A major overhaul of Nigeria’s Colleges of Education curricula is needed to strengthen teacher quality and achieve expected learning outcomes, according to Josiah Ajiboye, the immediate past registrar of the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).
Ajiboye disclosed this in a chat with BusinessDay, when he emphasised that the majority of Nigerian teachers are still backward when it comes to the use of technology.
“We need to improve the quality of our teachers’ knowledge and skills about the use of ICT in driving their lessons. I think this is one area where we need to work on.
“Many teachers are not digitally sound, so we have to do something about that to be able to improve their quality. We have to address the issue of curricula of our Colleges of Education,” he said.
The immediate past registrar at TRCN pointed out the major focus of dual mode is to improve on the quality of the teachers in the country.
“I think gradually maybe we will be moving to the first degree, (Bachelor of Education) as the minimum qualification for teaching in Nigeria, with the dual mode that has been presently promoted.
“The National Commission for Colleges of Education is currently reviewing the curricula of Colleges of Education in Nigeria,” he emphasised.
The revised NCE minimum standards emphasise AI awareness, the ethical use of emerging technologies, data literacy, and adaptive digital pedagogy to ensure that future teachers are not only consumers of technology but also effective facilitators of AI-enabled learning.
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The renewed curriculum is expected to position Nigerian teachers to operate confidently in technology-rich classrooms and align their preparation with international best practices and national development aspirations.
Besides, he decried the fact that some states have not recruited teachers in the past 10 to 15 years of their existence. However, he applauded the states that are doing well in teacher recruitment.
“We have to actually continue to encourage our state governments; we have some states that are doing well in terms of teacher recruitment,” he noted.
Moreover, he reiterated that states with low teacher recruitment can access funds from the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), to enable them to invest in teacher recruitment.
Globally, teacher shortage is a major concern and a concrete gulf to educational and economic progress. Ajiboye noted that the global teacher shortage is about 45 million, while in Africa, it is about 15 million, and that Nigeria accounts for a larger percentage of this figure.
UBEC report shows that at the primary school level, only 915,913 teachers serve 31.7 million pupils, which amounts to one teacher to 35 students (1:35) teacher-to-student ratio that could hinder effective learning.
According to UNESCO, the international standard for the teacher-to-student ratio should be 1:25 for primary schools, but this is not the case in Nigeria due to the persisting teacher deficit.
Public primary schools face a deficit of over 165,000 teachers, particularly acute in rural areas, leading to educational disparities.
This shortfall mirrors deeper governance lapses. Nigerian teachers are continuously faced with low remuneration, delayed payments, and poor working conditions, which are fueling the high migration of educators abroad.
Nnenna Elekwachi, head teacher at Central School Amaba-Ugwueke, in Abia, confirming the teacher deficit challenge, said due to poor working conditions and teacher shortfall, the school lacks quality teachers.
“Most of the teachers posted here would go to the local councils and lobby for transfer, because the amenities are not there.
“We don’t have toilets here, no teachers’ quarters, no drinking water, and electricity is a luxury here. We are understaffed, and it is making the work tedious,” she said.
