The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, TRCN, said on Wednesday that only 50 per cent of private schools in the country have complied with its directive to deploy only professional teacher(s) to classrooms.
Adamu Bello, the Deputy Director, Professional Operation of the council made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Enugu on Wednesday.
Mr. Adamu said the council would continue to enforce the directive until all tutors get the mandatory certification to teach in schools across the country.
He stressed that the 2017 deadline for all categories of teachers in the country to obtain the required professional qualification remain sacrosanct.
The official disclosed that TRCN would prosecute unqualified and incompetent teachers nationwide as from 2018.
“Very soon, those people that think it is a joke for the 17 years we have been drumming it for them to professionalize, will be arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned.
“The council will go after them with the full weight of the law even as we seek state governments’ cooperation to rid the country of quack and unqualified teachers,’’ he said.
Mr. Adamu emphasised that the certification programme of the council was necessary for all teachers, irrespective of the type of certificate they possess after their graduation.
“It is meant to strengthen and upgrade the standard of education as all professionalized teachers will attend periodic re-certification lecture and examination to keep them abreast of modern best practices,’’ he said.
(NAN)
