Bauchi – The Federal Government on Monday said it would spend N5.5 billion to train and develop about 150,000 teachers and education managers nationwide in 2012.

The Minister of State for Education, Mr Nyesom Wike, disclosed this in Bauchi at the launch of the “2012 Capacity Building Workshop’’ for basic education teachers and managers.

The workshop was organised by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in collaboration with Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board.

Wike said that the programme was aimed at ensuring that teachers and education managers, who were directly involved in education delivery were exposed to current trends in education policies.

They would also be exposed to management systems and teaching methodologies.

The minister said, “It is also to ensure that the training needs of each state are met irrespective of their peculiar nature.

“More importantly, it is to ensure judicious utilisation of the Federal Government intervention funds meant for teachers professional development programme and value for money.”

Wike said that without qualified and effective teachers, all efforts geared toward qualitative education would be fruitless.

He said that teachers would be able to perform effectively if they were well trained and equipped.

According to him, the training and retraining of teachers have become imperative because the exercise will go a long way in improving deteriorating standards of education, especially at the basic level.

“The Federal Government has spent N16.036 billion for the training of 512,675 teachers and education managers between 2009 and 2011,” the minister said.

Wike said that the Federal Government would not condone a situation where funds released to states to train teachers and education managers were not timely and properly utilised.

“In this regard, the UBE Commission has appointed independent monitors to monitor closely the conduct of all training across the country.

“This is to complement the efforts of the Ministry of Education, management and staff of UBE Commission in that direction,” he said.

Wike advised that only training institutions selected by the government would be used for the training workshops, using knowledgeable and experienced staff as resource persons.

The minister said that quality must not be compromised, adding that sub-standard performance would also be sanctioned to avoid future occurrence.

He directed UBEC not to release funds for capacity building of teachers to states that had not conducted or concluded training of their teachers in 2011.

Earlier, Dr Ahmed Modibbo, the Executive Secretary of UBEC, said that the commission had placed high premium on the training of teachers and education mangers at the basic education level.

“The 2012 edition that we are flagging-off today, demonstrates the Federal Government’s commitment towards basic education, the foundation upon which all other levels of education are laid.”

Modibbo said that the commission had developed unified training manuals that were currently being used for capacity training across the states.

He said that the guidelines for the training had been prepared and forwarded to SUBEBs to guide the conduct of the training in order to ensure the success of the exercise. (NAN)