The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Josiah Ajiboye

  • Education graduates to undergo one year internship soon – FG

    Education graduates to undergo one year internship soon – FG

    The Federal Government ( FG ) would soon start a one year internship programme for education graduates to improve teaching quality in the country.

    Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, Registrar of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria ( TRCN ) disclosed this during a meeting with stakeholders from the North Central zone in Abuja on Tuesday.

    Ajiboye said this was part of the proposals put forwards at the special Federal Executive Council meeting on education on Monday.

    “Part of the things we are trying to look at in the Federal Ministry of Education, which the minister is proposing, is that we are going to have a one year internship programme for teachers.

    “If you can have houseman ship for medical doctors, why not a one year internship programme for would-be teachers.

    “So when they finish from the internship programmes they can be registered as professional teachers.

    “Also, there is a proposal to reintroduce bursary award for those who are reading education courses in colleges of education and the universities to make sure we are able to attract best brains to teaching profession.

    “The minister is also trying to propose that those who have education degree instead of starting them on grade level 8, they should be started on grade level 9 to make the job competitive and make the teachers feel confident about their profession.

    Ajiboye said that the national assembly was amending the name of the council to encapsulate its mandate of regulation.

    He said the council’s name may be changed to “Teachers Regulatory Council of Nigeria.’’

    NAN

  • Professional qualifying examination for qualified teachers begins in October – TRCN

    Professional qualifying examination for qualified teachers begins in October – TRCN

    The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) says the mandatory Professional Qualifying Examination(PQE) for qualified teachers who want to register with the council is scheduled to commence in October.

    Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, the Registrar, TRCN made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.
    Ajiboye added that all unqualified teachers would not be allowed into the classrooms by the end of 2017.

    “The teachers Registration Council of Nigeria has come out with a policy decision which is backed and supported by the Federal Ministry of Education.

    “The ministry has approved that the regular registration without qualifying examination should stop by the 31st of May 2017 and the first professional qualifying examination will take place in October 2017.

    “We are going to stop just normal registration of qualified teachers without examination by the end of this month.

    “We have done advertisement in Nigeria newspapers and have sensitised teachers to this that definitely by the end of this month we will stop normal registration.

    “Any teacher who is qualified who now wants to register as a professional teacher in Nigeria will have to take professional qualifying examination.

    “For teachers who are not qualified the government policy is that we will no longer allow unqualified teachers to be in our classrooms at the end of 2017.

    “These teachers have been given enough time to go remediate for this lack of qualification by taking professional diploma in education or post graduate diploma in education as the case maybe.

    “Those teachers that are not qualified poses a great danger to the Nigerian educational system and because of that we want to wipe off all quacks and the act of quackery from teaching in Nigeria.

    “So any teacher that is not qualified will no longer be found in Nigerian classrooms from 2018,’’ he said.

    Ajiboye said the council was ready for the exercise in terms of manpower having opened offices across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.
    He said the forms for the examination would soon become available for the various categories of teachers.

    He added that the Federal Government would strengthen the council to enable it to cope with the demands of the registration.

    Speaking on the issue of unqualified teachers in private schools in the country, Ajiboye said the council and the leadership of the proprietors of private schools in the country were in talks.

    “We informed them that we found out that a large number of unqualified teachers are teaching in our private schools and we want a situation where this is reversed.

    “As private providers they are supposed to be leading examples by employing qualified teachers.

    “We had a fruitful discussion with the leadership and it is still ongoing,’’ he stated.

  • Private sectors urged to train teachers on special needs, disabilities

    Members of the private sector have been urged to invest in the training and re-training of teachers on special education and awareness of HIV/AIDS in the country.

    Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) made the call on Wednesday at a workshop for teachers on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SENDs) and HIV/AIDS Awareness in Abuja.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training was organised by the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI) in collaboration with Axiom Learning Solutions Limited funded under the SDGs Project.

    Orelope-Adefulire, who represented by Dr Ify Ukaegbu, said that government was constrained by current economic situations and could not shoulder all the responsibility in ensuring the effectiveness of SENDs and HIV/AIDS education.

    “This is an important project and the government cannot do it alone.

    “We need the partnership, the collaboration of the private sector to mobilize domestic resources for investment in the training and re-training of teachers on SENDs and HIV/AIDs education.’’

    She added that Nigeria need to make proper budgetary allocations for the success of the teaching and learning of SENDs and HIV/AIDS awareness in schools.

    According to her, there should also be a high impact interventions specially targeted at addressing the issues of SENDs and HIV/AIDs in schools.

    ‘’Retooling of regular classroom teachers on the techniques of handling special needs children and HIV/AIDs curriculum in schools is also required to make teaching and learning of SENDs work.’’

    Orelope-Adefulire said there was also a need for global partnership on programmes and services of HIV/AIDs and pupils with disabilities.

    Also speaking, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, the Registrar, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, stressed the need for continuous training and re-training of teachers in order to keep abreast with current global trends.

    “Quality teacher and teaching is everything. If we can get this right everything will fall in place.’’

    He said that plans were being made to revive the Presidential Teacher of the Year award so that teachers could be recognised for the work they do

    “We should be recognised; we are nation builders, we teach while others learn and we will ensure that teachers occupy their rightful place in society.’’

    Mr Ikpe Obong, the Secretary General, Nigerian Union of Teachers, noted that there was a significant drop in the number of teachers being trained this year compared to the previous trainings.

    Obong, therefore, appealed to the federal government to source for funds so that more teachers could benefit from subsequent trainings.

    He said that so many people with disability were gifted and talented and could even perform better than some able-bodied persons could.

    “Yes we are in a recession but my appeal to government is that more funds should be made available to increase the number of trainees next year.

    “Government must not neglect people with disability because they are also relevant.

    ‘’Government should go beyond the sensitisation aspect and take care of the special institutions that are responsible for these people.’’

  • Teachers council to conduct first professional exams this year

    The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) says it will conduct the first professional examination for teachers before the end of 2017.

    The examination, known as the Pre-Qualifying Examinations (PQE), would serve as a pre-requisite for admission of teachers into the profession.

    Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, the Registrar and Chief Executive of the council, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.

    According to him, “With regard to the PQE -Professional qualifying examination-the people given the contract, the consultants, they have delivered the test items and we have the custody presently.

    “We have also gone to the Joint Consultative Committee on Education to sensitise Nigerians.

    “Soon, we are going to begin to sensitise the teachers to know that before the end of this year the first examination will be written.

    “We are in the process of sensitisation now and we want to carry the media along and all Nigerians along and in fact our teachers along.

    “So that they will know that now those who have not registered through the existing procedure will have to write qualifying examination as it is being done in other professions.’’

    Ajiboye explained that the PQE would be written based on the four categories of teachers, adding that the old system of ‘’one size fits all’’ no longer holds.

    He said, “Now we have designed a test in such a way that will be suitable to each category of teachers that we are dealing with because when we register teachers we registered them based on the categories.

    “Essentially, we have four categories; we have Grade A that is PhD and above, then we have Grade B that is those with Masters.

    “Then we have Grade C, that is those with first degree and we have the Grade D that is those with NCE and Diploma.

    “The test has been prepared based on the syllabi that covers the whole education spectrum and you are going to be test based on your own category.’’

    NAN reports that the Federal Government had set the end of 2017 as the deadline for the registration of teachers with the TRCN.

    Prof. Anthony Anwukah, the Minister of State for Education, had said that government would flush teachers without the registration out of the Nation’s classrooms after the deadline.