From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) said, on Monday, that larger percentage of teachers in the private basic schools are not “qualified” to engage in teaching profession.
As a result, the Council said it will beam its searchlights in private school system to weed off “unqualified” teachers in the system as part of its efforts to sanitize the teaching profession, making it more attractive to best brains who qualified and certified with passion for teaching.
TRCN Registrar, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, told journalists at a press conference in Abuja, that most of the challenges they face in regulating the teaching profession come from people in private schools.
He said: “We have less headaches from teachers in the public schools. In fact, 80 per cent of teachers in public schools have requisite professional qualifications and experience. But otherwise is the case in private schools.
“Many of the teachers in the private school system neither studied education courses nor attended postgraduate programmes in education. Our searchlight will be on them in the coming year. Enough of leaving the teaching profession for ‘accidental teachers’.
Prof. Ajiboye disclosed that records from their database indicated that there are 2.3 m registered in Nigeria, and good number of them have obtained TRCN professional licence.
Regarding the recently conducted Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE), the TRCN boss explained that no fewer than 3,963 teachers who participated in November 2023 diet of the PQE failed.
He said: “A total of 15,753 participated in the examination in 38 centres across the country. Out of this figure, 10,636 that passed the examination which was about 72.9 per cent and those that failed are 3,963.”
Prof Ajiboye also noted that some other candidates were absent, while many others had their results cancelled due to involvement in examination malpractices.
He promised that Council will continue to work towards the improvement of the teaching profession in Nigeria.