The Registrar of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Prof. Josiah Ajiboye has said that over 2.3 million Nigerian teachers have now been registered in the database of the Teachers Information System TIS, database of the Council.
At a One-Day Capacity Building Workshop for members of the Education Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria (ECAN) in Abuja on Thursday, Prof Ajiboye said the TIS was to help check quackery in the system.
The Registrar represented by the Council’s Director, Planning, Research and Statistics in the council, Mr Lawrence Ugo-Ali, said that teachers were key players in the education sector of any nation, hence the need to prioritise teacher education for national development.
The theme is ”Strengthening Teacher Education: Challenges and Opportunities in Basic Education Sub-Sector in Nigeria”.
According to him, the challenge with Nigerian education was largely attributed to poor teaching, where experienced professional teachers who are highly committed, dedicated and virile were difficult to find in our schools.
”The Council, therefore, in fulfilling its mandates which involve innovations in public policies to upscale the dignity, rewards and recognition of the teaching profession in Nigeria, took some practical steps to salvage the situation.
”These among others are the career path policy for the teaching profession (Beginner, Proficient, Mentor and Distinguished).
”We have the elongation of teachers’ years of service from 60 to 65 years with other incentives, the Professional Qualifying Education (PQE) and PQEI,” he said.
The registrar added that the council had also put in place digital literacy training and remote learning for 22,500 teachers across 16 states in the country to enhance the teaching profession.
He said the country is not yet where it is in terms of having a promising educational sector, but steps were been taken to change the tide of the teaching profession.
He tasked ECAN to sustain its collaborative efforts at transforming the teaching profession in Nigeria. We are willing and open to always partnering with you.
Also, the President, of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), Mr Smart Olugbeko, said that poor implementation of policies was hindering teacher education in the country.
Olugbeko spoke on the topic: ‘Evaluating Federal Government’s Role in Sustaining Quality Teacher Development and Improved Welfare’.
He listed policies such as funding policies, recruitment policies, quality assurance policies and training policies, among others as factors limiting the growth of the education sector.
”Funding policies have been a serious problem the education sector is faced with. In Nigeria, we need funding policies to address some of the problems.
”Since 2017, we have called on the Federal Government to make funding available for COE to be able to carry out their functions of enhancing quality teaching.
”Needs assessment had been taken and recommendations made to the government at different fora, but from 2017 till date, Federal Government has not released a dime for COE,” he said.
He charged leaders to do away with the politicisation of education leading to the springing up of tertiary institutions without adequate funding policies while concentrating on adequate welfare for teachers.
”Graduate teacher at the federal level takes home about N60,000 a month which is N720,000 a year which translates to 1000 dollars in a year while at the state level is about N46,000 per month.
”Poor working conditions, no remuneration for supervising teaching practice, lack of regular in-service training and exploitation of teachers, among others are challenges of teachers’ welfare, which must be addressed,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Head, of Regulation, Accreditation and Enforcement, Mr Abimbola Okunola, said that placing education on a concurrent list had limited the effective elimination of quackery from the sector.
Okunola said that most of the time when the council went out for regulations, they were always faced with situations where the staff of the council was arrested on account that they had no rights to question irregularities in states as education was in the concurrent list.
He urged the National Assembly to do the needful so that education would take its rightful place.
Also, the Chairman of ECAN, Mr Chuks Ukwuatu, said that proper teacher education was a key tool required by professionals in the teaching profession to excel in a dynamic global community.
Ukwuatu added that the success of an educational enterprise particularly in terms of quality delivery depended on the regular supply of quality teachers, hence the need to enhance the profession.
Dominica Nwabufo
