ABSTRACT
This study entitled Assessment of The National Teachers? Institute's Nigeria Certificate In Education by Distance Learning System in the North-West Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria, set out to assess the effectiveness of the tutorials used in the Nigeria Certificate in education by Distance Learning System; assess the adequacy of the contact sessions organized for the programme; assess the quality assurance mechanism used in the programme and; assess the success rate of the NCE (DLS) programme. Accordingly, four corresponding research questions, and hypotheses were formulated with a view to providing directional clues and approaches to the study..In line with the objectives of the study, relevant literatures were reviewed .Ex-Post Facto Research Design was used in which a sample size of 666 respondents responded to the instrument out of the total population size of 2,980 representing 22.3%, which according to Asika (2004), is representative enough for a study of this nature The data obtained from the respondents was subjected to analysis using Chi-square (x2) statistics to determine differences among the opinions of the two different groups of respondents, which were tested at 0.05 alpha level of tolerance. Questionnaire was used throughout the study in which the respondents indicated their opinions. The findings revealed that the tutorials used in the NCE (DLS) programme were effective, the contact sessions were also adequate, the quality assurance mechanisms were effective and the success rate was also high. The results showed that there is no significant difference between the opinions of staff and students in the effectiveness of tutorials and success rate of the NCE (DLS) programme, but significant differences existed on the adequacy of the contact sessions organized in the programme and on the effectiveness of quality assurance mechanisms used in the programme and on the success rate of the programme. Based on the findings above, four recommendations were provided thus: Need to limit face to face tutoring and expand media; need for Prompt and Adequate Supply of Course Materials and Use of more Professionals during Contact Sessions; need to strengthen the quality management mechanisms of the programme and strengthening the Delivery of Distance Learning Systems. Wide ranges of implications of this study have been identified for distance education practitioners in Nigeria, especially to tap to strengthen their distance education practices.