NCCE meets Provosts of Colleges of Education for seamless implementation of Dual Mandate Policy
The National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), on Thursday and Tuesday engaged Provost and other stakeholders of Colleges of Education in the Northeast towards ensuring seamless implementation of its Dual Mandate Policy aimed at strengthening teacher education in the country.
The Dual Mandate Policy which begins in September, 2026 empowers qualified Colleges of Education to award both the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) and Bachelor’s Degrees in Education.
Speaking during the occasion held in Gombe, Dr Angela Ajala, the Executive Secretary of NCCE said the engagement was aimed at tackling peculiar challenges that could affect the implementation of the policy in the region.
Ajala said that the dual mandate would not only strengthen teacher education but improve the quality of teachers, hence the need for collective efforts of all stakeholders to support and ensure the implementation of the dual mandate.
She said that during the engagement with the stakeholders, the implementation guidelines, and other new approaches that accompany the dual mandate were discussed with the stakeholders.
“When you enter a college of education now, you get three certificates: the NCE, Bachelor of Education certificate and a skill certificate.
“Because of the newness and evolution of what has happened, we need to come together to see how we take it forward and make the college succeed.
“We are here to know their challenges and how they can be solved.
“If it is what the colleges can solve on their own, what NCCE can solve or what the government needs to intervene.
“Where there is a need for government intervention, we will escalate it to the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa or what partners can solve.
“It is not a solo journey, it is a collaboration across the board and that’s why we are going round,” she said.
On the implementation of the policy, Ajala said that “the time-line for the implementation starts this September.”
She added that with the implementation of the policy, students in colleges of education would be trained to also acquire skills toake them self-reliant and job givers after graduation.
“In five years from now, when there are issues concerning national development, graduates of these colleges will be the ones solving them.
“Because the whole idea of dual mandate and teacher education is to produce teachers that are able to teach diverse students who can go back to their various communities and solve the challenges there.”
Dr Ali Adamu, a former Provost of the Federal College of Education (Technical) Gombe while presenting a paper titled “Dual Mandate of Colleges of Education: Challenges, Opportunities and Expectations” said the policy would contribute to national development.
Adamu said that the policy would help Colleges of Education to balance teacher preparation with contribution to national development
He highlighted some of the challenges of the dual mandate to include inadequate funding, shortage of qualified staff, infrastructure deficiencies amongst others.
Adamu said the mandate would create opportunities for career progression, institutional revitalisation while improving teacher quality and human capital development.
He recommended increased investment in infrastructure, self development to ensure that the mandate yields positive results.
Dr Mohammed Abdulhamid,
Provost, FCE (T), Gombe commended the Federal Government and NCCE’s commitment to improving teacher education in the country.
