The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister of State, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, has called on the FCT College of Education (COE), Zuba, to adopt a curriculum that balances global compliance with local relevance. The Minister made this appeal during the combined 3rd Convocation Ceremony of the College, where 6,068 students graduated.
Her Special Adviser on Media, Austine Elemue, in a statement quoted her to have emphasized the importance of aligning the curriculum with the demands of a changing world to produce globally competitive graduates who are equipped to address local challenges.
She charged the graduates to apply their knowledge and skills towards national development.
Acknowledging the infrastructural challenges in the education sector, the Minister noted that the FCT Administration has invested over ₦13 billion in school renovations and remains committed to upgrading critical infrastructure. She assured that the Administration would continue to support initiatives aimed at excellence and sustainable growth in education.
“The College must lead in research and community service while embracing ICT-based teaching technologies to remain impactful and relevant in modern education,” she stated.
Mahmoud called on the College to continue to adjust to the everchanging demands of modern day world by repositioning itself through training and retraining of staff, especially in the area of the use of ICT based technologies in teaching, so as to encourage impactful education that would bring about sustainable development.
She said, “this College should be the vanguard of research and community service in line with their tripartite mandate.
“Our College, as citadel of learning, should take the lead in championing demand-driven research that would serve the society in making human lives better and enriched”.
The minister commended the College for the industrial peace between the staff and student unions, while hoping that it will continue so as to ensure that the territory has a stable higher education sector that positively contributes to national and global competiveness.
Mahmoud assured that the current FCT Administration would give maximum support, within the available resources, to every planned and sincere effort that is geared towards excellence.
The Provost of the College, Dr. Sule Mundi, highlighted the achievements of the graduates, which included 4,625 from the NCE regular program and 1,443 from the part-time program. He appealed for increased funding to enable the College to introduce technical programs like automobile technology and electrical engineering to meet market demands and enhance self-reliance among graduates.
Mundi, therefore, appealed to the Administration for adequate funding to enable the College expands its programmes by introducing the technical component such as automobile technology, building, electrical and electronics.
He stressed that the importance of such courses cannot be over emphasised, especially as such categories of teachers are looking at the basic and post basic level in addition to the fact that they provided a platform for self-reliance.
He, however, thanked the FCT Minister for his timely intervention on issues that border on the continued growth and development of the College.
While welcoming guests to the occasion, the FCT Education Mandate Secretary, Dr. Danlami Hayyo, noted that the convocation ceremony was a fulfilment of FCT Administrator’s determination to place the College on a high platform in the comity of colleges of education globally.
The ceremony featured fellowship awards and certificates of excellence for top-performing students.