The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has disclosed that the federal government disbursed a total of N57,165,751,416.12 to states for Teachers Professional Development (TPD) programme within the last 13 years.

The Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, made this disclosure at the National Conference on Teacher Professional Development in Abuja on Monday.

The conference is with the theme: ‘Transforming Teacher Professional Development in Nigeria for Improved Learning Outcomes in Basic Education’.

Mr Bobboyi commended the federal government’s commitment to shore up level of knowledge in the sub-sector.

He, however, expressed concern over the poor number of teachers that had undergone training programme in recent years, even as he challenged state governments to live up to expectations in teachers’ capacity building schemes.

“The UBEC 2022 NPA reveals that 67.5 per cent of teachers in public schools and 85.3 per cent in private schools have not attended any in-service training in five years (2018-2022).

“This prevailing situation has implication for quality education delivery.

“The Federal Government through UBEC, has contributed a total of N57,165,751,416.12 as assistance to the states for teacher professional development between 2009 and 2022.

“This is grossly inadequate to cover the training needs of the teachers. The states that are being assisted have come to depend largely on the Federal Government fund for their TPD, with little or no contribution,” he said.

He said this was a major challenge in assuring quality learning outcomes at basic education level.

He further lamented the poor learner/pupil ratio in Nigerian schools, saying such negative development had resulted in poor learning outcomes.

“The following data were returned from the UBEC 2022 National Personnel Audit of basic education institutions in the country.

“There were 177,027 basic education institutions with a total enrolment of 47,010,008, made up of 7,234,695 in ECCDE, 31,771,916 in primary schools and 8,003,397 in junior secondary schools.

“For teacher supply, there were 354,651 teachers/care givers in the ECCDE centres, 915,593 in primary schools and 416,291 in junior secondary schools.

“The learner/pupil ratio varies from state to state, but none is within the recommended ratio. There are states where learner/pupil ratio is as high as 1:100 pupils.

”Nigeria is yet to attain the 100 per cent qualified teachers in primary schools. It is sad to find that some of the people teaching in schools are holders of the First School Leaving Certificate, Basic Education Certificate, Senior Secondary School Certificate, Associate Certificate in Education, Diploma Certificate.

“It is more about the quality of learning (knowledge, skills, attitudes and values) acquired and the ability of learners to apply this as they journey through life,” he added.

The executive secretary said that teachers facilitate learning, hence the need to attain a certain level of competency at the end of their pre-service training and build on this continuously throughout their teaching career.

According to him, this brings to the fore the significance of Teacher Professional Development.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, David Adejo, expressed the readiness of the federal government to implement programmes aimed at boosting learning outcomes in the school.

Mr Adejo said the conference was in line with the vision of President Bola Tinubu’s administration in improving the education fortunes of the country, adding that it would get the full attention of the incoming minister of education.

He said teachers are the foundation of education system, while calling on states to improve on their teacher development schemes and the recruitment process.

“We have no option to improve the quality of the learners than by equipping the teachers. We must make sure teaching does not remain as spare-tyre profession and last resort.

“We know there are challenges and UBEC has been trying to reduce them but the states are not moving at same space with UBEC,” he said.

He also challenged relevant authorities to ensure the teaching of entrepreneurial skills from the basic level of education.

(NAN)