*Says rate of unqualified teachers nationwide alarming
*teachers use out-dated equipments for illustration
By Augustine Aminu
The Registrar, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria,TRCN, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye has declared that unqualified persons in the teaching profession are not teachers, but cheaters, adding that they don’t only cheat the pupils/students but the system in its entirety.
Speaking on Thursday in Abuja at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Council and INSTILL Education on bringing in new dynamics to the profession, Ajiboye revealed that contrary to several speculations about the south west and its teachers of private schools, 70 percent have been discovered not qualified.
Lamenting that 70 percent of the unqualified teachers lack the prerequisites to be registered by the Council, the TRCN boss stated that a large number of teachers in Nigeria have never been exposed to training and have been using out-dated equipments for illustration.
“A large number of teachers in private schools in Nigeria today are not qualified. We wanted to use a consultant to get revenue from teachers in private schools. When we carried out a survey, we observed that a reasonable amount of 70% of teachers in the South- West are not qualified as well.
“They are not registrable with the TRCN. So that is to tell you that there is a big gap. So you cannot call them teachers but cheaters. You know that there’s a difference between teachers and cheaters. If you are not a teachers, you must be a cheater.
“These people do not possess the requisite qualification to register them and so there’s a big gap. So we are looking into the future to fill up that gap like it’s done in South Africa.”
He said signing the MoU marks a milestone in the proposed collaboration between INSTILL Education and TRCN which is aimed at equipping Nigerian teachers with 21st century skills that will ultimately support teacher professional development and learning outcomes in Nigeria and Africa in general.
He noted that the Council has registered over 2.3 million teachers on its data base, and added that it has developed the Policy on Career Path for the profession and the Professional Standards for Nigerian Teachers (PSNT) which has been domesticated by Sierra-Leone and adopted by the Africa Union (AU) for implementation in Africa.
“The major component of this MOU is to service the in-service teachers. How do we go about capacitating them and up skilling them? A large number of these teachers have never been exposed to a single training programme since they were employed and have been doing thesame thing thesame way, whereas there are dynamics if the classroom and things are changing with regards to the classroom.
“The Council has registered over 2.3 million teachers on its data base, and added that it has developed the Policy on Career Path for the profession and the Professional Standards for Nigerian Teachers, PSNT, which has been domesticated by Sierra-Leone and adopted by the Africa Union,AU, for implementation in Africa.
“So these teachers need to be exposed to new ways of doing things and that’s what INSTILL is coming with. They are experts who are doing with expertise, technology and will help us to do this type of capacitation for our teachers.
“We have been talking overtime about mandatory professional training for our teachers and this will be needed towards renewal of their license and promotion.
“So this is the right way to go and this is what we are thinking, and bridging this MOU with INSTILL. Experts in the are should be able to mention where and when this MOU, as well as the number of teachers that will be considered will be” he further added.
Ajiboye, to this end, reiterated that the Council is well positioned with the requisite experience to deliver on any joint and desirable programme initiated by both parties for Nigerian teachers.
“Therefore, the Council will not only be willing to partner with INSTILL Education to further the frontier of quality education in Africa but will be open to deepen desirable collaborations in the near future.”
Meanwhile, since the year 2000, the Council has been partnering with UNESCO to organize and host the Online Annual Conference of Registered Teachers of which participants have been attending across the world.
