The House of Representatives has called on the Teacher Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) to publish details of unqualified teachers in Nigeria, stating that only persons registered, certified and licensed should teach in schools.
This was as the House noted that: “The low remuneration of teachers encourages them to migrate from one place to another”.
It, therefore, declared that “there is an urgent need to make the teaching profession attractive through the enactment of a Teacher’s Salary Structure as it is obtainable in other professions like Nigerian Maritime Authority, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, etc., with a view to boosting their morale”.
The proposals were sequel to the adoption of the report by the Committee on Basic Education and Services at the committee of the House after the lawmakers considered it as a Committee of the Whole.
While the committee is chaired by Hon. Julius Ihonvbere, the recommendation was contained in the ‘Report of the Committee on Basic Education and Services on the Call for Recruitment of Qualified and Registered Teachers in Nigerian Schools.’
Recently, TRCN, the regulatory body for the teaching profession in Nigeria, said that over 70 per cent of private school teachers in the South West geopolitical zone are unqualified.
According to its Registrar, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, the teachers are unqualified due to their lack of qualifications to enable them to register with the council.
The House committee recommended that the House should “urge the Teacher Registration Council of Nigeria to publicise the data of quacks and unqualified teachers per state in Nigeria”.
It also recommended that the Nigeria Union of Teachers, the National Teachers Institutes, and the Association of Arabic Studies should be in consonance with the provision of the Teacher Registration Council of Nigeria Act, “that a teacher must possess a minimum qualification of Nigeria Certificate in Education and must be registered, certified and licensed”.
