TRCN: The epitome of teaching professionT here is no gainsaying the fact that Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has witnessed monumental growth since June 2000, when the pioneer Registrar/Chief Executive of the Council, Chief Anjikwi Musa Ciwar (OON/MNAE) was appointed. Before then, the teaching regulatory body which was established by Act 31 of 1993 was inactive because there was no structure for its take-off. Six years ago, TRCN was like a dream that can never come true, but today, the Council has been made an enigma in the Nation's Education sector. It has emerged an exceptionally efficient government owned catalyst of progress. Not withstanding the huge, long standing and emergent challenges that confronted TRCN at inception, the Registrar was determined to rediscover and reposition teachers across the country. In his words, “In the past, teaching was so glorious and so noble that in communities, teachers were considered next to kings in importance and in the development of society. However, unprecedented rise in societal demand for education, the institutionalization of materialism in Nigeria , emergence of greener pastures, and other factors forced teachers into a relegated position and as a matter of urgency teachers must be rediscovered and repositioned in Nigeria .” That was the dream, the vision and the driving force that has helped the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria thus far. The Council is an agency of the Federal Ministry of Education which is charged with the responsibility of regulating and controlling the teaching profession in Nigeria in all aspects and ramifications and at all levels of the Education system. The law establishing TRCN empowers it to perform for the teaching profession the same functions normally undertaken by the agencies regulating other professions such as the Council of Legal Education, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, etc which are responsible for Legal, Medical, and Pharmacy professions, respectively. By the Law, TRCN is expected to perform the following (among other) functions: • Determine who teachers are; • Determine the standards of knowledge and skill required of teachers in Nigeria and raising the standards from time to time as circumstances may permit; • Registration and Licensing of qualified teachers in Nigeria ; • Accreditation, monitoring and supervision of courses and programmes of all teacher-training institutions in Nigeria , e.g. Colleges of Education, Faculties and Institutes of Education in Nigerian Universities, National Teachers Institute, and Schools of Education in the polytechnics. • Enforcement of professional conduct of teachers in Nigeria through the use of Teachers Code of Conduct, Teachers Investigation Panels and Teachers Tribunal. • Conduct of internship schemes for fresh Education graduates, professional qualifying examinations and interviews. • Execution of Mandatory Continuing Professional Education for all registered teachers in Nigeria . Registration of teachers Over the last six years, TRCN has made giant strides establishing itself as a national organization in all states of the Federation. In partnership with governments of all States of Nigeria, sister Federal agencies, tertiary institution authorities and other numerous stakeholders, the Council has registered over 700,000 teachers in the primary; secondary schools; Colleges of Education, polytechnics and universities in the Public and Private sectors. The Council took the teacher registration process closer to the people with the establishment of 12 zonal offices which are located at Benin, Akure, Uyo, Enugu, Owerri, Minna, Sokoto, Jos, Maiduguri, Yola, Kaduna and Lagos. These efforts did not go unnoticed as the Council was commended by the House Committee on Education in 2004 for effective utilization of resources allocated to it. To further ease teachers' registration process nationwide and globally, TRCN has commenced on-line registration of teachers. The on-line registration project is managed by the National eGovernment Strategies (NeGST), Abuja which is a subsidiary of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Abuja . Scratch cards for on-line registration are available at NeGST; TRCN Offices; NeGST - Licensed eAgents and e-Dealers nationwide. Standards of knowledge and Skills TRCN in collaboration with the Institute of Education , Ahmadu Bello University , Zaria , was able to develop; critique and introduce a new and qualitative Teacher Education Programme called the Professional Diploma which has become widely referenced and acceptable. Apart from this, as part of its statutory responsibilities, the Council has also collaborated with National Teachers Institute (NTI) and Nigerian Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, Ondo to fashion out versatile and robust graded courses on management and leadership skill for various cadres of educational personnel in the Country. In the same vein, it is important to note that several Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education running non-regular courses have submitted the full details of their programmes and are cooperating with TRCN in its efforts at determining whether or not the programmes fall short of the National Minimum Standards. Capacity building workshops The Council has carried out series of capacity building workshops for registered teachers with a view to ensuring that the standards of knowledge and skills of registered teachers nationwide are in tune with the latest developments in the education sector worldwide. Some of these include the followings: • The TRCN/World Bank/UBEC sensitization workshops on School Based Teacher Professional Support and Development held at Kaduna , Akure and Umuahia in 2005. • The TRCN/UNESCO Train-the-Teacher Workshop conducted in collaboration with NUT, NTI, NUC, NAPTAN and other partners in 2005. • The TRCN Workshops on ICT SKILLS ACQUISITION, SUMMITS AND CAMPAIGNS in 2006. • The TRCN Workshops on PEDAGOGY for registered teachers in 2007. Teachers' Disciplinary Committee In its efforts at sensitizing the teaching profession in Nigeria , TRCN has put in place a Teachers' Tribunal and Teachers' Investigation Panels (TIPs) in all states & FCT to monitor and sanction erring teachers. These panels and the Tribunal are working towards ensuring the restoration and repositioning of teaching profession in the country. In all, TRCN has become a success story so far and the dream and vision of repositioning and rediscovering teachers in the country is a sweet savor that Nigerian teachers are beginning to enjoy. By: Ojewuyi Muyiwa |