Encomiums as Corona College of Education Lagos celebrates 10th anniversary, 6th convocation ceremony

.Nigerian teachers are needed globally– TRCN

.Federal Colleges of Education’ll commence degree programmes by the 2024/2025 academic session– NCCE

Blessing Taiwo

It was a moment of glamour, celebration and honour as Corona College of Education Ilupeju, Lagos held its 10th anniversary and 6th convocation ceremony on Saturday, 13 July 2024.

A total of 225 graduating students of the 2022/2023 academic session bagged a Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE), a Professional Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education (PDECCE), a Professional Diploma in Educational Leadership and Management (PDELM) and a Professional Diploma in Education (PDE).

They were also inducted into the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria(TRCN) and issued certificates and licenses, having passed the council’s exam excellently.

The event was attended by notable personalities in the academic sphere, who commended the school management and graduating students for their efforts in sustaining sound education.

Delivering the convocation lecture, Prof. Chinedum Babalola, Vice Chancellor of Chrisland University, Ogun state, spoke on private tertiary institutions’ commitment to raising the standard of education with the use of technology in Nigeria despite limited funds.

Prof. Babalola urged the government and all stakeholders to promote quality education, provide quality educators and practise quality education.

In her message to the graduating students, she charged them to aim for more and keep improving themselves as they set out to impact the world positively.

Registrar/ Chief Executive Officer, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, Prof. Olusegun Ajiboye felicitated with the institution on its 10th anniversary, describing it as one of the private Colleges of Education doing exceedingly well in Nigeria.

“Corona College of Education has quality graduates. This is evident in the results of their students who write the professional qualifying examination of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria. They perform very well,” he said.

Speaking on the state of the teaching profession, Prof. Ajiboye said there is a shortage of teachers in Africa and globally, making the profession urgently needed across the world.

This is as he urged Nigerian teachers to see themselves as global teachers and get acquainted with technology to progress into the global market.

“The world needs teachers. There is a shortage of teachers globally. We have a shortage of about 45 million teachers. In Africa and a shortage of 15 million teachers in Nigeria accounting for a larger percentage of teacher shortage in Nigeria.

“Today, we have teachers’ mobility. They move across the world. In two years, the UK has recruited about 2000 Nigerian teachers. In 2022, Canada recruited about 600 Nigerian teachers. This shows that teachers’ mobility is high now. Not just doctors moving abroad, teachers are also moving out now in their numbers.

“Anyone that wants to take up this profession shouldn’t see himself as a local teacher. You must be well prepared and know how to use technology. You are for the global market. See yourself as a global teacher. You can teach in any part of the world. Many Nigerians should be encouraged to come into the teaching profession.

“In a country where the brightest ones don’t want to be teachers, their children will be taught by idiots. The brightest ones among us should be teachers, not just medical doctors and engineers, for our society to make progress. We call on the government and employers to make teachers’ welfare a priority to attract the best brains into the profession,” the TRCN registrar stated.

The special guest of honour, Prof. Chijioke Okwelle, Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) In his address noted that the commission identifies Corona College of Education as a frontrunner in producing good teachers, upholding its vision of enhancing sound education in Nigeria.

“This institution is an outstanding college of education. We are impressed with its teaching and instructional facilities employed in service delivery. It inculcates training that will make the children creative and innovative. If other private colleges can get to the standard of Corona, it will make the work of the commission easy, and we will have enough teachers that will make the country proud,” he said.

Prof. Okwelle, however, hinted that for the 2024/2025 academic session, qualified federal colleges of education have been approved to run specialised degree programmes which will not be inferior in terms of certification to that of the university.

His words, “recently, the federal government has extended the mandate of the colleges to also run degree programmes. From 2024/2025 academic session, these colleges will run specialised degree programmes in tandem with the NCE programme. With this new directive, a person with NCE will obtain a degree certificate within two years.

“The Ministry of Education approved this for qualified federal colleges of education because NUC will carry out accreditation of the colleges. It is starting with the federal colleges, after which state colleges could come in.

“Currently, colleges run degree programmes with affiliation with universities, but there is no point going through the middle man because they have the capacity, facilities, and teaching staff to run it. Through the affiliation, the colleges do virtually everything.”

In her speech, the provost of the institution, Dr. Olajumoke Mekiliuwa, stressed how the school had grown in the past 10 years as she highlighted its achievements.

She said, “From the humble beginning of just having the NCE programme to now having four full programmes– Nigeria Certificate in Education(NCE), Professional Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education (PDECCE), Professional Diploma in Educational Leadership and Management (PDELM) and Professional Diploma in Education (PDE). The enrolment of students has also grown than what it was. We now run a fully virtual programme aside from the onsite. Also, increasing excellent results in the TRCN qualifying exams.”

Dr Mekiliuwa expressed confidence that the new set of graduates will make the institution proud as they have been equipped for the global market.

“I wish the graduands well. They have gone through the numbers of years for their studies, and they are going out to represent the Corona brand and name of the college. We know that they will make us proud. They will not only operate here in Nigeria but globally. Already, we are producing globally competitive graduates as we have them all over the world,” the provost said.

One of the graduating students, Nike, who had her Professional Diploma in Education programme virtually, said it was a seamless but intense journey.

“Some of the lecturers were amazing. They were easy to relate with. They made the classes very relatable even though they were online,” she said.

Kehinde Lawal of the Professional Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education (PDECCE) programme described the journey as beautiful despite the challenges encountered.

She said, “This programme has helped me develop myself and see myself differently. I took up this programme to be trained to become a well-skilled and knowledgeable teacher to groom tomorrow’s future. Now, I see myself becoming global as an educator. I don’t have any regrets embarking on this.”

Part of the event’s highlights was cutting the 10th-anniversary cake and presenting prizes to nine outstanding graduating students.