The Registrar of the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Professor Josiah Ajiboye has disclosed that he returned to the classroom at the University of Ibadan (UI) to continue with his teaching profession soon after his tenure ended on July 31 last year before his reappointment by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said he never lobbied for reappointment knowing full well the kind of person, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu is, and having discharged his duties creditably, Ajiboye added that on completion of his tenure he only submitted a report of the end of his tenure and went back to the University of Ibadan to continue with his lecturing job.
Ajiboye spoke during the weekend in Karu, Nasarawa State, at a one-day Workshop on the Gains of Certification in Nigeria’s Teaching Profession, organized by the Council for members of Education Correspondents of Nigeria (ECAN), where he vowed to end the menace of quackery in the teaching profession in the country.
He said: “When I completed my tenure last year, July 31st, I went back to the classroom in the University of Ibadan to start my teaching and I was actually handling my classes to teach my students because, I was just given the assignment to complete, my office in the University was there permanently.
“Somebody that works with Malam Adamu Adamu would know the kind of person he is, so I never went to him one day that I want a renewal. I never did. What I did at the completion of my tenure was to submit my report of the end of tenure to him and I left, even though the TRCN Act provided an opportunity for renewal of appointment.
He, however, appealed to all stakeholders including the media to support the Council in the efforts to end quackery in the teaching profession in Nigeria.
He lamented that politicians were the major culprit for recruiting unqualified teachers to teach in schools in their states, stressing that there was no way the country could make progress without quality teachers to teach in schools across the country.
He said that no nation could grow without quality education provided by quality teachers, hence the need to focus on education quality in the country.
According to him, teachers hold the key to development as they produce all other professionals, and quality education is driven by quality teachers.
“In countries like Finland, the qualification for teaching is a Masters’ degree and they select their teachers from secondary school.
“They selected the best of the best. It is a stringent process to get into teaching there. “In our country, we have to be interested in the quality of teachers.
“We should not allow politicians to bring unqualified persons into teaching. “This is not right; the country cannot progress in this way,” he said.
Ajiboye commended Buhari’s administration for ensuring that the teaching profession is given priority attention, especially the recent approval of welfare packages for teachers.
He said the council had also increased the training of teachers in 24 states across the country from 30,000 to 45,000 teachers to provide 21st-century education and ensure professionalism in the sector.
“The minister has approved 45,000 teachers to be trained across 24 states. It was initially 30,000. We have done the first leg of the training of 7,500 teachers.
“We must join forces to rescue this nation from quackery to deliver 21st-century education to the country,” he added.
The Chairman of the Education Correspondent Association of Nigeria (ECAN), Mr Chuks Ukwuatu, in his remark, commended the Council for promoting excellence in the sector through effective registration and licensing of teachers.
Ukwuatu said that the efforts of TRCN had helped in promoting professionalism and restoring sanity in the system.
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