By Ibukun Emiola
An education advocate, Mr Femi Aderibigbe, has faulted the Federal Government’s decision to exempt Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) candidates from writing the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Aderibigbe, a former Advocacy Manager for Nigeria at the Malala Fund, stated this in a statement made available to newsmen in Ibadan on Friday.
According to him, the exemptoon policy fails to address the root causes of teacher shortage in the country.
He said the policy announced at the 2026 admission policy meeting in Abuja wrongly assumed that the UTME was responsible for declining enrolment into teacher education institutions.
According to him, the real challenge lies in poor welfare, delayed salaries, inadequate infrastructure and lack of recruitment by state governments.
“The teacher shortage that Nigeria’s Ministry of Education is attempting to solve is real. The solution announced on May 11 misreads its cause so fundamentally that it cannot produce the outcome it is designed to achieve,”he said.
The Federal Government had announced that candidates seeking admission into NCE programmes and National Diploma agriculture-related courses would no longer be required to sit the UTME, provided they possess at least four O-level credit passes.
Aderibigbe argued that several states had gone years without recruiting teachers, stressing that easing admission requirements would only increase the number of certificate holders without creating corresponding employment opportunities.
He said that Nigeria’s education sector continued to suffer from inadequate funding, overcrowded classrooms and shortage of qualified personnel.
According to him, more than 40 per cent of teachers in public primary schools do not possess the minimum NCE qualification, while many have not undergone professional training in years.
He also faulted the reliance on O-level results as the sole admission benchmark, citing concerns over examination malpractice and uneven standards across schools.
“The UTME exemption makes it easier to become a teacher without making it more appealing to be one.
“The structural conditions that drive qualified people away from teaching, including salary delays and poor welfare packages, remain untouched,”he said.
Aderibigbe further stated that the policy could deepen the perception that teaching was a profession reserved for low-performing students.
He said countries that successfully addressed teacher shortages, such as Finland, achieved this by improving teachers’ welfare, professional development and public respect for the profession, rather than lowering entry requirements.
The education advocate called on the Federal Ministry of Education to provide details of competency assessment measures for candidates admitted without UTME scores.
He also urged the government to disclose specific investments in teacher welfare and professional development tied to the policy.
Aderibigbe further called on the National Commission for Colleges of Education to establish and publish a uniform assessment framework for institutions admitting NCE candidates without UTME results.
He also urged the National Assembly to convene a public hearing on the policy before the commencement of the 2026/2027 admission cycle.
According to him, children in Nigeria deserve teachers, who are academically prepared, professionally supported and adequately motivated. (NAN)