By Augustine Okezie
The federal government is to embark on massive renovation, recruitment of more teachers, regularise the welfare of the teaching personnel and ensure improvement in the overall performance of students in public examinations.
Supervising Minister of Education, Barrister Nyesom Wike, who disclosed this yesterday in Abuja during the commencement of a two-week capacity building workshop for English and Mathematics teachers of Federal Unity Colleges at the National Mathematical Centre, Sheda, said “government has shown much commitment in its quest to develop the education sector hence the recent recruitment of more teachers and regularisation of the appointment of over 890 Parents Teachers’ Association(PTA) teachers in the system.”
He said the decision by government to build the capacity of Mathematics and English language teachers in the 104 Unity Colleges using inclusive education approach was borne out of the barely average results recorded by these colleges in public examinations.
He said: “Findings from a Needs Assessment carried out in these colleges in 2011 and 2012 confirmed that poor performance of students in both Mathematics and English language accounted for the poor overall results in the West African Senior School Certificate and NECO Senior School Certificate examinations.”
Director and Chief Executive of the National Mathematical Centre (NMC), Prof. Adewale Solarin, in his address, noted the importance of Mathematics and English Language to national development, but lamented that the ratio of mathematics teachers to students at the basic school level “stands at 1:350.”
