TRCN: Taking Education to the next level

Within six years of coming into existence, the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, (TRCN), has made such an enormous impact on the Education sector in the country. The council has emerged an exceptionally efficient, government - owned catalyst of progress. The success story of TRCN is so impressive that its activities and achievements have been widely acknowledged locally and internationally.

Indeed, the accomplishments of TRCN amount to a fulfillment of President Olusegun Obasanjo's electoral pledge to seek immediate and enduring solutions to the problems confronting the Education sector in the country. Some of the major moves made by President Obasanjo towards achieving this goal were the release of funds for the take off of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria and the subsequent appointment of Chief Anjikwi Musa Ciwar (OON/MNAE), as the council's pioneer Registrar and Chief Executive in June 2000.

Not withstanding the huge, long standing and emergent challenges that confronted the council at inception, the TRCN Registrar, with the support and dedication of staff, has shown determination, resilience and unprecedented ability to move the Education sector to the next level regarding regulating and professionalizing teaching.

Today, the TRCN not only stands tall as a government agency which was one of the first to go on-line in Nigeria, it also was able to purchase 33 units of residential houses which were sold to staff in accordance with the sales of government's housing project. Within the period, the Council was able to construct and furnish 2 Storey office complex in Abuja; construct, renovate and furnish the 12 zonal offices 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 House Committee on Education in 2004 for effective utilization of the resources allocated to it.

TRCN, within six years has registered and duly certificated over 700, 000 teachers across the country. In collaboration with the Institute of Education , Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, the teaching regulatory body was able to develop, critique and introduce a new and qualitative Teacher Education Programme called the Professional Diploma in Education (PDE), which adequately meets the national minimum standards for the teaching profession in Nigeria .

TRCN continued in its task of repositioning Education with the establishment of 36 state offices and subsequent restructuring of the state offices into 12 zonal offices; In its capacity building projects - the Council embarked on a process of empowering staff through rich training and retraining activities to fit into appropriate work schedules.

As part of its efforts at improving its services, TRCN has computerized its Human Resources and Accounting System. It is one of the Frontline Federal Government Parastatals in partnership with National e-Government Strategies ( NeGST ) and National Information Technology Development Agency ( NITDA ) in developing and establishing e-registration platform to facilitate the On-Line registration of teachers in and outside the country. TRCN has gone fully electronic with the registration and professional development of teachers and other key services available on the internet.

By: Ojewuyi Muyiwa