Policy Campaign: Making NYSC Orientation Meaningful

Without doubt Nigerian National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) deployments have been useful in filling manpower gaps across the country, especially disparities in the availability and quality of subject teachers. 

 For instance, during my National Youth Service year, I was deployed to teach Mathematics at a government junior secondary school in Goepaal, Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State. There I taught the entire arm of junior secondary school One (JSS 1) students. Some other Youth Corps members within the Local Government Area were the pioneer teachers of some science subjects in the schools to which they were deployed.

By and large, when given primary teaching assignments,Youth Corps members are assigned to teach at educational institutions, based on the assumption that they know enough (about classroom management, lesson plan preparation, student learning styles, teaching effectiveness etc)  to function effectively at those assignments. As they say, assumption is the mother of all frustration!

Now that most NYSC primary deployments are to educational institutions – primary, secondary and tertiary – there is a need to integrate an intensive 1-2 weeks teacher training course into the current NYSC Orientation Camp programme. Such training sessions will equip Youth Corps members with the tools they will need to serve effectively as educators.

 To this end, I am flagging off a policy campaign ‘Train Youth Corps Members to Teach’, see campaign poster below. Please feel free to share this policy campaign poster within your networks.
Also, kindly fill out this 1 minute Survey on your NYSC deployment experience. I hope to circulate a policy brief based on the Survey results. Thank you!

The discussion continues…

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