A curriculum scholar and Frederick N. Andrews Fellow at Purdue University, United States, Christabel Anumenechi, has raised concerns that Nigeria’s teacher education system is still designed for an outdated classroom model, despite the rapidly changing realities of where and how learning now takes place.
Anumenechi, whose work focuses on curriculum design and teacher preparation across diverse learning environments, said the country continues to train educators for stable, traditional classrooms even as education increasingly shifts into displacement camps, conflict-affected communities and correctional facilities.
According to her, this mismatch between teacher preparation and real-world learning environments is becoming a growing but overlooked threat to Nigeria’s education system.
“Nigeria continues to prepare teachers for a system that assumes stable classrooms and predictable learning conditions,” she said, warning that education has already expanded beyond conventional school settings.
She noted that Nigeria currently has over 1.1 million internally displaced persons, many of them school-aged children, adding that access to formal education in some camps remains severely limited.
She said, “In some camps, access to education is nearly nonexistent, with reports indicating that almost 70 per cent of school-aged children lack access to formal learning.”
Anumenechi explained that even where learning exists, it often takes place under difficult conditions such as overcrowded temporary shelters, insufficient teaching materials, and a shortage of trained teachers.
She added that in many of these environments, teaching is often carried out by individuals without formal teacher preparation, due to the absence of a trained workforce equipped for such contexts.
“The problem is not only access to education but also the absence of a workforce adequately prepared to deliver it effectively,” she said.
The scholar stressed that teaching in crisis and displacement settings requires competencies that go beyond subject knowledge, including adaptability, ethical judgement and the ability to manage diverse and disrupted learning needs.
“In many crisis-affected settings, teaching does not resemble the structured classroom model for which most educators are trained,” she noted.
She also pointed out that learners in such environments often have interrupted schooling histories, multiple language backgrounds and trauma-related learning challenges that require flexible instructional approaches.
Anumenechi further highlighted the absence of reliable infrastructure in such settings, noting that educators are frequently forced to deliver lessons without internet access or digital tools.
She referenced UNICEF’s advocacy for “offline-first” teaching strategies as evidence of the realities facing educators in low-resource environments.
A similar gap, she said, exists in correctional education systems in Nigeria, where learning programmes remain underdeveloped despite their importance to rehabilitation and reintegration.
“Education in Nigerian prisons remains underdeveloped, despite growing recognition of its role in rehabilitation,” she said, noting that teaching in such settings is constrained by limited funding, resources and institutional restrictions.
Anumenechi lamented that teacher preparation programmes in Nigeria—from Colleges of Education to university faculties of education—still largely focus on conventional school environments.
“From Colleges of Education to university-based programmes, pre-service teachers are still largely prepared for conventional classrooms,” she said.
She added that teaching practice placements are also mostly conducted in formal schools, limiting exposure to alternative learning environments where education is increasingly taking place.
According to her, this has created a widening gap between where teachers are trained to teach and where they are actually needed.
“The result is a growing disconnect between where teachers are prepared to teach and where education is actually happening,” she said.
Anumenechi warned that the implications of this gap are serious, particularly for education delivery in displacement settings and correctional institutions.
She questioned how education systems can function effectively without teachers trained for such environments, noting that policy responses have yet to match emerging realities.
“How can the system sustain education in displacement settings without a prepared teaching workforce? How can correctional education achieve its rehabilitative goals without instructors trained for its unique demands?” she asked.
She cited international examples, including the United States, where expanded prison education programmes have increased access but continue to face staffing shortages and high turnover.
Anumenechi, however, said Nigeria’s situation is more urgent due to the scale of disruption and the fragility of existing education systems.
“Education has already moved beyond the classroom. What has not changed is how teachers are prepared,” she said.
She called for urgent reform of teacher education in Nigeria to reflect the diversity of modern learning environments, including community-based, displaced and correctional settings.
According to her, this should involve redesigned curricula, exposure to non-traditional learning environments, and training that builds adaptability and problem-solving skills.
“Nigeria cannot expand education successfully while limiting how it prepares those expected to deliver it,” she warned.
She added that without such reforms, the system will continue producing teachers equipped for only a fraction of Nigeria’s actual educational realities.
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