Prof. Musa Maitafsir, the Director General of the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI) in Kaduna, has announced plans to launch a mandatory one-year Teacher Internship Programme by January 2024.
This announcement was made during a press conference in Abuja as part of the 2023 World Teachers’ Day celebration, which is themed “The Teachers We Need for the Education We Want: The Global Imperative to Reverse the Teacher Shortage.”
TheWitness learns that World Teachers’ Day has been observed annually on October 5 since 1994 to commemorate the adoption of the 1996 ILO/UNESCO recommendation concerning the status of teachers.
The Teacher Internship Programme will be introduced in collaboration with the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) and is by Section ‘C’ subsection (1), page 21 of the National Teacher Education Policy (NTEP) (2014).
This policy stipulates that after graduating from any Teacher Education Program, every new teacher must undergo at least one year of successful Internship and Mentoring and be registered by the TRCN to qualify for a license.
The internship will be mandatory for individuals holding qualifications such as NCE, B.Ed, PGDE, M.Ed, and PhD in the education sector, and it will last for one year.
According to Maitafsir, for teaching to be fully professionalized in Nigeria, there is a need for such a compulsory internship programme for the teachers.
Maitafsir, however, said that the programme would only apply to would-be teachers and not to those who have already been inducted by TRCN and given their certificates.
He said that the programme would acquaint the ‘ Trainee-Teachers ‘ with the practical knowledge of trashing and the learning process.
Upon successful completion of the program, the trainees will receive a ‘Teacher Internship Certificate,’ which will qualify them for TRCN ‘Induction and Certification.’
As part of the requirements for participation, all interns will be required to pay an application fee of N7,000 and an internship fee of N50,000.
The Teacher Internship Programme will be conducted at the Institute’s headquarters in Kaduna and extended to the six geopolitical zones across the country.
Director General Maitafsir emphasized that this initiative will significantly contribute to the improvement of teaching and learning in Nigeria.
