The Federal Government has commenced a specialised training programme for technical educators as part of efforts to strengthen Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), address the nation’s skills gap and improve youth employability.
The initiative, organised by the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), is designed to equip instructors from federal and selected state technical colleges with modern teaching and assessment techniques.
Speaking during the opening of the programme on Monday, the National Project Coordinator of the Special Programmes Operations and Implementation Unit in the Office of the Minister of Education, Adebayo Onigbanjo, said the training marked the beginning of broader reforms in technical education.
“Today marks the commencement of the first in a series of training programmes for technical educators. It is part of our commitment to improving the quality of technical instruction across the country,” Onigbanjo said.
He explained that the programme is being implemented through a partnership with the Institute of Education and Educational Services in Singapore, following a Memorandum of Understanding signed earlier this year.
According to him, the collaboration is intended to expose Nigerian educators to global best practices in teaching and assessment.
“In partnership with the National Board for Technical Education, which is responsible for accreditation, this programme focuses on pedagogy for TVET and technical education. Participants will also receive training in modern assessment methods,” he stated.
Onigbanjo said the government plans to expand the initiative, noting that additional training sessions would be held in Lagos, while some participants would proceed to Singapore for advanced capacity-building.
“Our ultimate goal is to build more capacity. The demand is enormous. When the programme was launched last year, about 1.3 million Nigerians registered to participate in skills training,” he added.
He disclosed that the inaugural 10-day training involves 60 instructors selected from federal and selected state-owned technical colleges because of their existing roles in delivering the technical education curriculum.
One of the participants, Assistant Director at the Federal Government Technical College, Ijebu-Imushin, Odebode Adegoke, described the programme as an opportunity to improve practical teaching in technical schools.
“Today’s opening session gave us a clear overview of what lies ahead. From the presentations by the Singaporean facilitators, it is obvious that the training will be intensive, combining both practical and theoretical components,” Adegoke said.
He observed that technical education in Nigeria has traditionally focused more on classroom instruction than practical skills.
“For a long time, we have concentrated more on theory than practical work. I intend to use this training to learn how we can make practical instruction more effective and relevant for our students,” he said.
Adegoke added that while many technical colleges already possess equipment for training, greater efforts are needed to ensure that available facilities are fully integrated into teaching and aligned with the curriculum.
The Federal Government expects the programme to produce a pool of trained educators who will transfer modern teaching methods and best practices to technical colleges across the country, strengthening TVET as a key driver of skills development and employment generation.
