UNESCO/ECOWAS SELECTS NIGERIAN TVET SYSTEM AS A SHOWCASE IN BEST PRACTICE
The successes recorded in the
nation's Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) sub-sector has
continue to receive international acclaim with the United
Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO) and the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) collaborating towards presenting Nigeria's newly
reviewed/developed curricula in Technical and Vocational
Education (TVE) as a showcase of best practice in the West
African sub-region.
The Executive Secretary of National Board for Technical
Education (NBTE), Engr Dr Nuru A. Yakubu disclosed this at the
closing ceremony of the 2nd Instructional Materials Development
workshop for new TVE curricula organised by the Board in
collaboration with UNESCO, Paris at the Kaduna Polytechnic.
He said 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.
Dr Yakubu who doubles as the National Project Coordinator of
UNESCO-Nigeria TVE Revitalisation Project said during the phase
I, the project had brought about an upgrade and standardisation
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.
While speaking on the imperative of developing
Teaching/Instructional materials, he said 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.
The NBTE boss said the address the gap, the Project identified
the crucial importance of developing books/publications locally;
and has 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.
Dr Yakubu assured that in developing these materials, the Board
took cognisance of the pedagogical needs of lecturers function
effectively and the need to align content delivery with the ever
changing world of knowledge and skills.
The UNESCO lead Consultant, Dr Hashim Abdulwahab in his remarks,
said the exercise was a great achievement that should inspire
the nation to replicate in the entire education system.
He commended the nation's strides in the TVE sub sector,
pointing out that other African countries have expressed the
desire adapt in their countries.
The two-week event drew participation of six UNESCO consultants
and over 100 Nigerian resource persons.