DFID trains 120,823 teachers in five states in two years

The UK Department for International Development says it has supported the training of about 120,823 teachers in Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa and Zamfara states under its Teacher Development Programme.

This is contained in a document obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria in Kaduna on Wednesday, at a stakeholders’ meeting to review TDP achievements in Kaduna State in the last two years and lessons learnt.
According to the document, over 98,000 of the beneficiaries were in-service primary and junior secondary school teachers, 987 teacher educators and more than 20,000 student teachers.
DFID Education Adviser, Esohe Eigbike, at the opening of the event, described TDP as DFID/UKaid funded technology-enabled intervention, working with relevant stakeholders to improve effectiveness in the benefiting states.
Eigbike said: “TDP seeks to improve the quality of teaching in primary, junior secondary schools and colleges of education through in-service teacher training, reform of pre-service teacher education and strengthening evidence-based research on teaching.”
Eigbike commended Kaduna State Government for ensuring that teachers were recruited based on merit to ensure quality teaching and learning adding “we are really happy to be partnering with Kaduna state”.
Speaking, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State commended DFID for supporting the state in the quest to transform the education sector for quality service delivery.
El-Rufai, represented by the state’s Commissioner for Education Science and Technology, Malam Ja’afaru Sani noted that “the teacher is central to whatever quality we want to see in the education sector.
He said: “We are glad that the DFID and other development partners are supporting us towards ensuring that our teachers are not only qualified but possesses the requisite skills to deliver quality teaching.
“We will soon come up with a framework that will bring all development partners working with us to improve service delivery in the education sector for proper coordination and better result.
“We are equally in the process of developing an inclusive education policy with inputs from the citizens and relevant stakeholders that will guide decision making in the sector.”
The governor said that to entrench the culture of competition among teachers, the ministry of education would be giving award to the best teacher every year, starting from 2019.
He said technology was being deployed to address pupils and teacher absenteeism and other issues affecting the quality of teaching and learning in schools.
He reiterated his administration’s resolve to place high priority on teacher professional development.
Malam Nasiru Umar, the Executive Secretary, Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board, also thanked DFID for the support.
Umar, who was represented by the board’s Permanent Member 1, Mary Ambi, said that a sustainability mechanism framework had been put in place to achieve the much-needed result in the sector.
Ambi said: “This explained why the government budgeted N5.9 billion in 2019 for infrastructure, teacher professional development, procurement of instructional materials and community engagement through School Based Management Committees.”
On his part, Titus Amba, the State Chairman, Nigerian Union of Teachers, described the training and retraining of teachers supported by DFID in the state as unprecedented.
According to him, teacher training and retraining is key to ensuring quality teaching and learning.