Ratio Of Mathematics Teachers To Students 1:350-NMC Boss

 
The Director and Chief Executive of the National Mathematical Centre(NMC), Adewale Solarin has underscored the importance of Mathematics and English language to national development but lamented that the ratio of mathematics teachers to students at the basic school level stands at 1:350.
He said this on Monday,in Abuja at the commencement of a two-week capacity building workshop for English and Mathematics teachers of Federal Unity Colleges taking place at the National Mathematical Centre,Sheda.
While justifying the training,he said students’ poor performance in both English and Mathematics in the nation’s primary and secondary schools is both disturbing and worrisome to all stakeholders within the education industry.
He said,”It is an open secret that there is an acute shortage of qualified English and Mathematics teachers at these levels.
“Consequently,the performance of Senior Secondary School students in public examinations like WAEC,NECO and JAMB has been poor,a development which has serious negative implications for candidates’ admissions into tertiary institutions in particular and national development at large.
“It is not debatable that,one major strategy for the improvement of the teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom is through retraining.

“This is because teachers undoubtedly,still remain the key factors in improving the ways English and Mathematics are taught and learnt in schools”.
Meanwhile,Supervising Minister of Education,Nyesom Wike who declared the training programme opened, said Federal Government has shown much commitment in its quest to develop the education sector hence the recent recruitment of more teachers and regularisation of the appointment of over 890 Parents Teachers’ Association(PTA) teachers in the system.
Wike said the decision by government to build capacity of Mathematics and English language teachers in the 104 Unity Colleges using inclusive education approach was borne out of the barely average results recorded by these colleges in public examinations.
“Findings from a Needs Assessment carried out in these colleges in 2011 and 2012 confirmed that poor performance of students in both Mathematics and English language accounted for the poor overall results in the West African Senior School Certificate and NECO Senior School Certificate examinations,”he stated.
source: http://leadership.ng/features/378097/ratio-mathematics-teachers-students-1350-nmc-boss

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