Many poly lecturers unfit to teach -NBTE boss

The Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Dr. Nuru Yakubu, has chided polytechnic lecturers in the country for lacking professional and pedagogical skills to effectively deliver. He said in Kaduna that a good number of the lecturers in the nation's polytechnics were not adequately experienced or equipped to teach. N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.      The NBTE boss spoke at the closing ceremony of the 2nd Instructional Materials Development workshop for new TVE curricula his organization organized in collaboration with UNESCO, Paris. He said some lecturers were new to the system, while others were simply not professionally trained for the challenges of teaching in higher technical institutions. According to him, "Most staff, old and new, require academic training to improve their capacities to deliver adequately, consistent review of curricular of polytechnics will add an impetus in developing capacity for both lecturers and students.  "Sound technical education along with advancement in both science and technology, these are foundation of development in all ramifications considering the globalization trend in the world."   "The board after developing the first set of curricula for TVE found out that books and publications that address issues raised by the curricula were in short supply while the few available ones were either imported and beyond the reach of most staff and students or not suitable for our local situation."  He therefore explained that the project had identified the crucial importance of developing books and publications locally and had to date produced relevant, effective and user-friendly e-books totalling about 350 in form of a simple, current, informative and professional guide to both teachers and students.    "In developing these materials, the board took cognisance of the pedagogical needs of lecturers to function effectively and the need to align content delivery with the ever changing world of knowledge and skills," he said. He added that, "Already, arrangements have been concluded by the UNESCO-BREDA, Dakar office and ECOWAS to host a sub-regional conference next month to, among others, take a look at the first ever comprehensive review of TVE curricula; leading to the review/development of 68 curricula by Nigeria.   "During the Phase 1, the project had brought about an upgrade and standardization of quality of contents of curricula with the inclusion of ICT and entrepreneurship courses in all programmes as well as successfully  entrenching a systematic staff development process in the sub-sector with the training of more than 9000 staff," he said. Dr. Hashim Abdulwahab, the UNESCO team lead consultant, said  on the occasion that the exercise was a great achievement that the nation should replicate in the entire education system.   He commended the nation's strides in the TVE sub sector, pointing out that other African countries had expressed the desire to adapt it in their countries.