AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY THE REGISTRAR/CHIEF EXECUTIVE

AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY THE REGISTRAR/CHIEF EXECUTIVE, TEACHERS REGISTRATION COUNCIL OF NIGERIA (TRCN), PROF. JOSIAH OLUSEGUN AJIBOYE, AT THE PROGRESSIVE MEDIA CHAT WHICH HELD IN THE COUNCIL’S HEADQUARTERS ON MONDAY, 22ND AUGUST 2016

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this Media chat being the 3rd in the history of this great agency. The first press conference organized by this Council held in 2001 and the 2nd took place in 2005 while the 3rd, which is holding today, Monday, 22nd August, 2016,

is aimed at renewing the relationship between the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), and her stakeholders, principal among which is the Media. The Nigerian Media, as the 4th estate of the realm is a tool for both social and economic development of a country and as such, cannot be undermined under any guise.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen of the press, I have invited you here this afternoon as one of my principal partners in the change mantra of President Muhammadu Buhari, (GCFR). My goal as the new Registrar/Chief Executive of this Council is twofold; the first is to sustain Mr. President’s change mantra and the second is to replace existing impunities in the establishment with justice.

I have come, I have seen, and I am still seeing; I have come to ensure the restoration of the lost glory of the Nigerian teacher vis-à-vis enhanced teacher quality and professionalism. Professionalism is the most primary and fundamental need of any vocation that wishes to deliver qualitative services to society and have its members well respected and remunerated. The call for the renewed TRCN and Media relationship however, was borne out of the need to create a platform that would allow free flow of information between the Council and her stakeholders.

As you all know, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria was established by Act 31 of 1993 (Now TRCN Cap T3 of 2004). The Council, by its establishing Act, was charged among other things, to control and regulate teaching profession at all levels and sectors of the country’s educational system. As a teaching regulatory agency, our aim is to match teacher quality, discipline, professionalism, reward and dignity with international standards. Teaching as a profession is a form of public service, which requires teachers’ expertise, knowledge and specialized skills. These professional virtues, you will agree with me, are usually maintained through vigorous and continuous training and retraining.

In view of the need to focus on raising the quality of teachers through constant in-service training for serving teachers, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria under my watch will intensify the Mandatory Continuing Professional Development (MCPD) Programme. The programme is designed to sharpen the skills of teachers which in turn will enhance better performance in their duties and by extension enhance teacher quality. I am sure that the MCPD will, without doubt, achieve the following: provide a forum for cross fertilization of ideas and experiences, which would ultimately improve professional competence and commitment; maintain competence and relevance of the teacher in today’s economic, technological, political and social environments in the country; keep teachers abreast with the latest innovation in the teaching profession and finally, serve as an ongoing process of change in order to assist teachers adapt, contribute and participate actively in bringing about solutions to future professional challenges.

TRCN, over the years, has registered and duly certified over one million, five hundred thousand teachers across the country. This figure, distinguished ladies and gentlemen of the press, will double in a very short while because TRCN would henceforth embark on aggressive campaign towards revamping the system for more productivity. In the same vein, the Council has put in place mechanism to ensure that teachers who wish to teach outside the Country enjoy equal treatment and status with their counterparts in other Countries of the world with the issuance of letter of Professional Standing.

We have issued letters of professional standing to Nigerian teachers in Canada, South Africa, Australia, United States of America, etc. This project on its own has successfully mitigated the problems Nigerian teachers used to face when seeking teaching appointment and proper professional placement abroad. This letter of professional standing issued by TRCN to qualified, certified and duly licensed teachers helps the Nigerian teachers when seeking teaching appointment in any other nation of the world outside Nigeria. This is a landmark achievement for the nation.

As part of our mandate, this Council shall be more aggressive in the area of accreditation, monitoring and supervision of courses and programmes of teacher education institutions in Nigeria. So far, fifty-four (54) institutions have been granted provisional approval to run the Professional Diploma in Education (PDE). Thirty-five (35) others were visited for resource inspections and granted full approval and to be reaccredited after three (3) years. Already three (3) institutions have indicated readiness for reaccreditation in October, 2016.

However, thirty (30) educational institutions are due for reaccreditation this year 2016, including eight (8) others envisaged to key in before the end of the year.

Talking about Professional Qualifying Examinations (PQE), do permit me to assure Nigerians that the council has put in place all that is needed for the successful re-introduction of the professional qualifying examinations for teachers across the country. TRCN commenced the implementation of PQE for teachers in Nigeria in 2008 but halted the process in order to develop modules that are time tested and have the potential to withstand the test of time and standardization. The PQE modules have been developed and test run on sample groups to ascertain the validity and authenticity of the test constructs.

It serves as one of the best tools for assessing, admitting and licensing practitioners in any profession. This assertion was confirmed by the maiden edition of the examination which revealed a lot about the professional deficiencies of the Nigerian teacher. It showed that majority of Nigerian teachers are outdated in their pedagogical skills and techniques. As such, it became evident that they needed urgent on-the-job training for necessary updates.

TRCN visited seventeen (17) States during the first and second quarter of 2016. During these visits, twenty-two (22) teacher training institutions had their graduates inducted at point of graduation. Presently, 2 Universities and a College of Education are slated for induction protocol this month while the Council is also envisaging the induction of education graduates from 25 more institutions across the country before the end of the year.

We are already working out a modality that would ensure that employers of teachers at the Federal, State and private levels across the country make teachers’ registration; certification and license by TRCN become a pre-requisite for getting teaching jobs in Nigeria. It is in this regards that we are saying TRCN is willing and ready to partner with States and local governments to recruit, train and deploy graduates and NCE holders seeking teaching opportunities. I have no doubt in my mind that the proposed recruitment of 500, 000 teachers by the Federal Government, if well implemented would bridge teacher-deficit gap in our education system.

Distinguished gentlemen of the press, permit me to use this platform to call on Parents across the country to verify the state of teachers who are teaching their children. Parents should be able to insist on knowing the teachers have been duly registered; certified and licensed by TRCN.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen of the press, the Council intends to embark on high powered sensitization of stakeholders in all the states of the Federation in order to generate recognition for the PDE programme as against the prevailing adverse postures in some States. We obviously rely on the cooperation of the media to achieve our set goals and we believe our partnership would bring about positive change in the system.

Thank you

Prof. Josiah O. Ajiboye

Registrar/CEO