The Federal Government has warned that the ban on recruitment of unqualified and unregistered teachers remains in force, and that it will further be enforced more vigorously.
Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, who said this in Abuja, noted that to be qualified to teach in a classroom in Nigeria, such an individual must be registered and certified by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), in addition to the minimum teaching qualification of Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE).
He said the Federal Ministry of Education had through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), allocated funds for the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programme, stressing that government would ensure the success of professionalisation of teaching in Nigeria.
Speaking through the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Arc Sonny Echono, Adamu said in addition to the objective, government would ensure that teachers and education managers were exposed to current education policies, management systems and teaching methodologies.
He said government would also ensure that the training needs of each state were met, irrespective of their peculiar nature and the judicious utilisation of resources.
He said: “Teacher education is plagued by the continuing shortfall in funding of programmes and projects, coupled with the need to expand and modernise curricula to ensure that the colleges of education products are able to effectively deliver basic education at pre-primary, primary, Junior Secondary School (JSS) and adult and non-formal levels.
While urging the states which had not implemented the approved 27.5 per cent teachers’ peculiar allowance, to do so, the Minister said, “the non-implementation of 27.5 per cent teachers’ peculiar allowance by some state governments; the violation of National Council on Education (NCE) ban on recruitment of unqualified and unregistered teachers remain serious problems and unacceptable.
He warned that the ministry would henceforth take appropriate sanctions against the defaulters of these rules.
Adamu said: “In our efforts to improve funding for teacher education, the present administration constituted the Teacher Education Development Fund Account (TEDFA) which is dedicated to the execution of Teacher Education Development Plan.”
The ministry will effectively monitor the implementation of the NTEP goals and objectives for the development of the teaching profession in order to build effective, resilient and sustainable education system for Nigeria at all times.
“With regard to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) the government has expressed its determination to improve Technical and Vocational Education Guide/Instructional materials to aid the teaching of the new curriculum in technical and vocational education. The Ministry will ensure effective use of these materials to ensure improvement in TVET,” he said.
