About 11,350 teachers across Nigeria on Saturday sat for the first batch of the Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE) organised by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN.)
The Registrar of TRCN, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, who spoke with newsmen as he monitored the exercise at the Sascon International School Maitama, Abuja, said reports from across the country showed that the exam went on smoothly.
Accompanied by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, David Adejo, the Registrar disclosed that Lagos State had the highest registered candidates for the examination.
According to him, Lagos with over 1,500 entrants was followed by Kano State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT.)
He further disclosed that Kebbi State had the lowest participants in the exercise, stating that the exercise, however, recorded tremendous improvement in terms of participation and the accreditation process.
In his words: “Well, generally, all over the country, we have about 11,350 candidates who are writing the exam, with Lagos State having the highest with 1500 plus candidates, followed by Kano State and FCT Abuja; then you have a state like Kebbi with the lowest number of candidates for the examination.
“There has been a lot of improvement with regards to even the accreditation procedure, because part of what we did was to develop an app to be able to accredit candidates; and this is working perfectly well.
“We’re able to check your name, your passport photograph will also appear and everything like that, so we know that the people that are writing the exam are those who actually applied; so, it’s been going on smoothly.”
He also disclosed that the examination, which was conducted across the country, started on Wednesday and was concluded in some states on Friday.
While commending the candidates for their comportment during the exercise, Ajiboye said their conduct proves that they are mature and shows seriousness with the examination.
Also, speaking with journalists, the accompanying Permanent Secretary, Adejo, said one of the major processes by the Federal Government to weed out quacks in the teaching profession was the PQE, adding that it was now obvious that nobody could get the TRCN license without passing a provisional qualifying examination.
According to Adejo: “Even if you’re a professor in the university, you just have to write this examination before you can get the certificate and the license. So, part of the process for weeding out this quackery in the profession is what we are on. And another thing that we are doing in that regard is also school monitoring. You will recall that in February 2020, we started the school monitoring programme. two boards.
“Monitoring is a continuous exercise. So, we are still on, we will not relent. And we have also processes for checking our certificates, the authenticity of those certificates. We have certain features in our certificates and the license that actually will enable us to know whether it’s really a fake one or a genuine one. So, we are on top of it.
“This year, documentation has a double level; first, you identify yourself, fill the form, then you also cross check your sleep with an app that was developed to give it authenticity. So, I think they are improving on an incremental basis every year in the process for the professional qualification exam for teachers.”
Commending TRCN for the improvement in the accreditation process for the examination, Adejo restated the federal government’s position that before you can be a teacher in any school, you must meet a basic minimum requirement and that is what the Teachers Registration Council is doing.
He added that as a result of efforts being made by TRCN, the level of quackery at the junior and senior secondary school levels is reducing.
He said the government was still working on cleaning the database of qualified teachers at early childhood and primary school level.