FOREWORD
The National Teachers' Institute was mandated by Act No. 7 of 1978 to organize
programmes for the upgrading and updating of practicing teachers at all levels, a
task which it has been engaged in since its establishment.
In Nigeria unlike other countries, the re-training of teachers has not received the
desired attention from Local, State and Federal Governments. There has not been
any systematic attention to update regularly the knowledge and skills of teachers
in the light of changes in curriculum and the wider society. This neglect has in
turn affected the quality of tuition in the schools. It is in recognition of this, that
the Federal Govermment has, under the Millenium Development Goals Project,
directed the Institute to re-train 145,000 primary school teachers this year.
The re-training which will take the form of training workshops will focus on:
Innovative techniques of teaching the four core subjects (English,
Mathematics, Science and Social Studies).School Based Assessment; and
Improvisation of Instructional materials.
The development of these manuals was preceded by a survey of the condition of
teaching of English, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in our schools.
The survey has been quite revealing and the findings of the survey have informed the
development of the training manuals on all the four core subjects. I have no doubt
in my mind that teachers will benefit immensely from each of these manuals.
We are indeed very grateful to the Presideney, particularly Amina Jibrin Ibrahim,
the Senior Special Assistant to the President on the Millenium Development Goals, and the Federal Ministry of Education for their support and guidance.
Dr. Ahmed Modibbo Mohammed