A WELCOME SPEECH PRESENTED BY DR. MAURICE E. TYOKEVER – PROVOST, COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, KATSINA-ALA ON THE OCCASION OF ACCREDITATION VISIT BY NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR COLLEGES OF EDUCATION FROM 24TH – 28TH MARCH, 2024
The Executive Secretary, NCCE,
The Hon. Commissioner, Ministry of Education and Knowledge Management,
The Team Leader of Accreditation and other Distinguished Members of the Team,
The Deputy Provost’s (Admin and Academics),
The Registrar,
The Bursar,
The College Librarian,
The Director, CUS,
Deans of Schools,
Chief Lecturers,
Heads of Departments/Units,
The Leadership of COEASU, NASU and SSUCOEN,
Academic and Non-Academic Staffs,
Great Nigerian Students,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.
I welcome you all in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ to the very important visit to our College by the Accreditation team from the National Commission for Colleges of Education in Nigeria (NCCE). Let me briefly take you through memory lane.
College of Education, Katsina-Ala was established since 1976. It was then called Advanced Teachers College (ATC). It was not until 1984 that the College was established by law following the enactment of Edit No. 20 of 1984. It has the First and Second Campus. Where we are hosting you is the First Campus. Many new buildings are at different stages of completion at the Second Campus, courtesy of TETFund interventions. However, academic activities are yet to take off at the Second Campus, but I have a dream that when the dual mode system is domesticated at the State level, our Second Campus will host the degree programme.
The College has seven schools with 32 Academic programmes. The College also offers Degree Programmes in ten courses in Affiliation with the University of Calabar. Plans are ongoing to increase the number of courses on the Degree Programme. Apart from that, the College also offers Professional Diploma in Education in Affiliation with Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Since the establishment of the College in 1976, we have had several accreditation visits. The last one took place many years back. After many years on the back burner, the time has come to bring accreditation front and centre once again.
Let me say that schools seeking re-accreditation are expected to host a visit by a team of peer educators charged with reviewing the schools response to a set of accreditation standards, as well as its self-study and five year improved plan. College of Education, Katsina-Ala was originally slated to host a visiting team from the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) some years back but several unforeseen circumstances such as prolonged insecurity in the Sankera axis and the COVID-19 pandemic caused the visits to be postponed. At long last, God’s time has arrived and we are all set for our visiting team today till 28th March, 2024.
To God be the glory.
Accreditation is designed to be a growth opportunity for schools anchored in reflective inquiry and meaningful feedback and we greatly appreciate the willingness of our visiting team members to take time away from their own schools and families to be part of our accreditation process. Ultimately, visiting team members will use what they learn during the visit to develop a series of commendations and recommendations for our school, which they will capture in a written team report. The report will also include the visiting team’s recommendations to the NCCE regarding our continued accreditation for the next five years. It is my hope and prayer that the accreditation team to this pioneer institution of learning in Benue State will find us worthy and provide a growth opportunity for us by granting full accreditation in all our 32 academic programmes.
Let me take advantage of the opportunity provided by the visit of the accreditation team to send this message to the Executive Secretary NCCE. Nigeria today is facing worsening crises of unemployment. In the past, teaching was the second industry after farming that accommodated disguised unemployment. But today, teaching is one of the industries that is experiencing glut. There are many trained and qualified teachers who cannot get meaningful employment. Many qualified teachers are engaged to teach in the primary and secondary schools either as Parent Teachers Association (PTA) teachers or on casual basis and are not paid salaries commensurate with their qualifications. Because of this ugly situation, I call on the Executive Secretary NCCE to hasten action and constitute a curriculum review committee that will unbundle the NCE Curriculum so as to position it to produce specialized graduands that can easily fit into todays world of work.
The present situation is that an NCE graduand is overburdened while he/she is in school and after graduation. For instance, a student who measures in Biology/Chemistry combination has to cope with a clouded lecture timetable with the result that he knows very little about either of the two combinations. When he graduates and is employed, he again is faced with the task of preparing and teaching in the two subject areas of Biology and Chemistry and is again overburdened.
In conclusion, I want to remind you that accreditation visits are supposed to be avenues to provide growth opportunities for the schools hosting accreditation and not intend to run down the schools. Myself and many of my colleagues in this College have participated in several accreditation missions all round the country. We have always join with other members of the team to provide opportunities for the Colleges that hosted us to grow.
For instance, I was at FCE Umunze in Anambra State at the time they were battling with the issues of relocating to the permanent site, I was also part of the team that visited FCE Eha-Amufu in Enugu State at the time they were battling with issues of insecurity. The Provost of the College had to move around with a Police orderly, but as soon as we left, newspapers reported that, the Provost was kidnapped and his orderly was gunned down by the kidnappers. I also was part of the team that went to COE Gidan Waya, in Kaduna State at the time the College was operating with a Sole Administrator as the Chief Executive instead of Provost. I was also part of the team that visited Tai-Solarin College of Education, Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State at the time the old Tai-Solarin College of Education was converted to a University of Education and a new one was hurriedly set up in a nearby secondary school.
In all the cases mentioned, the teams that visited those Colleges provided them with opportunities to grow. Today, “it is my turn” as our President would say. I enjoin you all to provide us with the opportunity to grow.
Thank you all and God bless.
That message was receptive, comprehensive and appealing. I doff my hat for the Provost.