The successecrecorded in the nation's Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) sub-sector has continue to receive international acclaim with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) collaborating towards presenting Nigeria's newly reviewed/developed curricula in Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) as a showcase of best practice in the West African sub-region.

The Executive Secretary of National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Engr Dr Nuru A. Yakubu disclosed this at the closing ceremony of the 2nd Instructional Materials Development workshop for new TVE curricula organised by the Board in collaboration with UNESCO, Paris at the Kaduna Polytechnic.

He said already, arrangements have been concluded by the UNESCO-BREDA, Dakar office and ECOWAS to host a sub-regional conference next month to among others, take a look at the first ever comprehensive review of TVE curricula; leading to the review/development of 68 curricula by Nigeria.

Dr Yakubu who doubles as the National Project Coordinator of UNESCO-Nigeria TVE Revitalisation Project said during the phase I, the project had brought about an upgrade and standardisation of quality of contents of curricula with the inclusion of ICT and entrepreneurship courses in all programmes as well as successfully entrenching a systematic staff development process in the sub-sector with the training of more than 9000 staff.

While speaking on the imperative of developing Teaching/Instructional materials, he said the Board after developing the first set of curricula for TVE found out that books and publications that address issues raised by the curricula were in short supply while the few available ones were either imported and beyond the reach of most staff and students or not suitable for our local situation.

The NBTE boss said the address the gap, the Project identified the crucial importance of developing books/publications locally; and has to date, produced relevant, effective and user-friendly e-books totalling about 350 in form of a simple, current, informative and professional guide to both teachers and students.

Dr Yakubu assured that in developing these materials, the Board took cognisance of the pedagogical needs of lecturers function effectively and the need to align content delivery with the ever changing world of knowledge and skills.

The UNESCO lead Consultant, Dr Hashim Abdulwahab in his remarks, said the exercise was a great achievement that should inspire the nation to replicate in the entire education system.

He commended the nation's strides in the TVE sub sector, pointing out that other African countries have expressed the desire adapt in their countries.

The two-week event drew participation of six UNESCO consultants and over 100 Nigerian resource persons.


Lawal Y. Hafiz
Head, Media &Publicity