Prof. Monday Joshua, the Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), has urged the Federal Government to introduce scholarship for students in education courses.

Joshua, who made the appeal while interacting with newsmen in Abuja, said such incentive would attract quality students to education courses and the teaching profession.

He noted that some years back when such incentives existed, the best brains were attracted to teaching which ensured high quality education.

“If the government will increase the motivation for students wishing to attend colleges of education or study education courses in the universities, the situation will change.

“If we attach such incentives, the colleges of education will attract as many students as the universities.

“When the quality of entrants increase, the quality of products will increase and the quality of education will increase.’’

According to him, a major challenge of the system is the quality of students being admitted into colleges of education.

He said that a typical Nigerian parent would prefer his ward to attend a university and become lawyers, doctors, engineers, among others, to becoming teachers.

Joshua said that space for university was competitive and limited, hence many admission seekers who could not make it to universities, opted for colleges of education.

“When some applicants try for a long time without getting admission into universities, they apply for colleges of education.

“At the end of the day, students that come into the colleges of education do so with reluctance, ill-motivation and cannot be made good teachers under three years.’’

On the issue of upgrading some colleges of education to universities and adopting Bachelor of Education as minimum qualification for teaching, he said mere change of name was not the solution.

He said that efforts should be made to effectively implement existing policies, adding that the Nigerian Certificate on Education (NCE) was a good qualification for teaching at the basic level.

According to him, the commission is yet is to be briefed on the modalities for the proposed employment of 500,000 teachers as announced by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He expressed optimism that a sizeable percentage of the beneficiaries would be NCE holders