FG restates commitment to quality teachers in basic education

THE Federal Government has restated its commitment towards ensuring improvement in the quality of teaching and learning at the basic level of education in the country.

Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Sonny Echono, who said this in Abuja, added that government would in addition to improvement in infrastructure, ensure that only qualified teachers were engaged to teach in schools.

He said one step government has taken was to engage unemployed qualified and certified teachers across the states of the federation to replace individuals teaching in Nigeria basic schools without qualification or certificate.

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Echono disclosed that government has tasked the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) and the National Teachers Institute (NTI) to compile a data base of qualified teachers and those who have written the professional examination and are unemployed for easy placement across the country.

He said that the process would segregate the qualified and certified teachers and make them available state by state.

He said: «We are starting from individuals who are qualified and who do not have jobs to replace those people in few schools who are not qualified and are.»

The permanent secretary insisted that government would fulfill its responsibility of providing job for qualified teachers thereby addressing the challenge of dearth of qualified teachers in the system.

He said an upgrade of the council’s quality assurance department has been done to enable TRCN to have offices in the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He further disclosed that the establishment of the secondary education commission would also serve as a second measure so as to be able to enforce standards.