Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Bobboyi, has appealed to stakeholders to join hands with the federal government to ensure that the quality of teaching and learning at the basic level of education in the country is strengthened for the school leavers to be globally competitive.
UBEC boss who spoke in Abuja said even though the year 2020 was very challenging as a result of the closure of schools during the lockdown the commission worked hard in many areas including support for provision of e-learning and other response to the pandemic.
Bobboyi said the commission, in realization of the importance of teacher in the provision of quality education, designated 10 per cent of the entire amount that is received from the Consolidated Revenue Fund toTeacher Professional Development through the States Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs).
“We remain the biggest teacher development agency in the country; not even the National Teachers’ Institute or any other agency.
“UBEC’s ten per cent of the entire amount that is received from the Consolidated Revenue Fund is designated for Teacher Professional Development through the States Universal Basic Education Boards. That is something that is very important for us to realise that we pump in a minimum of N10 billion every year for Teacher Professional Development in this country,” he said.
He said, however, that one of the major challenges is getting qualified teachers to teach the children in the country, which he noted the Federal Ministry of Education was committed to addressing. He said for now every parent wants his or her child to study Medicine, Law, Economics, Engineering and a host of others.
He said it is no longrr acceptable for teachers to rely on support from other members of the family in almost everything, be it marriage, child education among others.
Bobboyi said, “Our hope is that with the current reforms that are being put in place where you attract the best candidates into the teaching profession and compensate them adequately, the narrative will change. In many countries and I was in Singapore and they told me that you are better off as a teacher than a medical doctor if it is about money. It is the same thing in Finland,”.
