By Aderogba George, NAN
The National Commission for Nomadic Education (NCNE) says its training workshop will enhance teachers’ guides to improve the quality of teaching and learning in nomadic schools.
The Executive Secretary of NCNE, Prof. Bashir Usman, said this on Monday at the opening of a four-day workshop for the review and development of teacher’s guides for education of pastoralists and migrant fisher-folk/farmers in Abuja
Usman said, “The conduct of this workshop is borne out of the desire to ensure that nomadic teachers are fully guided to improve the quality of teaching and learning in nomadic schools.
“It is also part of our effort at addressing the noticeable poor learning outcomes associated with teachers.
“Hence, it is worthy to remind us that teacher’s guides provide a structured pedagogical framework in the classroom with comprehensive and continually optimised instructions to transform learning outcomes.”
The don urged the participants of the workshop to adapt and contextualise the lesson plan to their local situation and use them to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom.
According to him, participants should be committed to the workshop in order to achieve the target objective which is part of the commission’s effort to addressing the noticeable poor learning outcomes associated with teachers.
“The current effort of providing basic education to a large population of nomads in Nigeria underscores the importance of this workshop;
“We were here in Nov. 2023 to critique the developed pupil’s texts, which paved the way for the development of teacher’s guides.
“The need to continually update the textual materials for our target groups is a matter of great concern to the commission.
“This is to enable the various subject areas in nomadic textual materials to meet the national educational standards,” NCNE executive secretary said.
He also commended the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, for his sustained interest in Nomadic Education Programme (NEP) and his sense of direction on policy matters in repositioning education sector in Nigeria.
Also speaking, Mrs Rose Nwaji, NCNE Head of Department, Planning, Research and Statistics, said that the commission had completed the review, development and critique of the curriculum and pupil’s texts in the three subjects.
Represented by Mrs Ismaila-Oluwaseyi Bukola, the Chief Education Officer of NCNE, Nwaji said that the commission was currently embarking on the development of teachers’ guides, to assist teachers to deliver the contents to the pupil effectively.
“The objectives of the workshop are to develop teacher’s guides across the levels (1-6) in Islamic Religious Studies (IRS), Christian Religious Studies (CRS) and History (Pastoralists) which would provide guidelines for teachers in nomadic schools.
“This will also ensure that all the topics in the curriculum are captured in the pupil’s texts and teacher’s guides.
“We are to develop guides that can provide instruction on the synchronised use of curriculum and pupil’s texts; a development that will enable teachers to improve teaching/learning outcomes in nomadic schools.
“This is to ensure that the new guides meet the national standards of the teaching profession in Nigeria.”
“The don said the guides would clearly inform nomadic teachers when and how to provide improvisation of resource materials during classroom delivery.
“The effective implementation of the Nomadic Education Programme (NEP) to a large extent depends on an adequate supply of qualified teachers who have sufficient understanding of the subject matter.
“I urge our esteemed resource persons to bring their intellect and experiences to bear and come up with feasible and pragmatic guides for our nomadic teachers to equip them skillfully to deliver effectively in the classroom,’’ Nwaji said.
Prof Abdullahi Ashafa, a lecturer in the Department of History, Kaduna State University, urged the Federal Government to provide funds for the review of additional subjects. (NAN)
AG/MAM/ADA
Edited by Modupe Adeloye/Deji Abdulwahab