By Kwin Israel, The Sight News
The Federal Government of Nigeria, in partnership with the Institute of Education, Singapore, has commenced a capacity-building programme aimed at strengthening the delivery of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) across the country through the training of instructors and educators.
The initiative, tagged the “Train the Trainers (Pedagogy & Assessment) Programme,” is a 10-day intensive training jointly organised by the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), and the Institute of Education, Singapore.
The programme is being implemented in two cohorts, with the first batch of 60 TVET teachers from federal and state institutions currently undergoing training in Abuja, while a second cohort of another 60 teachers is scheduled to participate in Lagos.
Speaking with journalists during the training, National Coordinator of Special Programmes in the Office of the Minister of Education, Adebayo Onigbanjo, said the programme is designed to equip Nigerian educators with modern pedagogical and assessment skills that will improve technical education delivery nationwide.
According to him, participants are expected to transfer the knowledge acquired during the training to their colleagues through a cascading training model, thereby extending the impact of the programme to thousands of students across the country.
Onigbanjo explained that the initiative seeks to increase capacity in technical education by producing more competent instructors capable of delivering quality vocational education and preparing students with industry-relevant skills.
“This training focuses on pedagogy and assessment, equipping teachers with the best methods for technical instruction. Those being trained today will return to their schools and train their colleagues, allowing us to scale up capacity across the country,” he said.
He disclosed that more than 1.3 million Nigerians registered for technical skills training when the Federal Government’s TVET initiative was launched last year, making it necessary to expand the pool of qualified instructors.
He further noted that the programme forms part of a broader partnership between Nigeria and Singapore aimed at developing a new generation of highly skilled technical instructors capable of training thousands of students and supporting the country’s industrial and economic growth aspirations.
Also speaking, the Technical Assistant to the Minister of Education on TVET, Dr. Nabila Mohamed, said the programme is intended to reposition technical education by shifting from theory-based teaching to competency-based practical learning.
She explained that participants would be exposed to modern instructional techniques that would enable them to better engage students and prepare them for the workplace.
“The biggest takeaway is making training competency-based. Rather than focusing mainly on theory, teachers will integrate practical skills that prepare students for employment while learning effective methods of delivering those skills,” she said.
On her part, manager of the Academic Pedagogy Programme at Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education Services, Choo Poh Lian, said the training is not designed to teach specific trades but to strengthen teachers’ pedagogical skills for practical instruction.
She explained that participants would learn demonstration techniques, student engagement strategies, effective feedback mechanisms and performance-based assessment methods aligned with industry standards.
“We are sharing how Singapore teaches practical skills so that graduates become workplace-ready. We are focusing on pedagogy—how teachers demonstrate, guide students through practical tasks, provide constructive feedback and assess competencies based on industry performance criteria,” she said.
One of the participants, Odebode Adegoke, of the Federal Science and Technical College, Ijebu-Imushin, Ogun State, described the training as timely and impactful, noting that it had exposed participants to modern teaching approaches that would significantly improve the quality of technical education in Nigeria.
He said the programme had broadened his understanding of competency-based instruction and assessment and would enable teachers to move beyond traditional classroom methods by placing greater emphasis on practical demonstrations, hands-on learning and continuous assessment of students’ competencies.
The training programme, which runs from June 29 to July 10, marks another milestone in the Federal Government’s efforts to reposition technical and vocational education as a critical driver of job creation, industrial development and economic g
