Nigeria Begins Six Month Training to Qualify 250,000 Unqualified Teachers

(•Education Minister, Dr Tunji Alausa. Photo by Federal Minister of Info.)

Nigeria has launched a programme to give 250,000 serving teachers professional qualifications they currently lack.

The Accelerated Teacher Professionalisation Pathway, starting in October 2026, is a six-month course designed to train teachers without recognised teaching credentials while keeping them in classrooms.

The National Teachers' Institute in Kaduna will coordinate the effort.

Teachers follow one of two routes depending on what qualifications they already have.

Those with university degrees in subjects other than education take a Postgraduate Diploma in Education.

Those with a National Diploma follow a Professional Diploma in Education route.

The programme combines online learning, virtual sessions, assessments and supervised teaching practice in actual schools.

Unlike traditional teacher training, candidates won't practise teaching in simulated classrooms they'll be assessed in real schools where they work, for two months.

The course runs four months of intensive instruction plus two months of hands-on teaching practice.

Each candidate gets a mentor and supervisor.

Lesson delivery, students' work and learning materials all become part of their professional record.

Supervisors must sign off on the practical component.

The programme uses a blended learning model so teachers don't just complete online modules and get a certificate.

They move through cycles of digital learning, live interaction, testing and real classroom application.

The government developed the curriculum with 40 content experts from universities, colleges and education agencies.

Preparations are advanced, with the academic framework already finalised.

The programme aims to bring thousands of teachers into the professional standards framework regulated by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria.

It's part of President Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda for education.