From: Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The Registrar/Chief Executive, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Prof. Olusegun Ajiboye, has said the Federal Government would not allow any teacher without professional certificate of the council to teach beyond 2017.
He made the disclosure in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, on Tuesday, during a chat with newsmen, noting that the council has registered about 1.6 million teachers since he assumed office, said teachers that register on or before May 31, 2017 will be exempted from the qualifying examination.
According to him, the policy is part of a three-year ministerial strategic plan by Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, which was designed to exit unqualified teachers from Nigerian classrooms.
Ajiboye, who vowed that the council would put a stop to normal registration at the end of May 2017, disclosed that the first professional qualifying examination of TRCN would hold at the end of September 2017.
The examination, he explained, was designed to fully professionalise teaching in Nigeria and ensure that only those qualified are employed by government for quality assurance, adding that the professional qualifying examination, was designed in modules., comprising category A (PhD holders), B (Master degree holders), C (Bacherlor degree holders), and D (NCE holders).
His words: “Those who want to use the normal registration have till the end of May 2017. The President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration does not joke with teacher-professionalism.
“By the end of 2017, Nigerian children will be taught by only qualified professional teachers who can deliver the quality education desirous for the elevation of our children and our country. Professionalism is the key for entering into the profession. Those who do not have what it takes cannot be trusted with the lives of our children.
“We are out to ensure a guaranteed future for our future leaders by ensuring that those who teach them are the best around. This will translate to higher performances and better value for professional teachers.
“The professional examination takes place by September ending and it is the first of its kind and we have structured it into modules of different categories. This is in line with the three-year Ministerial Strategic Plan Education Policy of the Minister of Education Malam Adamu Adamu.”