We’ll give teachers welfare priority after professionalising them—TRCN boss

Professor Josiah Olusegun Ajiboye is the registrar/chief executive of the Teachers’ Regulation Council of Nigeria (TRCN). In this interview with MODUPE GEORGE, he speaks on the activities of the council, his achievements and other issues in the teaching profession.

The Federal Government said that History will be reintroduced into the school curriculum, beginning from this year. How do you see this development?

It’s a welcome development for the country, because a nation without history is a nation that is dead. What can we do without our past? Our children have to learn about our past; they have to learn about our history. They have to understand what transpired in the past so they can affect the future. It was a sad thing to remove History from the school curriculum, but this present government’s Ministry of Education under the leadership of Mallam Adamu Adamu thought it very wise and took the case to the National Council on Education, and it was approved.

What is your council going to do to complement the government’s efforts in this regard?

TRCN does not produce teachers; it is a teaching regulatory authority. We are to regulate teachers. The onus now rests with the educational institutions such as colleges of education and universities to begin a massive admission into the History departments. It is not the responsibility of TRCN to do that. However, TRCN also will support what the government is doing by making sure that only competent and qualified History teachers are employed to teach the subject. I know that over the years, so many people left studying History, especially in the universities, because they felt they would not be able to get jobs at the end of the day. Now with the reintroduction of History, I know that so many people will come back; so many of our students will come back into our History departments and they will be able to successfully undergo their programmes, and in the long run be employed to teach History. TRCN is there always to support the government to ensure that we have competent and qualified teachers to teach all the subjects in our schools.

In your efforts towards professionalising teaching, it appears the emphasis is more on registration than certification.

The focus of TRCN actually is on teachers’ professionalism, and this is in accordance to its name: Teachers’ Regulation Council of Nigeria. Professionalism starts with registration; and when you register, you will get both the certificate and licence to practise at the same time. Every professional actually gives licence to its people to practise. How can that one not happen in teaching, which is supposed to be the mother of all professions? At TRCN level, certification is once and for all, but licences are renewable every two years. The idea is that for you to be able to renew your licence, you must have accumulated certain points in your profession through mandatory continuous professional development programmes, workshops, conferences, among others. This is to ensure that teachers are up-to-date in what they do, as well as improve on their quality and delivery.

So far, how has the turnout been in the teachers’ registration campaign?

The response has been very massive. Before I came on board as the registrar, not so many people knew about TRCN, but as of today in the country, TRCN has become a household name, especially among the teachers. There is no professional teacher in this country today who will feign ignorance of TRCN. I can say that TRCN has arrived. The first professional qualifying examination using Computer-Based Test (CBT) was done nationwide last year on October 14. This is to show you that we are serious and we mean business. I think Plateau State has the highest number of those who wrote the examination, followed by Kano State and then Oyo State. The new development in TRCN now is to ensure that we get to everywhere through the collaborative effort with the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT).

We have been able to penetrate the nooks and crannies of the country because currently, we were able to collect data for all the teachers in public schools in Nigeria. We want to know those who are qualified or not, registered or not with TRCN, as well as those who have their licence of operation or not. We want to obtain and know their areas of specialisation. For example, we will be able to know the number of Physics or Geography teachers in a particular state, and where they are located. How many of them are in the rural areas or urban areas? We have also designed what we call ‘Teacher Information System’.

You spoke about the public schools; how do you plan to carry all the private schools in the country along?

The TRCN mandate covers both public and private schools, and that is why we have sounded the note to the private school owners that it can no longer be business as usual. We recognise private investments in education because it is a general belief that government alone cannot shoulder the responsibility of education in this country. That is why private providers are welcome into the field of education; but while they are welcome, they should not see it as business kind of a thing. We want such a situation whereby even while they are reaping from their investments, they should be able to employ qualified teachers who can deliver and not teachers who would be paid peanuts. We have held series of meetings with private school owners, and presently, the awareness is on among private schools owners. I would like to inform Nigerians that government has given us the power to use our laws this year to enforce some of these things. We shall go round all schools, including private ones, to monitor the teachers and ensure that they are not only qualified, but also registered and licensed by TRCN, and that they are also well-remunerated.

What are you going to do to make sure that teachers who take up jobs in some private schools are not paid peanuts in your professionalism efforts?

The first thing is to get teachers professionalised; after this is teachers’ welfare. We will take it to a level where there will be a minimum salary that can be paid a teacher; but professionalism is the first thing. We are already discussing it with the government. Very soon, there is going to be a reintroduction of scholarship for those who are studying education in the universities and colleges of education. The Federal Ministry of Education is trying to get the Federal Scholarship Board to set aside part of its funds for those who are studying education; because we discover that not so many people want to become teachers, and this portends danger for our country.

In developed countries, teachers are held in the highest esteem. In fact, in so many countries, teachers are paid the highest salary. For example, in Germany and Finland, amidst other professionals, teachers earn the highest. This is the kind of movement that is going on in Nigeria as well – to make sure that our teachers get the best bargain possible; and this will not only be in public schools, but will also extend to private schools. However, let me also say here that there are some private schools that are paying better than what is being paid in public schools. There is going to be minimum benchmark on what a registered and licensed teacher who is a degree holder or NCE should be paid.

What qualifies one to be referred to as a professional teacher?

According to the law, what qualifies you in Nigeria to be called a teacher is that you must carry the requisite certificates. The minimum qualification for you to be a teacher in Nigeria is the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE), and then you can have a degree in Education. You can also have degrees in other disciplines and then have postgraduate diploma in education or professional diploma in education. If you possess these, you can register with the TRCN and be licensed. You can only become a qualified teacher this way; otherwise, you are a cheater.

Is there any relationship between TRCN and other foreign teaching regulatory bodies?

Yes. TRCN is a member of the international forum for teaching regulatory authorities, and also, we are a member of Africa Federation for Teaching Regulatory Authorities. In fact, we co-host the headquarters of Africa Federation for Teaching Regulatory Authorities with South Africa Council on Education (SACE), South Africa. Whenever TRCN issues a letter of professional standing to any Nigerian who wants to teach abroad, it is recognised all over the world because there is an understanding among all the teaching regulatory authorities. In fact, our next international forum for teaching is going to be held in New Zealand this year. So, TRCN is a member of global teaching bodies; therefore, Nigerian teachers have opportunity to teach anywhere in the world and wherever they find themselves in the world, they are given that recognition.