The Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) have strengthened collaboration on child protection, girls’ education, women’s welfare and gender-responsive education across the country.
The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, made this known in Abuja when the Registrar of TRCN, Dr Ronke Soyombo, paid her a courtesy visit to explore strategic partnership on safeguarding and related issues.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim stressed the need to strengthen data on women in the teaching profession to support effective planning and policy development.
“So we really, really have to scale up data because that will really tell us where we are,” she said.
The Minister said women’s welfare, economic empowerment and career progression remained important concerns for the ministry within the education sector.
She also called for gender-responsive teaching and training, stressing the need to create safe environments where children could report violence and sexual abuse.
“Protection of children, and creating an environment that they can report violence, sexual abuse, it is an area of concern and it is very important that we collaborate in these areas of concern,” Sulaiman-Ibrahim emphasised.
She called for more deliberate efforts to promote girls’ education, noting that available data indicated improvements in girls’ participation and completion of key educational programmes.
“What we have reported is the fact that we have more girls graduating, more girls finishing NYSC, we have more girls writing NECO and WAEC. That means things are changing but we are not reporting,” The Minister stated.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim also questioned whether the numerical strength of women in the teaching profession was reflected in leadership and training opportunities, while advocating greater access to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and digital skills for girls.
Earlier, Soyombo disclosed that the TRCN database captured approximately four million Nigerian teachers, with women accounting for between 70 and 80 per cent of the figure.
She said the Council was working to ensure that every teacher was certified and licensed, with a target of 75 per cent licensing this year and 100 per cent by the end of 2027.
“So by end of 2027 I can assure you that we are not going to have any teacher in classrooms without being licensed,” the Registrar of TRCN explained.
Soyombo disclosed that teachers could be verified through the TRCN website, stressing that academic qualifications alone did not necessarily guarantee teaching competence.
“You can be first-class graduate, that does not mean you can teach well, because how can you break it down to the next set of children,” she said.
Soyombo disclosed that the Council was preparing an Accelerated Teachers Professionalisation Pathway, a six-month programme for teachers who had taught for at least two years in reputable schools but lacked education degrees.
According to her, the programme was being developed in collaboration with the National Teachers Institute in Kaduna.
She said TRCN had representatives of key education stakeholders, including private schools, with the support of the Nigeria Union of Teachers.
Soyombo further identified teacher profiling and criminal-record checks as important measures for strengthening child protection.
“Under the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, we have to identify all teachers that have got criminal record issues because you cannot be a criminal, you cannot be convicted and be teaching our children,” she said.
The Registrar of TRCN said the initiative was aimed at ensuring the safety and protection of children in schools.
The engagement highlighted areas of collaboration including safeguarding, child protection, inclusive education, reporting mechanisms and teacher accountability.
