Registrar and Chief Executive of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Professor Josiah Ajiboye, has said COVID-19 pandemic is responsible for the inability of the council to enforce its deadline directive to all Nigerian practising teachers to get registered with the council latest by December 31, 2020 or get booted out of the profession if not comply.
He also said a total of 28, 826 teachers were registered while a total of 8, 478 were licensed by the council only in 2020 as of November.
He made this disclosure in an exclusive interview with Nigerian Tribune on Thursday, saying COVID-19 which disrupted almost all economic activities in the country including the education sector for several months, stalled the enforcement exercise and the council’s qualifying exams.
He said it is now a standing order by the Federal Government to prohibit those who he called quacks from teaching students both in public and private schools in the country.
He noted that the various teams constituted by TRCN for verification of teachers academic credentials in line with the policy had already been deployed and commenced work in 33 states and the federal capital territory leaving only Borno, Adamawa and Yobe out because of their peculiar security challenge, but that the exercise stalled in March because of the pandemic.
He said the council is working on the initial reports submitted and which showed that some teachers in both public and private schools are actually not qualified to teach and would come out with findings in no time.
He said while the registration is still on and the council exams are also been taken even outside Nigeria, the council would intensify enforcement order once normalcy returns to schools.
Mr Ajiboye, a professor of Social Studies and Environmental Education, however, pointed out that TRCN would be focusing on the training of teachers on teaching and learning in the context of COVID-19 and other emergencies in 2021.
He said all is to make Nigerian teachers more competitive in the global market.
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