National Telescope national telescope newspaper
The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has declared that all teachers in the country must take a computer-based test before they can be registered.
This was part of the resolution of the council, during its meeting in Enugu State on Thursday to review ways of improving the registration and training of teachers in the South-East.
In a statement issued by the registrar and chief executive of the council, Professor Josiah Ajiboye, the council expressed concerns over the decline of quality in teachers across the country.
Ajiboye said, “We have brought stakeholders and chairpersons of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and those of the Post-Primary Education Board (PPEB), as well as a coalition of education actors at the tertiary level because we are interested in making teaching one of the best professions in the country.
“We had an interaction on the layout of the TRCN, taking into consideration areas where we are making progress and areas we are facing challenges and how we could join hands to move the teaching profession forward in the country.”
He lamented the rot in the education system, and restated the commitment of this administration to restore standard in the system.
“Looking at the rot in the system, we are determined to raise the standard again through a mandatory one-year internship programme for teachers, which is in progress,” he said.
Ajiboye said that if lawyers could finish their programme after so many years and still go through the Law School, there is nothing stopping those who have finished at various colleges and faculties of education in the country from engaging in a one-year internship programme for them to be registered as full-fledged teachers.
“We want to produce 21st century teachers who would deliver. One-year internship training programme in the area of pedagogy is pertinent to enable them to cope with the challenges of teaching; and that is why we are trying to propose the internship programme to ingrain the principles and practice of education in would-be teachers,” he added.
Also at the event, the registrar noted that there would be a professional examination for every teacher in the country. The examination, he stressed, would be conducted twice a year, and would be a computer-based one.
“We have the Category A, which is for PhD holders; Category B for NCE holders; Category C for first-degree holders, and so on. The aim of the test is not to sack any teacher but for them to register with the council.
“If you pass the examination, then you can be registered as a teacher,” he said.
