the College, Dr Muhammad Hamza, announced this during the Second Combined Convocation of the institution in Abuja.
He said: “Academic visitations were undertaken and Memorandum of Understanding on academic collaborations were signed with the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria to commence bachelor’s degree programmes in some departments from 2019/2020 Academic Session. We have received approval from the National Universities Commission.”
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The Provost, however, lamented that the “technical aspect” of the College was yet to come on full stream, saying: “In the light of the present trend and the need to prepare teachers who are adequately equipped with both knowledge and skills for self reliance, I wish to appeal to the Visitor for adequate funding to enable the College expand its programmes by introducing the technical component such as Automobile Technology, Building, Electrical Electronics, and Metal/Wood Work.”
On his part, the minister called on the management of the College to move some key schools and administrative offices to its permanent site as a matter of priority, promising greater support for the institution as it prepares for its fifth round of accreditation.
Bello who was represented by the Minister of State in the FCT, Dr Ramatu Aliyu, assured that the FCT Administration would assist in making the relocation to the permanent site seamless, adding that a lot of resources had been expended on the site through the intervention of TETFUND.
Bello commended the College for the commencement of the undergraduate programme for the award of degrees in education, while urging the management to explore other partnerships and collaborations that would be beneficial to the College in order to complement the efforts of government.
Earlier, the FCT Permanent Secretary, Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa, expressed concern over the backlog of graduands of the institution who had completed their NCE programmes, from 2010 to date, while calling on the management to work hard at ensuring that convocation and other such important activities of the College were not delayed.
The convocation covered 12, 969 graduands who had graduated from the school for the past 10 years.
