Education

The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), on Friday promised to support Kogi Government on teachers’ training, production of curriculum and indigenous languages.

Prof. Ismail Junaid, the Executive Secretary of NERDC, made the promise in Lokoja after stakeholders meeting with Kogi Ministry of Education, Science & Techology.

Junaid said that NERDC would partner with the ministry on how to make curriculum available in all schools in, saying that without curriculum, no meaningful learning would take place.

He said that the council had also promised to give technical expertise to train Kogi teachers to have capacity building, both in curriculum content implementation and education in general.

“We have promised the commissioner that we are ready to give all the necessary assistance as far as our mandate is concern to move education forward in Kogi.

“We will collaborate with Ministry of Education in producing copies of the curriculum and making them available to schools.

“We will also ensure teachers’ capacity building by giving the technical assistance in training the teachers on how to implement the content of the curriculum,” Junaid said.

He said that the management of the council had also discussed issue of language; the need to give technical expertise to help the state its indigenous languages like Igala, Ebira, Bassa, Nupe among others.

“I am very happy for this partnership, because Kogi Commissioner is the first to come since I resumed office as the executive secretary of this institution in 2015.”

He commended Gov. Yahaya Bello for the decision to re-classify and upgrade some of state schools into science & technical colleges and promised technical expertise as well as entrepreneurship support.

In her remarks, the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Rosemary Osikoya, thanked the NERDC for partnering with the state government, according to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.

She said: “The partnership is still delivering on what Gov Bello has promised on quality education”.

“We do not have enough curriculum in our schools and if we have to buy them, it is better to partner with NERDC so that we can have access to curriculum and training.

“We have met with NERDC to ask what the curriculum said we should do.

“This also conforms with what the governor has promised in the 2018 budget, to provide learning and teaching aids, to address the fundamental instructions.

She said that the ministry would be engaging with the traditional rulers and Federal Colleges of Education in Kogi, Ankpa and Okene, to see what the ministry could do.

“By so doing, Igala and Ebira will become languages of instructions that we no longer have to struggle with language disparity, especially at the basic level.

“I am happy we have been able to deliver on access to curriculum, training of teachers and language of instruction for Kogi and other areas of support at cost effective rate.”(NAN)
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