MINISTER UNHAPPY WITH NOUN ENROLMENT

The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) is expected to have no fewer than 500,000 students, a far cry from the 132,000 which have so far enrolled.

This was revealed yesterday by the minister of education,Prof Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa'I, when she inaugurated a ministerial committee on the collaboration between NOUN and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

The minister said NOUN, which was resuscitated in 2002 and has ever since pursued its mandate, can still do better as the current enrolment of students is still low despite Nigeria's exceptionally large demand for education.

She said the collaboration between NOUN and NTA will provide access and equity as 'NTA can provide support in the production of course materials for NOUN and assist nationwide transmission to educational programmes'.

The terms of reference for the committee include, among others, more proposals on ways to collaborate between NOUN and NTA as well as other relevant stakeholders, and mechanisms on how to collaborate with existing educational regulatory bodies.

Similarly, the minister also inaugurated a special task force on achieving the objectives of the World Bank-assisted projects, which will  provide intervention in the development of science and technology.