5th November, 2017
The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) says it has registered and certified 33, 259 teachers in Akwa Ibom.
The State Coordinator of TRCN, Akwa Ibom, Mr Aletor Omonzokpia, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Uyo on Sunday.
Omonzokpia said since the registration of professional teachers began in the state in 2004, 19,812 teachers have been registered in primary schools.
According to him, 8300 teachers have been registered in secondary schools, 299 in tertiary institutions and 4848 in other sectors.
“Those under other category are people who acquired teaching qualification and registered with the council but are not teaching,” he said.
The state coordinator said that registration of teachers in the state had been encouraging due to government’s interest in professionalising teaching.
He said, “The Akwa Ibom State Government ties payment of teachers’ salaries to their acquiring of professional certificates.
“If you have a teaching qualification and are registered with the council, there must be a difference in your salary.”
He said that the TRCN would perform better with legislation by the National Assembly, empowering the council to enforce registration of the qualified ones and sanctioning of the quacks.
“The legislation needs to go with enforcement so that the council officials can go into private schools and enforce compliance,” he said.
Omonzokpia lamented that private schools had not been cooperating with the council as they employed all manners of people to teach the children.
The state coordinator described most of those employed by private schools to teach as talkers and not teachers.
He reminded those who had yet to register with the council to do so, stressing that the 2018 deadline for registration before practicing, still stood.