The Federal Government has mandated the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), Kaduna, to coordinate the Accelerated Teacher Professionalisation Pathway (ATPP), a new initiative designed to professionalise serving teachers without teaching qualifications and bridge qualification gaps in Nigeria’s education system….
The Federal Government has mandated the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), Kaduna, to coordinate the Accelerated Teacher Professionalisation Pathway (ATPP), a new initiative designed to professionalise serving teachers without teaching qualifications and bridge qualification gaps in Nigeria’s education system.
The six-month programme, initiated by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, is expected to engage about 250,000 Nigerian teachers and will be launched in October 2026.
The initiative is being implemented under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Education, with NTI serving as the coordinating secretariat.
It brings together key education agencies, including the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC) and National Universities Commission (NUC).
The ATPP is designed to address the longstanding challenge of teachers working in Nigerian classrooms without recognised professional teaching qualifications.
Officials said the programme would not remove unqualified teachers from the classroom but provide them with a structured pathway to acquire professional qualifications while continuing to teach.
The programme will offer two routes.
Serving teachers with degrees in disciplines other than education will undertake a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE), while those entering from the National Diploma level will follow the Professional Diploma in Education (PDE) route.
Both programmes will be delivered through a blended model combining self-paced digital learning, virtual facilitated sessions, structured assessments and supervised teaching practice.
The teaching practice will be conducted and verified in the teachers’ own schools rather than in simulated or off-site centres.
The NTI, under its Director and Chief Executive, Prof. Sadiya Sani Daura, will coordinate curriculum development, content management and quality assurance in collaboration with UBEC and the ATPP Steering Committee.
Officials said the academic component of the programme had been substantially completed, with curriculum frameworks for the PGDE and PDE routes reviewed, validated and finalised.
Module development was undertaken by a national panel of about 40 experts drawn from universities, colleges of education and the participating mandate agencies.
The programme architecture has also been mapped across the federal, state and local government levels, while work is continuing on the digital curriculum delivery system, teaching practice component and engagement with partner institutions.
The four-month intensive instruction phase will be followed by two months of teaching practice.
According to the programme design, the practicum is intended to ensure that professionalisation translates into improved classroom practice rather than merely providing teachers with new qualifications.
It will involve structured teaching practice, mentor and supervisor protocols, documented lesson evidence, pupils’ work and other classroom records, as well as supervisor sign-offs.
The Federal Government said the ATPP would provide a credible, affordable and time-bound pathway for serving teachers without professional teaching qualifications to obtain TRCN-recognised qualifications.
The media communication strategy for the programme was considered by a sub-committee chaired by the Executive Secretary of the NSSEC, Dr Iyela Ajayi.
NTI was represented on the committee by its Head of Public Relations and Protocol, Mal. Yusha’u Ahmed.
The initiative is part of the Federal Government’s broader effort under the Renewed Hope Agenda to strengthen teacher quality and address qualification gaps without disrupting the teaching workforce.
