TPDCs
Teacher Professional Development Centres
One of the twin mandates of the Institute is to prepare a cadre of students to serve as quality inputs to Teacher Preparation Programmes of Tertiary Institutions and prospective teachers of Basic Education Schools through the Initial Teacher Preparation programmes (ITPP) of the Teacher Professional Development Centres (TPDCs) strategically located across the three Senatorial Districts of the State. This is meant to address the challenge of poor quality noticeable with Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) teachers which is attributable to the cancellation of former Teachers Grade Two Certificate awarded by Teachers Colleges that once served as veritable grooming ground for prospective teachers. The allure for teaching was lost because of this abandonment of the early stage development and sustenance of interest in the pursuit of teacher professional qualification.
The Institute’s ITPC graduates are not in contention with the NCE which is the statutory qualifying certification for teaching in Primary Schools. The idea of the Centre was mooted to have a pre-NCE grooming institution that would provide opportunities for Senior Secondary School students to be groomed to become future committed, proficient and certified teachers of substance with the highest level of commitment to the teaching profession. The products would serve as quality inputs for NCE and Education Degree programmes in Colleges of Education, Faculties and Institutes of Education in the Country while at the same time being an expedient measure to fill the supply and quality gaps that are bedeviling the provision of Primary School teachers in Niger State.
TPDC Mararraban Dandaudu
It is the first of the three ITPCs proposed for the first ..
TPDC Agaie
The Institute’s ITPC graduates are not in contention with the NCE which is the statutory ..
TPDC Nasarawa Kainji
The Institute’s ITPC graduates are not in contention with the NCE ..
Selection for admission into the Centres though participatory with a strong community involvement is based on merit. All students must pass the selection examination above the cut off mark to be eligible for interview and final selection for admission. Admitted students offer the normal subjects (arts and sciences) to allow them sit and pass their Senior Secondary School Certificate examination conducted by West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO). In addition, the students would take education subject in Senior Secondary School years 1 and 2 “with a view to orientating them (the students) towards making teaching their chosen career”. Students would take their Education subject examination in the second year (SSS 2) and on meeting all requirements would be certified internally by Niger State Teacher Professional Development Institute in collaboration with a credible examination body or institution.
The ITP programmes are co-educational institutions with uniquely diverse student populations drawn from the 274 wards of the twenty five Local Government Areas of Niger State. Each year, 274 students are selected on merit and admitted into each of the TPDCs. Because of the importance State Government attaches to this initiative, it provides the best of teaching, learning and boarding facilities including other incentives (e.g. transport allowances, free uniform, etc.) to students of the TPDCs. Out of the three TPDCs proposed for the first phase, the TPDC, Mararraban Dandaudu is fully operational. The proposed TPDCs in Agaie and Nasarawa Kainji are currently under construction.