NEDC to train 100,000 secondary school teachers, administrators in the northeast

The North-East Development Commission (NEDC) has launched a program to train 100,000 teachers and school administrators to enhance effective and efficient service delivery, aiming to tackle the shortage of qualified personnel in a region that has suffered from over a decade of insurgency.

The education system in the region was badly affected by the conflict, which led to the deaths of nearly 2,400 teachers, injuries to an unknown number, and the destruction of more than three thousand classrooms during 15 years of unrest in the northeast.

Mohammed Alkali, the Managing Director of NEDC, made this known at a two-day “Train the Trainers” workshop for consultants, focused on training teachers in school management and science, technology, agricultural engineering, and mathematics (STEMA), which was organized by the commission in Maiduguri on Tuesday for participants from northeastern states.

Alkali explained that the “Train the Trainers” program covers Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Taraba, and Bauchi states. The initiative is intended to reach all secondary school teachers across the 18 senatorial districts within the northeast geopolitical zone of Nigeria.

Represented by Khalifa Lawan, Head of Scholarship, Training, and Capacity Building at NEDC, Alkali noted that the commission received instructions from the federal government earlier this year to train 100,000 teachers in the Northeast to help revitalize the education sector.

He stated, “We have an overall target, which is 100,000 teachers in the northeast, but this figure is split into phases; the one we are doing now is training the trainers.”

“The overall objectives are to build the capacity of teachers, build the capacity of methodology, and expect the teacher to be better equipped so that we have quality students and a better future for the region.”

He emphasized that the commission is involved in several initiatives not just for educators but for the broader population in the region.

“This phase is targeting the training of 3,600 teachers in the 18 senatorial districts of the northeast, so we are training 200 teachers in each of the senatorial districts. In this training, we are expected to have four to five phases, but on teacher upgrades, we have collaboration with the National Institute of Teachers, which has two phases; we are going to have 12,000 in each phase.”

Discussing the situation from the teachers’ viewpoint, he added, “Due to the Boko-Haram conflict, so many teachers are lacking; many left the service, some of them are being killed, some are traumatized, and others are affected in many ways. We also have psychosocial training and psychosocial support to help teachers regain their confidence and be productive.” Lawan explained.

Alice Musa, a university professor, explained that the “Train the Trainers” initiative features two main modules that cover basic science, technology, agricultural engineering, and mathematics (STEMA), as well as classroom management, school administration, and guidance and counseling.

Alice emphasized that the training focuses on two main goals: developing human capital and restructuring the region’s education sector.

She said, “This is a brief training we are giving to consultants to go and train teachers on how to teach basic science and develop the capacity building of teachers.

“The people we have here are consultants, and we expect them to go back to their states and replicate the training for teachers who are in secondary schools. We want our consultants to be conversant with the methods and training. This is aimed to improve the performance of teachers and learners in public schools across the region.” She stated.