THE Registrar and Chief Executive of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Professor Josiah Ajiboye, has insisted that the proposed professional qualifying examination for all categories of teachers in Nigeria will hold before the end of this year, 2017.
Ajiboye, who spoke with newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja confirmed that the council had taken delivery of the test items from the consultants that handled the job.
He added that the tests items had been designed and tailored to suit the various categories of teachers to be registered.
According to him, the Council had gone to the Joint Consultative Committee on Education (JCCE) to sensitize Nigerians about the examination.
He said: “Everything is set, and we are presently working out the necessary modalities for aggressive sensitization of the teachers who represent our major stakeholders in this process.”
Ajiboye, said the current administration of President Muhammad Buhari is committed to teacher quality and professionalism in the system noting this has also underscored the focus of TRCN towards ensuring professionalisation of teaching in the country.
He noted that the basic strategy being proposed by TRCN was learner-centered, explaining that this is a system where teachers adopt-activity-and-solution-based system.
In his words, “The era of using teacher-centered approach is gone. In the present era, the teacher is merely a facilitator. Both teachers and learners are expected to constantly update their knowledge, more so, in this era of ICT and new media communication systems. It is not just about the system; rather, it’s about the indicators which include the inputs, the process and the outputs”.
On the call for the education sector to reconsider re-adopting the Teacher Grade II system of Education, Professor Ajiboye said the nation’s education system does not need to go back to grade II system in order to revamp the education system.
He, however, suggested that the review being done by the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) teacher training should reflect part of the old Grade II curricula.
“We can use ideas and wisdom from what we had in the old Grade II teachers system to make the present NCE curriculum better. If the teacher factor is not right, we cannot get the teaching system right,” he said.
The TRCN boss called for the re-introduction of the Principles and Practice of Education; review of the length of the period of teaching practice and other components to make the present system more robust and conform to current realities.
He said: “Yes, we cannot undo the past but we can learn from the past to correct the present for better tomorrow so as to revamp the standard and productivity of our education system. We just have to move forward.”
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