FG Has Disbursed N57bn For Teachers’ Development In 13 Years – UBEC

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has disclosed that the Federal Government disbursed a total of N57,165,751,416.12 to states for Teachers Professional Development (TPD) programme within the last 13 years.

The Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, made this disclosure at the National Conference on Teacher Professional Development in Abuja on Monday.

The conference is with the theme: ‘Transforming Teacher Professional Development in Nigeria for Improved Learning Outcomes in Basic Education”.

Bobboyi commended the Federal Government’s commitment to shore up the level of knowledge in the sub-sector.

He, however,expressed concern over the poor number of teachers that had undergone training programmes in recent years, even as he challenged state governments to live up to expectations in teachers’ capacity building schemes.

“The UBEC 2022 NPA reveals that 67.5 percent of teachers in public schools and 85.3 per cent in private schools have not attended any in-service training in five years (2018-2022).

”This prevailing situation has implications for quality education delivery

” The Federal Government, through UBEC, has contributed a total of N57,165,751,416.12 as assistance to the states for teacher professional development between 2009 and 2022.

” This is grossly inadequate to cover the training needs of the teachers. The states that are being assisted have come to depend largely on the Federal Government fund for their TPD, with little or no contribution,” he said.

He said this was a major challenge in assuring quality learning outcomes at basic education level.

He further lamented the poor learner/pupil ratio in Nigerian schools, saying such negative development had resulted in poor learning outcomes.