Niger Govt. to introduces Skills Acquisition in Secondary Schools.
By Abdulkadir Yahaya.
Niger State Government has introduced skills acquisition in Junior and Secondary Schools in the State.
Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Dr. Hadiza Muhammad disclosed this during the post-State Executive Council Press briefing at the Government House, Minna.
The Commissioner explained that the skills acquisition which will be done every Friday, will commence from next term.
She said this has become necessary because not every one of them would earn a living through a white-collar job.
According to her, “Monday to Thursday are for academic work, we are going to use Friday as a skills acquisition day because we need to catch this child young and they will be trained in their preferred skills”.
The Commissioner enumerated some other measures taken by the Ministry to revamp the education sector especially Basic and Senior Education in line with the Education Policy of the Federal government.
She said the education system will now start from the Early Child Care Development Education (ECCDE) at age three, thereby cancelling direct admission into Primary one.
The Commissioner explained that after the ECCDE level, the Child will progress to Nursery, Primary and then to Junior Secondary School (JSS) 1 to 3 adding that after the JSS 3, the Basic School Leaving Certificate will be given to the Child in place of the Primary School Certificate that was hitherto given after Primary School.
She further explained that a one-year special class would be introduced as a bridge for children who are not aware of the development before moving them into the appropriate classes, adding that lots of advocacy would be carried out on the issue.
The Commissioner said that teachers will be trained to handle the ECCDE level and that only at the Basic Education level National Certificate of Education (NCE) holders would be allowed to teach, adding that the minimum requirement for Senior Secondary school teachers would be a first-degree certificate.
The Commissioner said the repositioning of Basic and Secondary Education has led the Federal Ministry of Education to collapse the Secondary School Board as well as the Science and Technical Board into the Senior Secondary School Board.
Dr. Hadiza Mohammed also disclosed that the Ministry is looking into community-based posting of teachers with a view to posting teachers to schools around their residing communities for effective and efficient service delivery.
The Commissioner said that the Ministry will also come up with criteria for outstanding students to enjoy free sponsorship for WAEC, NECO and NABTECH by the state government pointing out that the Federal Science and Technical College Kuta, has given the State government 750 admission slots and the government has offered to sponsor their education.
She said another measure to be taken to revive the education sector is to ensure that professionals are involved in the task of recruiting teachers and not solely the Civil Service Commission.
