The Director General, National Teachers’ Institute, NTI, Prof. Musa Maitafsir, has disclosed plans to introduce a mandatory one-year Teacher Internship Programme for teachers in the country by January 2024. Maitafsir stated this on Thursday in Abuja when addressing journalists on the 2023 World Teachers’ Day with the theme: “The Teachers We Need for the Education We Want: The Global Imperative to Reverse the Teacher Shortage”.
Teachers’ Day is an annually event marked on October 5 since 1994. It aimed to commemorate the adoption of 1996 ILO/UNESCO recommendation concerning the status of teachers.
The day also focuses on the rights, responsibilities and standards of teachers’ initial preparation and further education, recruitment and employment.
The DG added that the internship would be introduced in partnership with the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).
He further stated that the programme was initiated in compliance with Section ‘C’ sub-section (1), page 21 of the National Teacher Education Policy (2014).
It states, “After graduation from any teacher education programme, every new teacher shall be registered by the TRCN after at least one year of successful internship and mentoring to qualify for license.”
Maitafsir said that the internship was a mandatory programme that is expected to last for a year for the holders of the Nigeria Certificate in Education, Bachelor of Education, Postgraduate Diploma in Education, Master of Education and Doctorate of Philosophy in Education.
He added, “The duration of one year is similar to internship programmes of other professions like Law and Medicine.
“This will be operated in two diets, March and November of each year before or after the commencement of NYSC by those with degree certificates.”
Maitafsir, however, said that the programme would only be applicable to would-be teachers and not to those that have already been inducted by TRCN and given its certificate. All the interns would pay an application fee of N7,000 and an internship fee of N50,000.
The programme is expected to acquaint the trainee teachers with the practical knowledge of teaching and learning process, which includes E-facilitation and teacher integration in teaching skills, psycho–principles of commitment of teaching and delivery, and retention techniques.
Others are aesthetics and conventional wrong skills, entrepreneurship education skills and monthly teachers’ acculturation lectures. The programme would run at the institute’s headquarters in Kaduna State and the six geopolitical zones in the country.
According to the DG, on successful completion of the programme, the trainees will be awarded a ‘Teacher Internship Certificate’ that will qualify them for TRCN’s induction and certification.
He added, “It will certainly help in producing highly motivated, efficient and effective teachers for our schools.
“FME, NTI, TRCN and all other relevant stakeholders should have their hands on deck to ensure the successful implementation of the programme as enshrined in NTE”.
The teaching profession in Nigeria had, over the years, been intruded on by unqualified individuals making it an all-comers job and just a stepping stone to other jobs.
“There is the need to ensure that only qualified individuals are engaged as teachers to teach in schools.”
He explicates that, “The programme will ensure that only individuals that have passed through it would be licensed and called teachers and then be allowed to practice the profession.”