COEASU applauds passage of Bill to give Minna College of Education powers to award NCE, B. Ed

The College of Education Academic Staff Union, COEASU, of the Niger State College of Education, Minna, has applauded the Niger State House of Assembly for passing a Bill to grant the institution a dual mandate to award both National Certificate in Education, NCE, and Bachelor’s Degree in Education, B. Ed.

COEASU in a statement issued by its chairman, Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Mohammed, described the passage of the bill as a significant milestone achievement by the institution.

Mohammed said: “College of Education, Minna, will now join the league of other colleges of educations in the country that have been granted similar status.”

Newspot recalls that President Bola Tinubu had in June 2023 signed into law an Act of the National Assembly which empowered federal colleges of education in the country to offer both NCE and Bachelor’s Degree in education-related courses.

To this end, the National Universities Commission, NUC, and National Commission for Colleges of Education, NCCE, have already worked out modalities for the operation of the dual mandate, including the review of the NCE curriculum to streamline courses that will produce graduates at both NCE and degree levels.

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The state House of Assembly while passing the bill said federal colleges of education in the country are undergoing transformation that will enable them to operate a dual mandate of running National Certificate in Education (NCE) and Bachelors Degree in Education (B.Ed) and therefore there is the need to domesticate the law in the state.

This followed the presentation of a report by the House Committee on Education, Science and Technology, by its chairman, Muhammad Sani Idris.

The chairman informed the House that in carrying out its assignment, the committee invited principal stakeholders, including those in the education sector in the state, to obtain their input before arriving at its recommendations.

The chairman pointed out that the integration of the dual mandate which is meant to address the challenges facing teachers education in the country is apt especially now that education is among the core priorities of the present administration.

Mohammed argued that the upgrading of the Federal Colleges of Education to award degrees would no doubt help to bridge the gap in the demand for university education and would also reduce the level of illiteracy and enhance quality of education.

He told the house that Niger State College of Education is already running degree programmes in affiliation with universities like Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria and Usman Danfodio University, UDU, Sokoto, which shows that it already has the capacity to run degrees on its own.