Stakeholders in the education system are worried by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria’s (TRCN) claim that 70 per cent of private school teachers in the Southwest are unqualified. They also gave insights into how to tackle the issue, BOLA OLAJUWON, Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta, Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin, Damola Kola-Dare and Victoria Amadi report
Last week, the Registrar, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, (TRCN), Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, said 70 per cent of private schools teachers in the Southwest are unqualified.
Speaking at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the TRCN and INSTILL Education, a South Africa-based educational organisation, Ajiboye said a survey was conducted and it was observed that 70 per cent of teachers in the Southwest are not qualified.
“A large number of teachers in private schools in Nigeria today are also not qualified. Unqualified teachers are not only cheating pupils and students; they are cheating the education system in its entirety’’.
However, Nigerian public officials and educationists have reacted on the issue. They also spoke on how to tackle it.
‘No teaching training experience, no qualification’
In a reaction on the issue, Secretary, Nigeria Union of Teachers, Lagos State, Gbenga Ayetoba, in a telephone conversation with The Nation, explained that inability of some teachers to undergo teaching training, alongside acquiring degree in teaching are the major reasons some teachers are unqualified. He also noted that most of the private schools operate in poor or average environment, hence not being able to employ professional teachers to teach the students.
Ayetoba said: “First of all, we have to look at what makes a teacher qualified. You are qualified as a teacher when you go through the process of teaching. In Nigeria, the minimum qualification is Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) and you can go further than that and get your bachelor in education. If you go through that process, that makes you a qualified teacher. Anything short of that, you’re not a qualified teacher. If you don’t go through college of education to obtain NCE or go to the university to obtain bachelor or master in education, you cannot be called a teacher.
“If we have 70 per cent of unqualified teachers in these schools, the cause is not far-fetched. These private institutions are established to maximise profit and minimise cost. In the process of doing this, the proprietors or proprietress will not be able to employ qualified teachers. A teacher that has passed through a college of education, university training in education and still go for teaching practice and passed with proof of certificate, that would be called a qualified teacher.
“The expectation is that when you come out, with all those experiences and training that you have gone through, it is expected that you would get a job that will commensurate with the training you have passed through.
“In public schools in Nigeria today, the NCE is a minimum qualification. If you want to recruit an NCE graduate in a public school, you have to start with the fellow at Level 7. If you’re a university graduate in education, the starting point is Level 8.
“The truth of the matter is how many private schools can afford to pay teachers, even though the money is very small? How many private schools in Nigeria can afford that? That is why these private schools would always try to go for unqualified teachers because they want to maximise profit. That is where you see a school certificate holder who did not acquire five credits correctly would be asked to teach in private schools and that’s when you see them paying them peanuts as salaries. That is because they cannot hire a graduate teacher who has passed through education training to teach in the private school.”
Poor students’ performance
“Students who are taught by these unqualified teachers face under-performance, being unable to meet academic potentials and not being able to compete in ideal labour market, whether within the country or beyond. Starting from admission process, they cannot compete in meeting the minimum basis in tertiary institutions, within the country and beyond. That means the beginning of their poor output in terms of academic capacity and of course, in their ability to secure fulfilling jobs,” Ibrahim explained.
A principal of a government school in Isolo, Lagos, who craved for anonymity, said the impact unqualified teachers leaves in the lives of pupils affect their future and all round performance of such pupils.
In her words: “The problem of unqualified teachers in private schools is affecting all the exams we are having in Nigeria. How can you take Senior Secondary (SS3) certificate holder to teach the same SS3 students? The qualified teachers among them are the ones writing their examinations for them. This is why you see a child who can speak fluently, but cannot write nor defend their certificates or practise what they score in their exams.
“If government would impose mandatory employment of qualified teachers in private schools, it will go a long way to stop this problem of poor performance in exam, especially in JAMB and WAEC.”
How we’re ensuring quality control on our teachers, by Ogun SUBEB Chairman
In Ogun State, the government, through its agency, the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), said it ensures “quality control” on its teachers in public primary school by setting a standard allowing that at the point of entry, only qualified teachers were engaged.
The Chairman of SUBEB in Ogun State, Dr. Femi Majekodunmi, who made this known to The Nation, added that the minimum qualification of the teachers in its employment is National Certificate of Education (NCE).
Majekodunmi, a medical doctor, said there are arrangements in place for training and retraining of the primary school teachers, periodic monitoring of them, employment of more teachers, establishment of Parents Teachers Association (PTA), the Ogun Teach Scheme and the school based management committee to assist the state government in ensuring “quality teachers and quality teaching” in the state public primary schools.
He said: “What I can tell you about Ogun State is that Ogun is unique in making sure that we have qualified teachers in all schools, including the primary school. The State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) takes charge of primary school and junior secondary school. There is no teacher in the service of Ogun State that is not qualified. The minimum qualification is NCE. We don’t have teacher in Ogun State that is not qualified; that shows you the importance the Ogun State government attaches to employing qualified teachers.”
Educationist: phasing out of TTC reason for unqualified teachers
An educationist and a registered teacher, Dr. Olugbenga Azeez, has said TRCN is trying to sanitise the system based on its mandate to nurture professionalism in the teaching profession.
Dr. Azeez, a former scribe of Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU), Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) chapter, Ago – Iwoye, said some of the primary school teachers may be graduates of disciplines outside education. He explained they may be competent in terms of contents, but lacking in “pedagogical competence,” stressing this is one of the problems TRCN had noticed and resolved to address. He attributed the cause to the cancellation of Teachers College System in Nigeria, saying it was “the only place to acquire the basic ingredients to become a teacher”.
According to him, it was a “misnomer” for the Nigerian government to have phased out Teachers Training College.
NAPTAN: teachers must register and be certified
Deputy National President National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN), Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo said: “When the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), said only 70 per cent, I’m sure it meant that those are the ones that are not registered with the TRCN.
“When I was the PTA Chairman of Ikeja High School, before moving to the state and national level, we engaged ordinary graduates of Mathematics, Physics, or Chemistry at PTA level before the Ministry of Education sent teachers. Such people cannot register for TRCN. Before you can register at TRCN, you must have an education certificate, meaning you must have gone through one of the Colleges of Education in the country or done Post Graduate Diploma in Education.
“I know that private schools do engage some OND or even some ‘School Certs’ holders if they are experienced and mature, like 5 to 10 years ‘school cert’ guys. However, what he should do and add to that is teachers must register and be certified. Let them endeavour to go and do PGD.
“I give it up to government schools; they have about 90 per cent qualified teachers.”
‘We need to reposition education’
Also, President Association for Formidable Educational Development (AFED), Mr. Emmanuel Orji said: “We should not treat education as a sector like health sector, power sector and the likes. Education is the life of a nation. So, many things are wrong with our education system. We have something in the pipeline with TRCN to ensure teachers in low cost private schools are qualified by getting the TRCN certificate. I commend TRCN for regulating the teaching profession, but we must not make an issue with those teaching in private schools who are not qualified. They don’t want to steal, hence they’re working. That is not to say they should be left to continue teaching without a professional certificate. Most of them took to teaching as a last resort or go to study education because they were not given the course of their choice.
“We need to reposition education; in Japan, if a student is studying mining, he studies it from primary to university level, but the reverse is the case here and that is why we run after them for their expertise.”
‘Most private teachers in Kwara are qualified’
Ilorin, Kwara state-based educationist, Mrs. Florence Ovayoza Salawu hinted that most teachers in private primary schools in the state are qualified and equal to the task.
She faulted the recent assertion by the TRCN that over 70 percent of primary school teachers in Southwest are not qualified.
Mrs. Salawu, who is the Head, IPS Nationwide Schools, argued that TRCN certificate is what every teacher presents at the point of employment.
She said: “TRCN’s claim is not true. This is because one of the requirements for employing teachers is TRCN certificate and private schools are not exempted. And TRCN conducts exams for them before they are issued the certificate. So, no private school is employing unqualified teacher.”
Commenting about her schools, she said: “The schools usually conduct thorough examination both written and oral for potential teachers before they are employed. This is to test their abilities in speaking, writing and mathematics.”
A call for action
To Ayetoba, government and education bodies in charge of recruitment and scrutinising of schools must step up their game in fishing out private schools, who have unqualified teachers. He noted that most of the private school owners produce fake teachers’ certificate to get registered.
“Government at all levels have a lot to do to make sure we have quality and qualitative education in Nigeria. The process of registering private schools resides with our Ministry of Education and Federal Ministry of Education.
“When you want to register as private school, part of the requirements is the qualifications of teachers you want to employ. Because Ministry of Education would ask them about their teachers when they want to register, these school owners would get qualifications of people and submit as their teachers. If Ministry of Education didn’t go beyond looking at the documents in their offices, then, they will be making the same mistake. The Ministry of Education should not stop at just asking them to submit the qualifications of their teachers, they should go ahead to visit the schools.
“The department that is responsible for the registration of private schools in Ministry of Education sometimes don’t visit the sites to know if they are good enough to house a school. Some of these private schools are run in flats and they will still call it international school.
“The question is, if the school has been approved, the officers that are in charge, do they visit the school? It is not only about the teaching staff now, it is more about the environment that house the school. This kind of environment cannot be able to afford professional teachers to teach in that school.”
He added that going through training as an educationist is not enough to make one a teacher without the professional exam.
“It’s just like a lawyer graduating from university but didn’t go to law school. Such person cannot practise. You cannot be called a teacher with just college of education certificate, NCE or bachelor in education, you cannot practise as a teacher. You’re not a qualified teacher yet. You have to go through Teachers Education Council and write the professional examination. That is what will qualify you as a qualified teacher. Some private schools cannot afford to employ these professionals to teach in their schools because of the professional power.”
Ogunbanjo said: “In private schools, we should encourage them to ensure to register with TRCN. But beyond that now, the state government should now thoroughly monitor and evaluate private schools. So, it falls back on the government to ensure that supervision is done well and passionately.
“From time to time, the moment the govt officials now go to such schools, they should give them time, between 12 and 36 months to ensure they get a professional teaching certificate and then register with TRCN. If you send the teachers away, it will cause more problems. “Schools should also endeavour to get someone who is an educationist to train them so that they can fit in at least for that school before now enrolling to do their PGDE.”
Education Adviser, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Dr. Mikailu Ibrahim, noted that regardless of the claim of 70 per cent teachers in private school being unqualified, he added that some of them are up to task.
“Private schools are of different categories. We have British, American schools which definitely at that level won’t be said to have unqualified teachers. There is also category of private schools in Nigeria that are in another category. There are low cost private schools. Those ones are likely to fall in the category of those with unqualified teachers.
“In Lagos in particular, from 2015 to 2018, the United Kingdom (UK) government aid unit conducted a programme to identify and support low cost private schools. And it found that out of about 12,000 schools identified in Lagos, only 4,000 were registered and recognised by government. If you look at this, it means that there are two times more unregistered schools than those that are registered. But parents don’t know if these schools are registered or not. Most of these schools are likely very low in resources and likely very low in the capacity of their teachers. Most of these schools don’t train their teachers, because when they train them, that’s when they move from one school to another,” Ibrahim said.
