FG to Professionalise 250,000 Teachers Through ATPP

The Federal Government has commenced preparations for the Accelerated Teacher Professionalisation Pathway (ATPP), a new initiative designed to professionalise serving teachers without teaching qualifications and bridge gaps in the nation’s basic education system.

The programme, initiated by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, will be coordinated by the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), Kaduna, under the leadership of its Director and Chief Executive, Prof. Sadiya Sani Daura.

The initiative is expected to reach about 250,000 Nigerian teachers and is scheduled for launch in October 2026.

The ATPP is targeted at teachers who are already in classrooms but lack the professional qualifications required for teaching. It is also intended to address the difficulty of bringing such teachers within the professional standards and licensing framework of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).

Rather than remove the affected teachers from classrooms, the programme is designed to provide them with a structured route to acquire recognised professional qualifications while remaining in service.

The programme will run for six months, comprising four months of intensive instruction followed by a two-month supervised teaching practice.

It will offer two routes. Teachers with degrees in non-education disciplines will proceed through the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE), while those entering from the National Diploma cadre will take the Professional Diploma in Education (PDE).

Both pathways will combine self-paced digital learning with virtual facilitation, structured assessments and supervised teaching practice. The practicum will take place in the teachers’ own schools, allowing supervisors to assess their actual classroom performance rather than relying on simulated teaching centres.

The teaching practice component is expected to be a key test of the programme’s effectiveness, with candidates required to provide evidence of lessons taught, pupils’ work and other classroom activities, alongside documented mentor and supervisor assessments.

NTI will serve as the coordinating secretariat, working through existing institutions rather than establishing a parallel project structure.

The institute will coordinate curriculum development, content management and quality assurance in collaboration with the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the ATPP Steering Committee.

Other institutions involved include the TRCN, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC), National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Federal Ministry of Education.

Preparatory work for the academic component has substantially been completed, with curriculum frameworks for the PGDE and PDE routes reviewed, validated and finalised.

Module development was undertaken by a national panel of about 40 experts drawn from universities, colleges of education and participating agencies, including NTI, TRCN, NSSEC, UBEC and NERDC.

The programme structure has also been mapped across the federal, state and local government levels, with remaining work focusing on the digital delivery system, teaching practice arrangements and further engagement with partner institutions.

The blended format is designed to ensure that technology does not become a substitute for actual professional training. Each module will combine digital learning, facilitated sessions, assessment and practical components in a repeating cycle.

The Federal Government sees the ATPP as a time-bound and affordable mechanism for bringing serving but unqualified teachers into the professional teaching system.

The media and communication strategy for the programme was recently considered by a sub-committee headed by the Executive Secretary of NSSEC, Dr Iyela Ajayi. NTI was represented at the deliberations by its Head of Public Relations and Protocol, Mal. Yusha’u Ahmed.

The programme is part of the government’s broader effort to strengthen the quality of teaching and address qualification gaps without disrupting the education of pupils currently taught by the affected teachers.

With the October 2026 launch approaching, attention is now shifting to the finalisation of the digital curriculum delivery system, teaching practice framework and institutional coordination required to bring the programme to scale.