From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), at the weekend, restated its determination to sanitize the teaching profession by organizing teachers’ Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE) for 15, 750 candidates in the November Diet, across the country.
Dr. Jacinta Ezeahurukwe, TRCN’s Director of Certification and Licensing, told journalists at the SASCON International School, Abuja, examination centre that the PQE was designed to sanitize the teaching profession and ensure that teachers were licenced before going into the classrooms.
She confirmed that the examination took place across the country, and it started on November 23rd, 2023 in some states, while others continued theirs on Friday and Saturday.
She explained further: “In all, we have 15,750 teachers that participated in the November diet for the batch B across the country. PQE has become mandatory because teaching is a profession and for every profession, there must be a PQE.
“One of the features of a profession is that apart from getting the academic qualification, the person must have a qualifying examination and must be registered and license.
“If you don’t write such examination, how do we know you are qualified to be registered as a teacher. So, this examination is not testing subject knowledge but testing the professional knowledge of the teaching profession.”
Ezeahurukwe added that the qualifying examination provided content at the foundational knowledge that a teacher must possess and exhibit, as it’s contained in the teachers professional standards.
She, therefore, said that the results were expected to be out in two weeks. “This is a computer examination and we expect that as candidates are writing the examination, the computers are marking. However, we still take our time to sieve out the results, analyse it, look at it and have the management to consider it and approve.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, David Adejo, in his remarks, commended the process, stressing that it would go a long way in improving the quality of teachers in the country.
Adejoh who was represented by Dr. Yusuf Saidi, the Director of Reform Coordination and Service Improvement in the Ministry, said it would also encourage the quality teaching in schools.
He said: “In any profession, we have a regulatory body, so what they need is the necessary support to carry out their mandate. So, with this, you will see that the quality of teachers we produce will be as desired and as required.
“TRCN is making sure that the same person that registered for the examination is the same person writing the examination. So, no one can write in proxy. This has gone a long ong way in improving the quality of teachers in this country,” he said.
Dr. Olu-Andrew Kayode, Nasarawa State Secretary of National Association of Private School (NAPPS), said the process of the examination would help to improve the quality of teachers in the country.
He said the world is going digital, hence Nigeria must not be left behind as a nation. “Gradually we are getting it so that we can of course meet the global standards with other nations of the world.
“The process has been very free. As an educationist, I can confirm that the examination was very simple to approach and to allay the fears of people that thinks CBT is something that is very difficult.
“With what I have experienced today, just a knowledge of simple computer approach and ability to read and write will help you to excel in this examination.”
Some of the candidates expressed confidence in the examinations, saying that it would help the Council to wield out quacks from the system.
A school owner in Abuja, Mrs Chioma Okpara, who participated in the examination advised teachers who were yet to be certified to do so to partake of the benefits of the certification.