IN its bid to professionalise teaching in the country, the Federal Government has vowed not to employ persons without the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) certificate and licence.
This was contained in a communique issued at the end of a three-day workshop on implementation of professional standards for Nigerian teachers, held at the University of Ibadan.
According to the communique, which was signed by the TRCN registrar, Professor Olusegun Ajiboye, the certificate and licence should be used as part of the requirements for the employment of teachers in all states in the country.
Ajiboye said that the meeting resolved that there should be periodic examination of teachers to validate their licences in such a way that teachers who do not meet the criteria could be allowed to undergo in-service, in-house training or even a full-time programme, while those found to be unable to cope should be shown the way out of the profession.
The communique further recommended to federal and state governments to ensure that only registered teachers are those making policies on education, to ensure that relevant policies that will ensure the growth and development of the profession are formulated.
While recognising the reluctance of lecturers in tertiary institutions to register with the TRCN, Ajiboye enjoined lecturers with doctoral degrees to enrol for post-doctoral diploma in education (PDDE).
Earlier during the workshop, the Minister of State for Education, Professor Anthony Anwuka, had called on all teachers, including professors, without the requisite teaching qualification to enrol for the qualification without further delay.
Anwuka declared that beginning from 2018, the federal government would move against all unqualified teachers in the system, no matter how highly placed.
He stated further that the TRCN would soon put in place mechanism to identify fake certificates and licences, and sanction perpetrators appropriately.