About 54 institutions have been granted provisional approval to run the Professional Diploma in Education, while 35 others have been visited for resource inspections and granted full approval and to be re-accredited after three years, the Federal Government, said on Monday.
The measure is to ensure that only qualified teachers go into the teaching profession in line with global best practices.
The Registrar/Chief Executive of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, stated these during a press briefing in Abuja.
“So far, 54 institutions have been granted provisional approval to run the Professional Diploma in Education, 35 others were visited for resource inspections and granted full approval and to be re-accredited after three years”, he stated.
Ajiboye expressed concern over the shortage of teachers in the country, saying that the 1.5 million registered teachers by the organisation fell below the number needed in the country.
According to him, the figure is expected to double very soon due to a campaignwhich the council has planned to carry out.
He said, “The TRCN, over the years, has registered and duly certified over 1.5 million teachers across the country. This figure will double in a very short while because the TCRN would henceforth embark on aggressive campaign towards revamping the system for more productivity.”
Ajiboye added that the proposed recruitment of 500,000 teachers by the government, if well implemented, would bridge the gap in the country’s education system.
He explained that the council had started working on a modality that would ensure that employers of teachers at the federal, state and private levels across the country make teachers’ registration and certification by the TRCN become a pre-requisite for getting teaching jobs in the country.
The TRCN CEO stressed that the organisation had put in place mechanisms to ensure that teachers who wished to travel outside the country enjoyed equal treatment and status with their counterparts in line with global trends.
“We have issued letters of professional standing to Nigerian teachers in Canada, South Africa, Australia and the United States of America. This letter of professional standing issued by the TRCN to qualified, certified and duly-licensed teachers helps the Nigerian teachers when seeking appointment in other nation of the world,” he said.
Ajiboye said that the TRCN would be more aggressive in the area of accreditation, monitoring and supervision of courses and programmes of teacher education in Nigeria.
He further stated that TRCN has been re-positioned to ensure the restoration of the lost glory of the Nigerian teachers through enhanced teacher quality and professionalism.