The National Commission for Colleges of Education, (NCCE), under the leadership of Professor Paulinus Chijioke Okwelle, has been receiving partnership requests from both international and local educational support organizations, aimed at enhancing teacher education in Nigeria. In light of this development, SESAME SQUARE Nigeria Foundation, after finishing its one year (2022 to 2023) “Teaching Smarter” programme tailored for students in Colleges of Education to access Early Childhood Education information and courses online, held a meeting with NCCE Management on the 21st of February, 2024. The purpose was to present updated report and propose integrating the course into the Nigeria Certificate in Education curriculum.
During an interview with NCCE Press following the presentation, Ayobisi Osuntusa, the Executive Director of Sesame Square Foundation, stated that “we are trying to make sure that all the courses that we are putting online are relevant, up to date and standard. We will like the colleges to even increase the number of courses that we have already done and make sure that they carry the weight so that the students will be able to implement them.” According to her three Federal and State Colleges of Education in Bauchi and Adamawa States served as the pilot phase for the programme. She further explained that the purpose of this initial phase was to devise a more effective strategy for expanding the programme to other colleges nationwide. Osuntusa mentioned that the findings indicated a keen interest among students in the online courses. She emphasized that the ability for students to learn from home, without the need to physically attend school, was seen as a significant advantage. She said that such a program could ensure uninterrupted access to quality education, particularly during challenging circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic or instances of insurgency. In his response, Professor Paulinus Chijioke Okwelle, the Executive Secretary of NCCE, commended the initiative and praised the thorough efforts put into training students and teachers from Colleges of Education in modern learning methods. Professor Okwelle clarified that the NCE curriculum incorporates courses specifically designed to introduce students to digital literacy and development, hence, the initiative is not entirely new to Colleges of Education; instead, it adds value to the existing framework. The Executive Secretary said the presentation by SESAME SQURE was an eye opener to the Commission. He added that NCCE is very much interested in what SESAME SQURE have done and have learnt a lot. He appreciated the fact that some of our colleges were involved in the experimental stage. While your findings are not completely surprising to us, they underscore the need for us, as a regulatory agency, to reassess and refine our approach. Moving forward, the NCCE Executive Secretary instructed the preparation of a formal proposal document. Subsequently, the Commission will conduct a thorough analysis to determine how to temporarily infuse the course with the existing programme pending when the curriculum undergoes review. Sesame Square was established in August 2008 as a program and brand of Sesame Workshop in order to implement the Sesame Street Nigeria project funded by USAID and PEPFAR.