The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has urged the Federal Government to fasttrack the release of the white paper enabling Colleges of Education (CoEs) to carry the dual mandate of producing NCE graduates and degrees graduates (NCE-B.Ed) in line with the Act establishing CoEs.

The union said It was on track in the implementation of the bill signed into law on 12th June 2023 by the government.

The National President, COEASU), Dr. Smart Olugbeko explained that the CoEs were awaiting the white paper for implementation, following the conclusion and submission of a report since July 2023, by a committee set up by the Federal Ministry of Education to draw up modalities for smooth implementation of the Act.

He spoke during the 2024 National Conference centred around Digital Pedagogy and the Implications for Nigeria in Abuja.

The COEASU President said: “The ministry set up a committee to draw up the modalities for the implementation. The committee comprises representatives of NUC, NCCE and the ministry of education. The committee has since submitted its report to the minister of education, what is left is the white paper on the implementation which we believe in due course the minister will come up with the white paper for the implementation.

“This is all about making Colleges of Education to be able to award degrees without changing the nomenclature because we believe whether it is a university or a college it’s about the nomenclature because in other climes we do have colleges that award degrees up till the PhD level that do not change their nomenclature so to us, the nomenclature should not be changed, we should be able to award degrees as Colleges of Education which the Act has given us the mandate to do

“It’s a process; when a law is signed it has to be gazetted and it takes some time before it will be gazetted and the law was gazetted in July 2023. After gazetting there will have to be different consultation because it has to be carefully planned so there won’t be errors. It is a paradigm shift that needs to be carefully looked into and that is what the ministry is doing, to look at a way it will be implemented without causing any problems.

“I can assure you that with the commitment of the minister, we are going to have the implementation done in due course.”

The Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission, Prof. Tunji Olaopa who threw his weight behind government’s approval for the dual certificate model for CoEs, charged the institutions to re-engineer their stability records and to be humble in their attitudes even as he added that contrary to insinuations in some quarters, the university system alone would not be able to produce the manpower that the country needs.

He said: “If you must become degree awarding it means you must create space for degree professionals and if you want to kill that marriage by attitude, we do not know the value that the professor brings to that dual arrangement.

A“Over time we at the policy level will reassess you and determine whether you actually deserve to be upgraded to a university. So it requires a lot of humility.”

The Provost, Federal College of Education Technical, Ekiadolor -Benin, Edo State, Emmanuel Asagha, who described the Act as one of the best initiatives in the education sector, noted that most of the CoEs in the country have been awarding degrees through affiliation with universities but “using absolutely all the materials; human and material from the CoE system.”

Asagha said: “It is just to say we are tired of this idea pretending to be working for another structure. It is nice to have students who have training from the NCE and still have an opportunity to upgrade to a degree which is obviously the ultimate for most candidates desiring tertiary education in Nigeria. It is better that people study NCE and are encouraged to do education to the degree level instead of studying NCE.

General Secretary of COEASU Dr. Ahmed Baza explained that provisions of the Act have mandated that candidates who desire to attain a degree in Education must first possess the NCE certificate from a recognised College of Education.

Baza said: “In the dual mandate you must have an NCE before you progress with it. It’s not directly with an SSCE result. For those students that have studied NCE they will transit to the degree programme for two years. We will not entertain others such as direct entry from secondary school because it will kill the system. You will have two stages of degrees coming in and we are advising the government to give preference to such people..

“This system will really produce what we want as teachers. We also advise the government that anybody that goes through this system will be placed on Grade Level 9 and this has been agreed and signed. This will encourage our people to come in.”

Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman insisted that in the 21st century, digital tools and research were no longer a choice, but a necessity for economic growth and stability.

Mamman, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Didi Walson-Jack, noted that the Renewed Hope Agenda of the current administration reflected in the education ministerial deliverables which were focused on bolstering research capacity and integrating digital pedagogy into the educational system.

The Minister said: “The imperative of digital pedagogy and a research driven economy would accelerate the development of the nation. We express our commitment in leveraging research and digital technology to accelerate Nigeria’s economy. This synergy between governmental objectives and academic sphere is our collective dedication to fostering innovation, modding creation and sustainable growth in Nigeria.” (The Nation)

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