NTI to coordinate FG’s teacher professionalisation programme
By Uji A Iliyasu, Abuja
The National Teachers’ Institute, Kaduna, has been mandated to coordinate the Federal Government’s Accelerated Teacher Professionalisation Pathway, a new initiative aimed at professionalising unqualified serving teachers and bridging qualification gaps in Nigeria’s education sector.
The programme, initiated by the Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, is expected to provide a structured pathway for about 250,000 serving teachers to obtain professional teaching qualifications without being removed from the classroom.
Under the initiative, the NTI, led by its Director and Chief Executive, Prof. Sadiya Sani Daura, will serve as the Coordinating Secretariat under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Education.
The ATPP is designed to address a longstanding challenge in basic education, where a significant number of teachers are reportedly teaching without recognised professional qualifications or registration with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria.
The programme will be implemented in partnership with the Universal Basic Education Commission, TRCN, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, National Senior Secondary Education Commission, National Universities Commission and other relevant institutions.
Rather than phasing out unqualified teachers, the initiative seeks to empower them through a six-month professionalisation programme comprising four months of intensive instruction and two months of supervised teaching practice.
The training will be delivered through two routes: the Postgraduate Diploma in Education for serving teachers with degrees in non-education disciplines, and the Professional Diploma in Education for teachers entering from the National Diploma cadre.
Both routes will adopt a blended learning model involving self-paced digital content, virtual facilitated sessions, structured assessments and supervised teaching practice conducted in the teachers’ own schools.
The teaching practice component will include structured practicum, mentor and supervisor protocols, as well as documented evidence of lessons taught, pupils’ work and supervisor sign-offs.
According to the programme design, the teaching practice is intended to ensure that the ATPP produces measurable improvements in classroom practice rather than merely additional qualifications on paper.
The academic track of the programme has substantially been completed, with the curriculum frameworks for both routes reviewed, validated and finalised.
Module development was undertaken by a national panel of about 40 content experts drawn from universities, colleges of education and relevant agencies, including NTI, TRCN, NSSEC, UBEC and NERDC.
The programme architecture has also been mapped across the federal, state and local government levels, with remaining activities focusing on the digital curriculum delivery system, teaching practice arrangements and engagement with partner institutions.
The NTI, as Coordinating Secretariat, will oversee curriculum coordination, content management and quality assurance in collaboration with UBEC and the ATPP Steering Committee.
The programme is expected to be formally launched in October 2026.
The media and communication strategy for the initiative was considered by the Sub-Committee on Media and Communication, chaired by the Executive Secretary of NSSEC, Dr Iyela Ajayi. NTI was represented by its Head of Public Relations and Protocol, Mal. Yusha’u Ahmed.