Only qualified, registered teachers will be allowed to practice —Minister

MINISTER of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, has said only qualified teachers, who are duly registered, would be allowed to teach in the country to ensure professionalism.

Adamu said this while briefing newsman on the sidelines on the presentation of a draft roadmap, tagged “Education for Change: A Ministerial Strategic Plan 2016-2019’’ to education stakeholders, in Abuja, on Monday.

He said the teaching profession had declined and there was the need to ensure professionalism to improve the quality of education.

“Teacher education itself is dying simply because non-professionals have now become teachers.

“Therefore, the professionalisation and registration of teachers will help make sure that the profession is reorganised with quacks kicked out.

“So, nobody should be employed as a teacher if he or she does not have a teaching qualification; there is no magic if you are not qualified as a teacher: you cannot teach,” Adamu said.

According to the minister, teaching qualification means the person had undergone the course of philosophy of education and the method of teaching.

Adamu said the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TCN) was in the forefront of ensuring that only qualified and registered teachers would be allowed to teach in Nigeria.

The minister listed funding as one of the major challenges in the sector, saying that it had not been fully funded.

He mentioned other challenges in the sector to include: out-of- school children, cultism, examination malpractices and indiscipline.

“Only 17 per cent of applicants are admitted into the university and there are 11 million out-of-school children.

“About 25.3 million students at all levels of education are out- of- school in the country.’’

Adamu expressed the hope that the strategic plan would help address the problems in the education sector, saying “this document is the solution to the problems in the sector.”