• Tuesday, March 19, 2024
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Teachers’ registration: No going back on deadline, NUT, TRCN insist

Teachers’ registration: No going back on deadline, NUT, TRCN insist

On the heels of ensuring a regulated and formidable association of teachers in Nigeria, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Teacher Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) have insisted on December 2019 as the deadline for teachers across the country to register with the Council or be dropped.

Speaking with BusinessDay, Audu Titus Amba, national public secretary, NUT, states that the Union is in support of the position of the government, as registration is essential to deepen regulation and ensure control among teachers in Nigeria.

“We support the position of the government and the TRCN, and we are in line with it, by December every teacher that is found without the certificate will be asked out,” Amba says.
On the quality of teachers allowed in the classrooms, Amba laments that over the years there have been numbers of unqualified teachers and people without jobs taken up teaching, which had lowered the quality of teaching outputs in the country.

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“There are thousands of qualified teachers that seek opportunities to practice, hence they will be given the chance to practice. We want qualified teachers, in the recent past, we have seen people that lack job take up teaching as a means of survival till their desired jobs come, and they are allowed to practice in our schools, but we are saying, not anymore.

“The classrooms should be a place for people with required teaching training, people with professional training, and practicing licence not for the unqualified job seekers,” he notes.
He, however, could not give the actual number of teachers that have registered since the process began, but states, “We have several teachers registering, and hence we have not been able to keep track of the numbers. But I know they are well over 2 million registered teachers in Nigeria.”

Adamu Bello, director of operation, TRCN, told BusinessDay that the importance of the registration cannot be overemphasised, as it seeks to promote the standard and quality of the education sector as a whole, hence December 2019 remains the deadline for teacher’s registration.

“In Nigeria today, to achieve any desire from a constituted authority, there is need for coordination among qualified teachers,” he explains, also noting the need to bring all teachers together to create a better standard for the profession and the education sector as a whole.

“We encourage people to show interest and start the process of registering. Those that could not complete the registration as at the deadline will be granted extension, otherwise anyone found in the classrooms without teaching licence will be penalised.

“We have seen all sort of people because of lack of jobs go into the teaching job, we want to get those untrained teachers away from our schools. Whoever wants to teach should get the required skill to teach, we are out to ensure that quality assurance is maintained in our schools,” he said.

Emmanuel Hwande, national PRO, NUT, states, “The issues around the teachers registration has been on for long, we have given the teachers enough time to do what is right, there is no going back this time. Anyone found faulty will be dropped from practicing, there is no need for further extension.”

However, Ogunwale Oriyomi, co-founder, Eduplanner, confirms to BusinessDay that promoting teacher registration is welcome development, but the process should be seamless and easy to encourage participation.

“The December deadline may not be met if the process is not reviewed and made seamless,” he notes.