Twenty-eight federal colleges of education currently run ‘dual-mandate academic’ programme, leading to issuance of Nigeria Certificates in Education (NCE) and Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree to their graduands.

Seventeen or eighteen state-owned education colleges are expected to toe the same path this year following amendments to relevant laws.

To bag NCE requires three years of study and B.Ed., minimum five years.

Education Minister Tunji Alausa, who made these known on a national television programme yesterday, explained that the initiative was introduced last year to strengthen teacher education and improve enrolment in colleges of education.

Alausa said students admitted into the institutions begin with the NCE programme and, upon meeting university admission requirements after three years, proceed to complete a degree programme within an additional two years.

said: “From last year alone, dual-mandate colleges of education and all federal colleges of education today, most of them, except the ones that were founded five years and below, now offer dual-mandate degree.

“That student will now go, they’ll enter as an NCE, they’ll do three years. After three years, if they meet the requirement to go to universities, which is five credits, they’ll continue and do another two years and get two certificates.

“Five years, you get NCE (National College of Education) Diploma, and you get a Bachelor of Education degree.”

According to him, the reform has improved the sustainability of colleges of education and increased student enrolment into the institutions.

“That has really now put colleges of education into sustainability for the future. So we’ve had more traction of students going. We need a better pool of more teachers, high-quality teachers,” said the minister.

On state-owned colleges of education, Alausa said: “Now, the states have to change their individual legislations to make that happen.

“I think, as of the last count, we have almost 18 states or 17 states that have done that.

“They would also be doing that from this 2026 academic session. That’s a huge change in our colleges of education.”

According to him, students who fail to meet the ‘O level’ requirements for university admission after completing the NCE programme would exit with only the NCE qualification.

“If you don’t meet those requirements, you terminate at NCE level. But the key thing, beyond opening up more access, is to now create pool,” Alausa stated.

He said: “Last year, with the changes we made to the previously restrictive ordinary level requirements, we increased the number of people from 770,000 to 1.1 million students. We added almost 400,000 more students.

“This year alone, with the changes we’re making through eliminating the UTME requirement for colleges of education and non-technology agricultural-related courses in our polytechnics and monotechnics, we would increase the number of people being admitted into tertiary institutions by 1.5 million.”

How Tinubu’s administration’s is lifting education

The minister also said that President Bola Tinubu is doing a lot to lift the nation’s education sector.

Our nation is witnessing a lot transformation system, using education as the bedrock. What are witnessing is kernel to transformative agenda of President Tinubu, which goal is to turn this economy to N1 trillion economy.

“What we’ve done is on data. We have huge population of young Nigerians and we need to turn that to demographic dividend.

“Now, the mantra is give knowledge to these young people. We need to get them and train them and make them become a force to reckon with.

“That was the major reasons we took those decisions yesterday excusing the those who are going for NCEs and some national diplomas from participating in UTME.

“Today, we have about 772 polytechnics and monotecnics across the country. Less than 100 people chose those polytechnics as their first choice and this has been happening for a long time now.

“For colleges of education, today we have 255 schools, 214 of those schools had less than a 100 people choosing them as their first choice, that is about 84 percent.

“The young people don’t want to go there for a number of reasons.

He added that with the removal of ‘’financial chains’’ through NELFUND, “more of our kids now have the opportunity to attend tertiary institutions.

“For the first time in the history of our country, we increased the number of students to be admitted from 770,000 to about 1.1 Millon students. We could achieve this due to removal of restrictive conditions.

“This year alone through eliminating UTME for those schools and those courses, we will be admitting about 1.5 million.

“NELFUND has created access to education.”

NUT flays policy

But National President of the NUT, Audu Amba, described the policy as a step capable of further diminishing the quality and prestige of teacher education in the country.

Amba, at a sensitisation workshop for teachers organised by 21st Century in collaboration with the TRCN, lamented the declining standard of candidates seeking admission into Colleges of Education.

He said that many of the nation’s brightest students prefer universities and other tertiary institutions.

According to him, Colleges of Education have increasingly become alternatives for candidates unable to secure admission elsewhere.

He said: “Why can’t we now say that anyone that will be going to College of Education to become a teacher tomorrow, must be the highest scored person in UTME?” (The Nation)