World Teachers Day: NTI initiates one-year mandatory Teacher Internship Programme

Prof. Musa Maitafsir, the Director General of the National Teachers Institute (NTI) Kaduna, says the institute plans to introduce a mandatory one-year Teacher Internship Programme by January, 2024. Maitafsir disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja when he addressed newsmen to mark the the 2023 World Teachers’ Day, which has the theme ‘The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage’. The News of Nigeria ( NAN) reports that the day is held on Oct. 5 annually since 1994, to commemorate the adoption of 1996 ILO/UNESCO recommendation concerning the status of teachers. The day also focusses on the rights, responsibilities and standards of teachers. The director general said that the internship programme would be conducted in partnership with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN). He further stated that the programme was in compliance with Section ‘C’ sub section (1), page 21 of the National Teacher Education Policy (NTEP) (2014). The section stated provided that 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 licence. Maitafsir said that the internship was for the holders of NCE, B.Ed, PGDE, M.Ed and PhD in Education. ”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 explained that the programme would only be applicable to would-be teachers and not those that have already been inducted by TRCN and given certificate. He said that the programme would acquaint the trainee-teachers with the practical knowledge of teaching and learning process. “They include 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.” According to the director general, on successful completion of the programme, the trainees will be awarded with the Teacher Internship Certificate that will qualify them for TRCN induction and certification. Maitafsir said that all the interns would pay an application fee of N7,000 and and internship fee of N50,000. He added that the programme would be run at the institute’s headquarters in Kaduna and the six geopolitical zones in the country. According to him, the programme will go a long way in advancing teaching and learning in Nigeria, and help in producing highly motivated, efficient and effective teachers for schools. “Federal Ministry of Education, NTI, TRCN and all other relevant stakeholders should have their hands on deck to ensure the successful implementation of the programme as enshrined in the NTEP. “The teaching profession in Nigeria has over the years been intruded 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.” According to Maitafsir, for teaching to be fully professionalised, Nigeria need to have such compulsory internship programme for teachers. “The programme will ensure that only individuals that have passed through it would be licenced and called teachers, before they are allowed to practice the profession.”