NDE trains 8,000 to teach secondary school leavers

The National Directorate of Employment says it has trained over 8,000 persons for its Graduate Coaching Scheme in the past three years.

The NDE Director-General, Mr. Abubakar Mohammed, made this known on Thursday during the inauguration of the 2014 GCS programme in Calabar, Cross River State.

According to Mohammed, the programme established in 2012 is to engage unemployed youths to teach secondary school leavers, who have deficiencies in English Language and other science-related subjects.

Represented by the Director of Small Scale Enterprise in the Directorate, Mr. Jibrin Aye, the NDE boss said the scheme was ongoing in 20 states in the country.

Mohammed noted that the initiative had assisted many school leavers to secure admission to the nation’s higher institutions.

He added that over 300 unemployed youths have so far benefitted from the programme as they receive a monthly allowance of N10, 000 each to teach the students.

“We recruit and coach instructors to teach this school leavers, and we pay them a monthly allowance of N10,000 and the programme runs for three months.

“The GCS is capable not only of reducing unemployment among the graduates, but also has the potential for curtailing early entry into the labour market.

“The effect of unemployment manifests in various forms, such as youth restiveness, kidnapping, armed robbery, prostitution, among others, which tend to stall our development and progress as a nation.

“It is for these reasons that governments at all levels are working hard to mitigate these effects and channel the efforts of our youths to productive venture’’, he said.