The Nigerian government says it is working to ensure that teaching becomes a profession of choice, pride and prestigious in the country, as the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) engages stakeholders in a workshop on its draft 2026- 2028 strategic plan.
The Registrar of TRCN, Dr. Ronke Soyombo at the two day workshop in Abuja, Nigeria said at the heart of the 3 years draft plan is teachers professionalism, capacity, excellence and welfare in order to build a competent, certified, and ethical teaching workforce aimed at improving learning outcomes by 2028 .
“The TRCN Strategic Plan 2026-2028 targets gaps in teacher quality , competency and capacity as well as welfare. It is a commitment to system wide improvement on compliance, competencies and reduced shortages.
“Above all, I want teaching in Nigeria to become a thing of pride. Not only that, for teachers to have a better prestige and for them to be professionals in classes,” she said.
According to her, the strategic plan came as a result of the evaluation of policies and implementations, especially between 2017 – 2025.
The TRCN Registrar explained that the plan aims to improve earlier identified challenges such as inconsistent standards enforcement across states, limited access to continuous professional development (CPD), especially in the rural areas, low motivation, poor working conditions, digital gaps in teaching and weak public perception of teaching, as well as fragmented policy coordination and poor performance monitoring.
She said the strategic plan will be monitored and evaluated using digital dashboards through real time tracking, periodic reviews and impact measurements.
“Effective implementation will improve learning out comes, strengthen institutional capacity, and ensure equitable teacher development nationwide,” she said
The Registrar said the workshop aims to chart pathways towards successful implementation of the strategy nationwide.
“This is an opportunity for us to articulate what we have done and to invite development partners and also sister agencies to come and have their own input so that at the end of the day, you will see that we’re not just doing it by ourselves and they can take more ownership,” she said
The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Alausa represented by Amaji Ruth Jummai of the Department of Colleges of Education, Federal Ministry of education said the importance of teachers to national development cannot be over-emphasized, as such the plan to continually improve them is welcomed.
“They are the single most important in-school factor influencing learning outcomes. Consequently, the quality of our teachers largely determines the quality of our graduates, our workforce, and ultimately, our nation,” he said.
He urged participants to ensure that their input shape the future direction of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria for the next three years and beyond as it will influence the quality of teaching and learning in schools.
“I urge TRCN to take full advantage of the insights, critiques, and recommendations that will emerge from this workshop. Let the final Strategic Plan be a document that is not only well written but also actionable, impactful, and nationally relevant,” he said
One the participants, Olasunkonmi Opeifa, representing a Non Governmental Organization, with the name, one Million Teachers said the content of the draft 2026-2028 strategic plan and input being made by stakeholders, when implemented, is bound to make Nigerian teachers globally competitive.
“We’re real stakeholders in education. We sit down together and deliberate how, not just Nigeria education will go forward, but specifically how teachers’ professionalism can be achieved. And today now we can see everyone, all hands being on deck now, doing that. Starting from the disciplinary part of it, to how technology can be used, to basic content of professionalism. And every other aspects of what will make a teacher, a professional teacher.
“In the space of three years, which is what we are planning now, a Nigerian teacher should be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with any professional teacher anywhere in the world,” he said
Another participant, Mr. Albert Ameh repsenting the British Council, said the content of the draft plan and quality of discoursions gives hope that in the next three years, Nigeria will have more motivated and qualified TRCN licenced teachers.
“The reason why we are doing this, is to ensure that capable teachers, qualified teachers, are the ones teaching our students in the classroom. Because by the time we have capable and qualified teachers,then we are sure that they will be passionate enough to teach our children properly. And at the end of the day, we’ll be able to get an improved learning outcomes,” he said.