The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has expressed concerns that the attack on schools and abduction of students by bandits have impacted negatively on the development of education in Nigeria.

Mrs Ngozi Amanze, National Programme Officer, Education, UNESCO, Abuja Regional Office, spoke, on Monday, at a two-day training programme on reviewed Curricula on Family Life and Emerging Health Issues organised by the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) in collaboration with UNESCO and other partners held at Auta Ba Laifi, Nasarawa State.

The workshop was organised to strengthen the capacity of 300 pre-service and in-service teacher educators on the delivery of New Curricula covering Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW), Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), Harmful Practices (HP) and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR).



Amanze condemned the kidnapping of school children for ransom, saying this was an attack on the educational system and the future of Nigeria.

She said: “Some schools are being shut down, especially boarding schools, children are traumatized, even when you think you are in the city centre, nobody is safe.

“The situation is impacting negatively on education. It has put fears into parents, children and school authorities. This is an attack on the education system and attack on the future of the country,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of NCCE, Professor Paulinus Okwelle, who declared the workshop open, vowed to deal with the challenge of poor teacher quality in the country.


He noted that so many factors were responsible for the acclaimed poor quality of teachers in the country and that the Commission as the regulatory agency is doing all it could to improve the quality of teacher education in Nigeria as well as ensuring that teachers produced from the system are globally competitive.

He also expressed the commitment of the Federal Government to strengthen basic education delivery in the country, saying the workshop was to train educators on the new curriculum for them to be able to teach the children for the good of society.

Okwelle said: “Curriculum is a thing you keep changing based on trends globally and teachers have to be trained to be able to teach it,” he said.