By Felix Khanoba
The Federal Government has stepped up efforts to close gaps in teacher training, improve learning outcomes and strengthen education delivery, with more than 60,000 teachers already participating in a new digital professional development programme.
The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Said Ahmed, disclosed this while outlining the Federal Government’s ongoing education reforms under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Ahmed said the reforms, being implemented under the supervision of the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, were designed to improve access, quality and human capital development across the education sector.
She identified teacher development, curriculum reform, tertiary education, student financing, technical and vocational training, innovation and interventions for out-of-school children as key areas of the ongoing reforms.
According to her, the scale of the teacher-development challenge became apparent after an assessment showed that only about 10 per cent of teachers benefited from the approximately ₦20bn released to states for teacher training in 2025.
She added that the baseline assessment also found teachers who had spent between 25 and 30 years in service without taking part in professional development programmes.
To address the problem, the Ministry introduced a zero-rated digital platform through which teachers in public and private schools can access professional development programmes using Android devices.
Ahmed said more than 60,000 teachers had participated in the first phase, while efforts were underway to make continuous professional development more structured and eventually mandatory.
She said the Comprehensive Teacher Policy, being developed in collaboration with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria and the Nigeria Union of Teachers, would cover recruitment, training, welfare, deployment and career progression.
On curriculum reform, the minister said the national curriculum was being reviewed to reduce subject overload and move teaching away from excessive dependence on rote learning.
She explained that the new approach would place greater emphasis on competencies, ensuring that learners demonstrate what they understand and can apply rather than merely memorising information.
The curriculum for pre-service teachers is also being reviewed to equip prospective educators with the skills required in contemporary classrooms.
Ahmed further disclosed that the Universal Basic Education Commission had revised its disbursement guidelines and funding formula to make basic education interventions more responsive to actual needs.
She said the reforms would strengthen the link between performance and additional funding, while procurement and value-for-money considerations, particularly in school construction, were receiving increased attention.
The Ministry is also introducing a new school grading framework under which schools will be classified from A to D based on infrastructure, facilities, teacher qualifications and learner achievement.
The grading system, she said, would enable authorities to direct support to schools according to their specific needs while recognising sustained performance.
At the tertiary level, Ahmed said the government was expanding capacity in medicine, pharmacy, science and engineering.
She disclosed that 10 medical institutions had been established or strengthened, while admission quotas in some institutions had been doubled or tripled to accommodate more students.
According to her, more than ₦400bn has been invested in expanding capacity in critical fields, alongside tighter accreditation and verification processes.
She stressed that institutions must maintain adequate facilities, equipment and staffing beyond accreditation exercises.
Ahmed also explained that the seven-year moratorium on establishing new universities and other tertiary institutions was intended to give existing institutions time to strengthen infrastructure, staffing and academic standards.
On student financing, she said the Nigerian Education Loan Fund had supported more than 1.6 million students across about 322 universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
She explained that participation in the scheme remained voluntary, with applicants required to apply and undergo annual verification before beneficiaries could proceed with registration based on NELFUND’s assurance for payment of approved institutional fees.
While acknowledging that some delays had been experienced, Ahmed said measures were being taken to improve the process and make the scheme more responsive.
The minister also highlighted efforts to tackle the problem of children outside the formal education system.
She said estimates of out-of-school children currently ranged from about 10 million to more than 20 million, making reliable national data essential for effective intervention.
According to her, the Ministry is developing a national education data platform alongside a nationwide mapping exercise to identify children excluded from formal education.
She said the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education and the National Commission for Nomadic Education had completed their mapping exercises, while the Agency for Mass Education was nearing completion.
Ahmed said the exercise was not intended merely to generate statistics but to link identified children directly to enrolment and intervention programmes.
She added that traditional and religious leaders were being involved in the process to improve access to communities with high numbers of out-of-school children.
As part of the response, the government is establishing bilingual schools that combine religious and conventional education.
Ahmed said the initiative was being prioritised in eight states with some of the highest numbers of out-of-school children, with three schools planned in each state and four in two of the states.
The schools are expected to have boarding capacities of between 1,500 and 2,000 learners. The model is already operational in Maiduguri and Kano, while preparations are ongoing in other participating states.
She also pointed to the Almajiri Policy, which defines the responsibilities of the Federal Government, state and local governments, parents and communities in providing education for children in the Almajiri system.
A major component of the policy is the integration of religious and conventional education through an Accelerated Basic Education Curriculum, which condenses basic education into four levels while accommodating older learners entering the system.
The policy also establishes a minimum age for entry into Alharma schools and was developed following consultations with Islamic sects, Alharma teachers and other stakeholders.
Beyond conventional academic education, the Ministry is expanding Technical and Vocational Education and Training to address identified skills shortages.
Ahmed said a national skills-gap assessment identified about 40 trades, with 25 selected for immediate attention.
She said the first application cycle attracted about 1.3 million applications, with more than 100,000 beneficiaries trained through public and private training centres.
Participating centres received ₦30,000 per trainee, while beneficiaries received ₦22,500 for transportation.
The second cohort attracted about 1.8 million applications, with support increased to ₦50,000 per trainee for participating centres and ₦30,000 for beneficiaries.
Participants are expected to undergo assessment under the National Skills Qualification Framework and receive starter packs to support their transition into employment or enterprise.
The government is also targeting innovation and entrepreneurship among university students through initiatives such as the Student Venture Capital Grant, which provides up to ₦50m for students with scalable innovation projects.
Ahmed said the Entrepreneurship, Business and Innovation Centre programme, which began at the University of Lagos, was being expanded to 16 additional universities to provide students with entrepreneurship training, mentoring and access to funding alongside their academic programmes.
She said data and digitalisation remained central to the Ministry’s approach to monitoring the reforms.
According to her, learner-level data, digitised processes and electronic monitoring are being strengthened to improve planning, resource allocation and assessment of outcomes.
School grading, national assessments and e-monitoring, she added, would provide evidence on learning outcomes, teacher development, access and institutional performance.
Ahmed said the success of the reforms would ultimately be determined by improvements in learning outcomes, stronger teacher capacity, wider access to education, increased skills opportunities and a reduction in the number of children excluded from the education system.
She reaffirmed her commitment to working with Alausa to sustain the reform programme and ensure that government policies and interventions produce tangible outcomes for learners, teachers and educational institutions.
The minister said the Federal Government remained committed to strengthening the foundations of Nigeria’s education system and using education, skills development and human capital investment to expand opportunities for Nigerians.
