TRCN: 70% of teachers in South-West unqualified

The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) says about 70 per cent of teachers in private schools in the South-West region of the country are unqualified.

The TRCN said the teachers in the South-West lack the requisite training to teach.

The TRCN Registrar, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, said this at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the council and INSTILL Education in Abuja on Thursday, May 4.

Ajiboye stated that unqualified persons in the teaching profession were not only cheating the pupils/students but the system in its entirety, adding that 70 per cent unqualified teachers lack the prerequisites to be registered by the council.

He, however, said a large number of teachers in Nigeria have never been exposed to training and have been using outdated equipment for illustration.

The TRCN boss said: “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 per cent of teachers in the South-West are not qualified as well.

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“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 teacher, 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.”

Ajoboye further stated that the MoU between TRCN and INSTILL Education was aimed at equipping Nigerian teachers with 21st-century skills that would ultimately support their development and learning in Nigeria and Africa in general.

The TRCN Registrar said the council has registered over 2.3 million teachers on its database, adding 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 and 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 should be able to mention where and when this MOU, as well as the number of teachers that will be considered,” he added.

Ajiboye stressed that the council was 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 deepening desirable collaborations in the near future,” he said.

The Star