The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria has said out of Nigeria’s approximately four million teachers, only 2.4 million possess the requisite qualifications for teaching.
Speaking in an interview with The PUNCH, Registrar, TRCN, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, explained that many private school teachers did not have the TRCN qualification because they lack a degree in education.
According to the TRCN website, the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria is an agency of the Federal Ministry of Education of Nigeria. It was established by the TRCN Decree N0. 31 of 1993 (now TRCN Act CAP T3 of 2004). The major mandates are the regulation and control of the Teaching Profession at all levels of the Nigerian Education system, both in the public and private sectors.
Ajiboye said, “Nigeria has approximately close to four million teachers, and presently, only about 2.4 million teachers have been registered with TRCN. What we have observed is that in private schools, a large percentage of teachers lack the required qualifications to register with TRCN. To register with TRCN, one must have a Bachelor of Education degree or a BSc or BA degree with a PGDE or Professional Diploma in Education.
“However, many teachers in private schools do not meet these requirements. They lack a Bachelor of Education degree or any graduate diploma in education, making them ineligible for registration. Hence, out of more than four million teachers in the country, only about 2.4 million have been registered by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria.”
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation clearly says that Sustainable Development Goal Four demands a seismic shift in the provision and quality of education and teachers.
According to UNESCO, every education system is only as good as the teachers who provide hands-on schooling. Study after study has confirmed their critical role in improving education quality and learning outcomes, which is why SDG 4 calls specifically for a major increase in the supply of qualified teachers and more support from the international community for teacher training in developing countries.
