The Federal Government through the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has warned State Government and owners of private institutions against the recruitment of individuals without the requisite TRCN certification and licensing to practice as teachers across primary to tertiary levels of education.
On Saturday, 12,539 candidates sat for the May Diet of the Teachers’ Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE) conducted by the TRCN across the country.
Director, Certification and Licensing, TRCN, Dr Jacinta Ezeahurukwe, who spoke with newsmen on Saturday during the monitoring of the conduct of the examination at SASCON International School, Abuja, insisted that the teachers’ qualifying examination introduced in 2017 has come to stay.
Benue State made a surprise quantum leap with 1,416 candidates, topping applicants from other States including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with the highest number of registered candidates for the examination.
She said the PQE, which was designed to test the professional knowledge of those in the teaching profession, was a prerequisite for licensing and certification of teachers before being allowed to teach in the classrooms in Nigeria.
Ezeahurukwe said: “At the stage we are at now, we are making sure that every state and any organisation that has to recruit any teacher from primary to tertiary must ensure that only qualified teachers are recruited, and for that person to be certified as a qualified teacher, you must go through these processes.’
“The Professional Qualifying Examination for teachers who are to be registered and licenced as professional teachers in Nigeria takes place two times every year, Batch ‘A’ and Batch ‘B’. We take Batch A in May–June and Batch B in November.
“So, this year, 2024, we are taking Batch A of the set that has registered for the examination in May. This examination has started nationwide since Thursday. Some people took the examination in their states on Thursday, some others on Friday, and Saturday being the main day, the examination is going on in all the states of the Federation and FCT.”
While giving statistics on the registration of candidates for the examination, the director revealed that a total of 12,539 candidates registered to participate in the examination nationwide.
According to her, about 650 candidates registered for the examination in FCT, while the state that had the highest number of registered candidates happened to be Benue State, which used to have a very low number of registered candidates in the past.
He added: “Benue is just coming; before now, Benue had been somewhere down the ladder, but in recent times, the state has come up. Benue has the highest number this year, which is 1,416 candidates, and they started the examination yesterday. We make sure that we do not have too many people by batching them so as to have a smooth and credible examination.
“Osun State followed Benue closely with 1,410. Osun used to be the first, most often. Two states have the lowest number of registered candidates: Cross River 59 and Ebonyi State 69.”
She noted that the impact of the examination was being felt widely, which is why the coverage of the examination has been on the increase annually.
Ezeahurukwe observed that the total number of candidates who register for the examination has been on the decrease because the Council has been able to register and license quite a number of teachers, unlike when the PQE was introduced in 2017 and there was a surge in people who wanted to sit the examination.
She further explained that TRCN now conducts professional qualifying examinations and inductions for prospective teachers at the point of graduation from colleges of education and faculties of education in universities.
“Everybody knows that you cannot just walk into a class and say you are a teacher. You must be registered and licenced by the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria for you to answer and practice as a teacher. It is also well known in Nigeria that you cannot be registered and license without going through the professional qualifying examination, because that is one of the prerequisites for certification, as is done in all other professions. TRCN started PQE in October 2017, and it has come to stay,” she stated.
She noted that this examination was now recognised internationally after looking at the processes and found it to be very credible, adding that the United Kingdom (UK) has also granted Nigeria, among other five countries, the opportunity for their teachers to apply for Qualifying Teachers Status (QTS).