Dual mandate policy empowers colleges of education to award degrees—Ajala

…and will reduce university admission pressure

 

The dual mandate policy empowers colleges of education to award both the Nigeria certificate in education and university degrees, according to Angela Ajala, the executive secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE).

Ajala disclosed this on Friday during a media parley at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja themed ‘A New Dawn for Teacher Education in Nigeria’ where she emphasised that the policy will help reduce pressure on university admissions across Nigeria.

The executive secretary explained that the reform is designed to expand access to higher education, reduce overcrowding in universities, and strengthen teacher training in the country.

“The policy will expand access to higher education; reduce pressure on universities; strengthen teacher specialisation; improve institutional autonomy; and attract more candidates into teaching,” she said.

Under the new policy, qualified federal colleges of education will be able to independently award both the Nigeria certificate in education and bachelor’s degrees in education without affiliation to universities.

The policy is expected to expand access to higher education, strengthen teacher training and boost institutional capacity across the sector.

Before now, the federal colleges of education operated under affiliated universities for degree awards.

Besides, Ajala reiterated that the reform followed the enactment of the Federal Colleges of Education Act No. 132 of July 24, 2023, signed into law by President Bola Tinubu, and directed that full implementation would begin from the 2026/2027 academic session.

“The commission is already working with the National Universities Commission to “work out the modalities for its seamless take-off as directed by the federal government.

“A draft curriculum that allows NCE to dovetail into the degree programmes has been drafted by the commission and forwarded to NUC for more inputs to ensure that the quality of the degrees to be awarded by colleges of education is at par with that of the universities,” she noted.

Moreover, she said that under the new structure NCE programme is to run for three years, while degree components will be for two years.

She also emphasised that state and private colleges of education will be allowed to implement the policy once they domesticate the reform framework.

Ajala maintained that the reform was not intended to erase the identity of CoE but to strengthen it. Let no one misunderstand this reform. The Dual Mandate is not about making Colleges of Education lose their identity.

“It is about strengthening that identity. It is about saying that teacher education must no longer be treated as a lower pathway. It is a professional pathway.

“It is a national development pathway. It is a future-shaping pathway, which means a student who chooses a college of education today is not choosing a lesser path,” she explained.

She emphasised the need for Nigeria to prepared professional, competent, ethical, and future-ready teachers.

Ajala also disclosed that the teacher education curriculum was being redesigned to align with global realities and emerging technologies.

“We cannot prepare teachers for chalkboard-only classrooms when children are growing up in a digital world.

“We cannot prepare teachers for rote learning when the global economy now demands creativity, collaboration, communication, problem-solving and innovation,” she said.