The Federal Government has commenced plans to professionalise the status of about 250,000 serving teachers who currently lack recognised teaching qualifications, with a new six-month programme scheduled to begin in October 2026.
The initiative, known as the Accelerated Teacher Professionalisation Pathway (ATPP), is aimed at addressing qualification gaps among teachers while allowing those already working in schools to remain in the classroom as they obtain professional credentials.
The National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), Kaduna, has been appointed as the coordinating secretariat for the programme by the Federal Ministry of Education under the supervision of the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa.
The initiative is part of the Federal Government’s efforts to improve the quality of basic and secondary education by providing teachers without recognised professional qualifications with a structured route to become professionally qualified.
The issue of teachers working without professional qualifications and licences from the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has remained a concern within the education sector. However, the ATPP is designed to address the gap without disrupting schools or forcing large numbers of serving teachers out of employment.
Instead, affected teachers will be given an opportunity to acquire recognised teaching credentials while continuing in service.
The programme will provide two qualification pathways. Serving teachers who hold university degrees in fields outside education will undertake the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE), while those coming from the National Diploma (ND) cadre will follow the Professional Diploma in Education (PDE) route.
Both programmes will use a blended learning approach, combining self-paced digital lessons, virtual facilitated sessions, assessments and supervised teaching practice.
A key feature of the programme is that teaching practice will take place in the candidates’ actual schools rather than at separate or simulated centres. Participants will therefore be assessed while teaching in real classroom environments.
The practical component is expected to provide evidence of whether teachers are applying what they have learnt and improving their classroom delivery, rather than simply obtaining an additional qualification.
The six-month programme will consist of four months of intensive instruction followed by two months of supervised teaching practice.
Each participant will have a mentor and supervisor, while records of classroom activities, including lesson delivery, pupils’ work and learning materials, will contribute to their professional portfolios.
Supervisors will also be required to sign off on the teaching practice to verify that candidates have completed the practical requirements.
NTI will coordinate the programme alongside the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), TRCN, the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), the National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC), the National Universities Commission (NUC) and other relevant institutions.
The government plans to rely on existing institutions and their established mandates rather than create a separate administrative structure, with NTI functioning as the coordinating secretariat.
Preparations for the programme are reportedly at an advanced stage, with the academic framework for the PGDE and PDE routes already reviewed, validated and completed.
About 40 experts from universities, colleges of education and education agencies contributed to the development of the curriculum and learning modules. The contributors included representatives from NTI, TRCN, NSSEC, UBEC and NERDC.
The programme structure has also been developed across federal, state and local government levels, while preparations continue for the digital learning platform, teaching practice arrangements and collaboration with partner institutions.
The organisers said the blended approach was deliberately designed to ensure that participants do not rely exclusively on online learning.
Candidates will move through a process involving digital instruction, facilitated engagement, assessments and practical classroom application for each module.
As the coordinating secretariat, NTI will oversee curriculum coordination, content management and quality assurance in partnership with UBEC and the programme’s Steering Committee.
The Federal Government is presenting the ATPP as an affordable, credible and time-limited pathway for serving teachers who currently lack formal professional teaching qualifications.
The initiative is expected to bring thousands of teachers into the professional standards framework regulated by TRCN and could contribute to a more uniformly qualified teaching workforce.
The programme is being implemented under the education component of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, with the planned October 2026 launch expected to begin a nationwide effort to reduce the professional qualification gap among serving teachers.
The programme’s media and communication strategy was recently discussed by the Sub-Committee on Media and Communication, chaired by the Executive Secretary of NSSEC, Dr. Iyela Ajayi.
NTI was represented at the meeting by its Head of Public Relations and Protocol, Malam Yusha’u Ahmed.
With a target of 250,000 teachers, the ATPP is expected to become one of the Federal Government’s largest interventions focused on improving the professional standards of Nigeria’s teaching workforce.
