By Philip Yatai
Kaduna – Teachers in Kaduna State have expressed divergent views on the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN)’s directive to teachers to register with the council or be barred from teaching after 2017.
TRCN Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Olusegun Ajiboye, recently announced that teachers, who failed to obtain the professional teaching certificate from the council, would not be allowed to teach beyond 2017.
Ajiboye said that the qualifying professional examination, scheduled for September, remained the only practical way through which holders of teaching qualifications could defend their profession.
But, while some teachers welcomed the idea as very crucial to professionalism, others dismissed it, arguing that it would not add any value to the quality of teaching in schools.
Mr Bayo Yusuf, Principal, Marafa Comprehensive School, Marafa Estate, Kaduna, described the development as a “a very good idea”.
Yusuf told the News Agency Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Kaduna that the step would “professionalize the teaching profession”.
He, however, advised that the examination for the registration should be vigorous.
“The examination should be rigorous and handled by thorough professionals; teaching is a practical profession, so emphasis should be based on the practical capacity to teach,” he said.
He said that all teachers in his school were holders of NCE and Bachelors in Educations degrees, but regretted that none of them was registered with the council except himself.
“Although I am satisfied with their productivity, even without the TRCN certificate, I will ensure that they met the deadline,” he said.
Another teacher, Malam Maidace Dahiru, said that the measure would bring the needed sanity in the teaching profession.
“It should be like in the medical field; if you are not certified and licensed, you cannot treat a patient. So, if you are not a certified teacher, you have no business going to teach.”
Dahiru, who holds a Grade II certificate, NCE, B. Ed and M. Ed, said that he had been teaching for some years without being registered with TRCN.
He said that the deadline was a motivation for people like him to get registered.
Malam Aliyu Kallah of Government Secondary School, Rigasa, however, opined that obtaining the TRCN certificate did not translate to quality.
“Certificate does not translate to competence in practical delivery. It does not translate to quality teaching.
“Teaching is a gift. It is not about certificates. A good teacher should be naturally interested in teaching and imparting knowledge. He just does not emerge by clutching certificates,” he said.
He said that Nigeria must emphasis capacity, rather than certificates, so as to forge ahead as a country.
“As far as I am concerned, the registration will not make any difference on the quality of teaching in our school,” he said.
Mr Amos Kadanga, who teaches with the Local Government Education Authority Primary School, Shika Dam, Zaria, also said that the policy would not have direct impact on the quality of teaching.
“The exercise will only answer the question of whether you’re certified to teach or not, but will not tell whether one has the capacity and the ability to teach or not,” he said.
Kadanga, however, advised that if TRCN wanted to ensure that every teacher was registered, it should liaise with government and make it a compulsory requirement before one could be employed to teach.