NTI primes trainee teachers for professionalism
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
A mandatory one-year Teacher Internship Programme will be introduced in January 2024 in partnership with the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), the
National Teachers’ Institute (NTI) has disclosed.
NTI Director General Musa Maitafsir, a professor, said the programme is being initiated in compliance with Section C (1) of the National Teacher Education Policy (NTEP) 2014.
He made the disclosure at an event marking the 2023 World Teachers’ Day (WTD) in Abuja, with the theme “The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage”.
WTC has been marked every year since 1994 to commemorate the adoption of 1996 ILO/UNESCO recommendation on the status of teachers.
“After graduation from any Teacher Education Programme, every new teacher shall be registered by the TRCN after at least one year of successful internship and mentoring to qualify for licence,” Maitafsir explained.
He said the internship is a mandatory programme expected to last one year for the holders of NCE, B.ed, PGDE, M.ed and PhD qualifications in education.
“The duration of one year is similar to internship programmes of other professions like law and medicine.
“This will be operated in two diets, March and November of each year before or after the commencement of NYSC by those with degree certificates.”
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Programme only for prospective teachers
The programme would only apply to prospective teachers, not those already inducted certified by TRCN, and is intended to acquaint the trainee-teachers with the practical knowledge of teaching and learning, Maitafsir added, per Vanguard.
“They include e-facilitation and teacher integration in teaching skills, psycho–principles of commitment of teaching and delivery and retention techniques.
“Others are aesthetics and conventional wrong skills, entrepreneurship education skills and monthly teachers’ acculturation lectures.”
After successful completion of the programme the trainees will be awarded a “Teacher Internship Certificate” which qualifies them for TRCN “Induction and Certification”.
Maitafsir said all interns would pay an application fee of N7,000 and an internship fee of N50,000 and the programme will run at NTI headquarters in Kaduna and the six political zones in the country.
He enthused the scheme would go a long way in advancing teaching and learning in Nigeria.
“It will certainly help in producing highly motivated, efficient and effective teachers for our schools.
“FME, NTI, TRCN and all other relevant stakeholders should have their hands on deck to ensure successful implementation of the programme as enshrined in NTEP.
“The teaching profession in Nigeria had over the years been intruded on by unqualified individuals making it an all-comers job and just a stepping stone to other jobs.
“There is the need to ensure that only qualified individuals are engaged as teachers to teach in schools.”
For teaching to be fully professionalised in Nigeria, Maitafsir stressed, there is need for such a compulsory internship for teachers.
“The programme will ensure that only individuals that have passed through it would be licenced and called ‘teachers’ and then be allowed to practice the profession.”