TRCN meets with education stakeholders in South-West

AS part of its efforts to improve teachers’ quality and take its professionalism to a greater level, the Teachers Regulation Council of Nigeria (TRCN) last week Thursday held a stakeholders meeting with chairmen of State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and post-primary schools board in the Southwest.

The meeting which took place last Thursday at the Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, according to the registrar of the council, Professor Josiah Olusegun Ajiboye, was to create an enabling atmosphere to interact and seek better collaboration with education stakeholders in the South-West.

He noted that the meeting was necessary to ensure that the council carries stakeholders at the state level along in the council’s activities with a view to improving on the teaching profession and ensure the human capital development in the country.

Professor Ajiboye disclosed that over 1.8 million teachers had registered with the TRCN all over the country, and that the council is developing a database of all teachers in Nigeria through the Teachers Information System (TIS).

“We want to have a situation where any parent can go to the website of TRCN to click and see the data of the teacher who is teaching his\her child, to know if the teacher is qualified, registered and licensed or not,” he said.

He also announced that from January 2018, the council would be going out with full force in ensuring that private schools also comply with the professionalism move.

“We have held a meeting with the leadership of NAPPS (National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools); we made them realise that Nigerian parents are paying heavily for the education of their children, and if they are paying, they should get quality for what they are paying for. The idea of you going to recruit teachers who are not qualified is not acceptable to TRCN,” Ajiboye said.

He said that after the professionalism effort, the next thing on council’s agenda would be the welfare of teachers.

“We want teachers to change their orientation and attitude towards the profession, and that is why we are developing a code of conduct and journals for teachers.”

Ogun State SUBEB representative, Mr Wasiu Kuye, in his contribution requested that the standard of certificates and licence being issued by TRCN be raised for global recognition wherever they are tendered.

Also, the Permanent Secretary Teachers and Pension Office, Lagos State, Mrs Amosi Sewanu, encouraged the council to come up with induction ceremony programme for the newly recruited teachers in the country, and canvassed mandatory refresher courses be put in place for teachers who had been long in the service.

Representative of Oyo SUBEB, Mr Saheed Aliu, assistant director in the school services department, also charged TRCN to see to the procedure of teachers’ employment in the country, saying “most times it is politicised. We should ensure that merit is not sacrificed for any other thing.

He advised the council to work with faculties of education in tertiary institutions so that the idea of pushing students with lowest cut-off marks into education departments can be addressed.

TRCN’s director of professional operation, Mr Ibarahim Romi, while giving the vote of thanks, lauded the leadership of the council for putting up such a timely assembly, while he appreciated stakeholders at the meeting for yielding to the clarion call.