52,000 teachers to write professional exams – Minister

Maryam Abeeb, Abuja

The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has said that about 52,000 teachers nationwide will sit for a professional and qualifying examination organised by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, before the end of October.
The minister said the council had so far licensed about 200,000 teachers across the country, while warning that the date of exit for unqualified teachers remained December 31, 2019.
Adamu stated this during a ministerial briefing held in Abuja to mark the World Teacher’s Day.
“In view of the prevalence of unqualified and incompetent teachers in the country’s education system, the ministry has repositioned the TRCN to professionalise teachers. The council has registered about 2 million teachers and licensed about 200,000.
“The professional examination, which is conducted twice in a year, between May and October, was introduced as a prerequisite for registration. Currently, 52,000 candidates are expected to sit for the October 2019 diet.
“The National Teachers Institute has also been in the forefront of capacity building for primary school teachers aimed at improving their pedagogical skills. The institute has been engaged with upgrading unqualified teachers by providing courses of instruction, bearing in mind that the exit date for unqualified teachers in our educational system remains December 31, 2019.
“It a bid to also beef up its manpower, the Federal Ministry of Education also recruited a total of 3,605 personnel comprising 905 education officers or teachers and 2,700 support staff.”
The Nigeria Union of Teachers, at the briefing, urged the Federal Government to speed up the passage of the age-long demand for the review of teachers’ retirement age from 60 to 65 years.
The NUT National President, Dr Muhammed Idris, said, “The collaborative efforts of the ministry, our union and other stakeholders to see that our long demand for the review of the retirement age from 60 to 65 years is acknowledged.
“We will not rest on our oars until the bill is signed into law. We are also aware of efforts to ensure that the National Secondary Education Commission recently approved by the Federal Government takes off effectively.”