FG Overhauls Education System As Teachers Go 30 Years Without Training

The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Said Ahmed, has disclosed that some teachers in Nigeria have spent between 25 and 30 years in service without any professional development.

She said although about N20bn was provided to states for teacher training in 2025, only about 10 per cent of teachers benefited.

To close the gap, she said the Ministry has launched a zero-rated digital teacher development platform on Android for public and private school teachers, with over 60,000 teachers covered in the first phase.

She said the Ministry is working to make continuous professional development structured and eventually mandatory, under a Comprehensive Teacher Policy being developed with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria and the Nigeria Union of Teachers.

She spoke on broader reforms under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda being driven by the Ministry under Dr. Tunji Alausa to strengthen access, quality and human capital development.

At basic education level, she said the national curriculum is being reformed to reduce overload and shift from rote memorisation to competency-based learning, while pre-service teacher curriculum is also being reviewed.

She said UBEC has revised its disbursement guidelines to link performance with support, with greater attention to procurement and value for money in school construction.

She added that a new A-to-D school grading system based on infrastructure, teacher quality and learning outcomes will guide targeted interventions.

At tertiary level, she said 10 medical institutions have been established or strengthened, quotas doubled or tripled in some schools, and over N400 billion invested in critical fields like medicine, pharmacy, science and engineering.

She said a seven-year moratorium on new universities will allow existing institutions to improve infrastructure, staffing and quality.

On student financing, she said Nigerian Education Loan Fund, (NELFUND), has supported over 1.6 million students across 322 institutions through voluntary annual application and verification, with improvements ongoing to address delays.

On out-of-school children, she said estimates range from 10 million to over 20 million, prompting a national education data platform and mapping exercise already completed by the Almajiri and Nomadic Education commissions.

She said bilingual schools combining religious and conventional education are being prioritised in eight high-burden states, with three schools in each state and four in two states, each with 1,500 to 2,000 boarding capacity, already operational in Maiduguri and Kano.

She also cited the Almajiri Policy and Accelerated Basic Education Curriculum that condenses basic education into four levels and sets a minimum entry age for Alharma schools.

She said the Ministry is expanding TVET after identifying 40 trades and prioritising 25, with first cycle attracting 1.3 million applications and training over 100,000 beneficiaries, and second cycle attracting 1.8 million, with increased support to centres and trainees and starter packs after NSQF assessment.

She added that the Student Venture Capital Grant offers up to N50m for scalable student innovations, while the Entrepreneurship Centre programme from the University of Lagos (UNILAG) is being expanded to 16 universities.

She said data and e-monitoring will track learning outcomes and ensure reforms translate to real results for learners and teachers.