We will no longer tolerate unqualified persons as teachers ― NUT Chairman

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) on Monday said it would no longer tolerate unqualified people to work as teachers in primary, junior and senior secondary schools in the country.

NUT Chairman in Lagos State, Adesina Adedoyin, told the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) in Lagos that teaching profession should be dignified and not made a job for all comers.

He said the teaching profession should be practised like law, medicine and other notable professions.

He said that possession of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) professional licence was compulsory for anybody that wanted to teach in the country.

According to him, teaching should not be made a job but made as a practice.

ALSO READ: Sanwo-Olu felicitates with Muslims, urges them to seek for peace, harmony in Nigeria

“NUT does not want junks in the teaching profession; we don’t want unqualified people working as teachers in our schools.

“If you are not a lawyer, you cannot go to court. If you are not a doctor, you can’t examine patients in the hospital.

“Even if you read law and you have not been called to bar, you cannot practise.

“People should differentiate between job and practice. Teaching should not be made a job, but a practice done by only professionals.

“That is the reason why we are advocating that our members should meet the December 2019 deadline given by the TRCN for all teachers to obtain professional licences,” he said.

Adedoyin urged teachers to obey the Federal Government’s policy and obtain the TRCN professional certificate licence before the deadline expired.

The chairman added that the union had sent reminders to all the affected teachers to ensure compliance before the December deadline.

Adedoyin recalled that during the era of the defunct State Primary Education Board (SPEB) it became a policy that teachers working with Grade II certificate would no longer be head teachers.

He said the reason for the policy then was that many of the young teachers being employed had higher certificates than the head teachers.

According to him, many of the younger teachers were already on grade level 14 while the head teachers could not go beyond grade level 12 because they had Grade II certificates.

“When government policy is coming into play, there is a need for everyone to stand-up to his/her responsibility so that such a person will not be at the receiving end,” he said.