The Nation Newspaper

Tag: TRCN

  • TRCN to prosecute fake teachers

    Registrar/Chief Executive of Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Prof Olusegun Ajiboye, has said the Council will arrest and prosecute quacks in the teaching profession.

    He said Federal Government’s setting up of Teachers’ Investigative Panel and Teachers’ Tribunal, has given the Council mandate to move beyond the level of persuasion to enforcement.

    Ajiboye spoke at the graduation of Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PDE) and Induction ceremony for 200 master, bachelor and NCE graduates into the council by Topmost College of Education (TOPCOED), Ipaja, Lagos.

    Ajiboye who was appointed TRCN Registrar two months ago, saidunder his watch, teaching would no longer be an all-comers’ affairs.

    He said: “Teaching is the mother of all professions.  We teach, others learn. That is why we will no longer allow non professionals to take over our jobs; and this administration will also ensure that no longer happens.

    “As teachers who don’t want to be pushed over, you must be ready to learn, unlearn and relearn.

    “You can’t be static because learning is a lifelong process for a teacher especially in the area of technology. The country no longer has room for analog but digital teachers”, he said.

    Director of Academic Planning , Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED), Otto-Ijanikin, Lagos , Dr Lawal Babatunde  spoke on: “The reluctant teacher versus the teacher to remember: A contextual challenge for improved teachers’ welfare in Nigeria”.

    The guest speaker described the ‘reluctant teacher’ as one with no desire to try anything new, noting that the negative effect of such traits usually rubs off their learners.

    “The teacher to remember is that teacher who is approachable to students and really understands them. He knows how to listen, treat students with respect and makes every student feel like one of their own”, he said.

    He urged government to evolve a policy of wooing the best into the teaching profession through improved welfare package, better financing of teacher development programmes, as well as a sincere implementation of the provisions of the National Teacher Education Policy (NTEP).

    Provost of the College, Dr Mabel Odunayo, said with their training, teachers are to help translate into reality the nation’s educational policy, aims, goals and objectives.

    “They are to ensure that needs of learners are met through appropriate content, methods, attitude and environment. They are expected to help in the development of life skill programmes by serving as significant persons, mentors and life coaches to their learners in spite of their own personal and professional challenges,” she said.

  • TRCN Registrar resumes

    TRCN Registrar resumes

    The new  Registrar/Chief Executive Officers of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Prof Segun Ajiboye yesterday assumed duty following his inauguration by the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu.

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday approved the appointment of 17 new chief executives of parastatals and agencies under the Federal Ministry of Education with effect from August 1.

    Ajiboye told reporters after the exercise that he alongside other chief executive officers of the agencies were admonished to key into the change mantra of the Buhari administration.

    He promised to uplift the standard at TRCN by focusing on teachers certification, and improving quality.

    He said: ‘’I am going to TRCN to carry out the mandate of the Federal Government and raise the bar.

    ‘’Teachers are central to the quality of education of any nation. I will introduce some programmes to raise the bar of teacher education in the country. I will maintain standards and promote teacher education quality.’’

     

  • Union decries attempt to scrap TRCN

    Union decries attempt to scrap TRCN

    The  Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has rejected the alleged attempt by the Federal Government to scrap the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).

    The National President, Comrade Michael Alogba Olukoya,  said the attempt to scrap the TRCN was a misguided policy summersault that will not only ruin  and ridicule the teaching profession, but also bastardise standards and quality of education in the country.

    The union said TRCN is the only body that regulates the practice of teaching in the country from the primary to the tertiary institutions, and wondered why the federal government wants to scrap the council.

    Olukoya, said TRCN, established since 1993 through the TRCN Act CAP T3, has achieved a lot for the educational sector through its laudable roles in the accreditation and re-accreditation procedures in the Colleges of Education, National Teachers Institute (NTI) and universities.

    According to him, TRCN Act was enacted after a nation-wide strike by the union on the need to regulate the teaching profession in the country.

    He said the union will not fail to return to the trenches as it did in 1992 and 1993 before the federal government established the council, if the alleged ongoing attempt by the federal government to scrap the council is not stopped forthwith.

    NUT urged the government to allow the TRCN to remain as government has done to other regulatory bodies in the country like the Libraries Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN), Nursing and Wid-wifery Council, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Medical Laboratories Science Council of Nigeria and Council for the Regulation of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN).

  • TRCN launches probe panel

    TRCN launches probe panel

    The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has established Teachers Investigating Panels (TIP) nationwide.

    Its Registrar, Prof Addison Wokocha, said TIP will ensure adherence to ethics, to restore the lost glory of the ‘chalk profession.’

    “‘In exercising this mandate, we direct our vision to regulate teacher education, training and practice at all levels and sectors of the Nigerian education system in order to match teacher quality, discipline, professionalism, reward and dignity by promoting excellence in education through effective registration and licensing of teachers,” he said

    Wokocha spoke at the matriculation/graduation and induction for National Certificate in Education (NCE), Bachelors of Education (B.Ed) and Professional Diploma in Education (PDE) of about 300 students of Topmost College of Education (TOPCOED), Ipaja, Lagos.

    The Registrar said the TRCN has been empowered to do this through Act 31 of 1993 CAP T3 of 2004, which, among other things, recommends certain benchmarks for teacher qualification, including determining who are ideal teachers; what standards of knowledge and skills are to be attained by persons seeking to become one, as well as raising those standards from time to time.

    He said as the regulatory agency for the profession, TRCN is further empowered by the Act, to mount, monitor and supervise mandatory continuing professional development programmes and maintain discipline among teachers at all levels.

    For the graduands who took the oath of practice, Wokocha urged them to take the exercise with the highest level of seriousness and commitment to professionalism.

    Similarly, Provost of Topmost, Mabel Odunayo, also counselled the matriculating students to be serious as teaching is not for the indolent but indomitable minds.

    Dr Odunayo also urged the government to address the insecurity in the country.

    “Most worrisome is the incident of April 14, 2014 where over 230 female students of the Federal Girls College, Chibok,Borno State were abducted and have since not been found. This new dimension of wickedness must be resisted otherwise it is a slap to the nation and the world at large,” she said.

  • Teachers take Edo govt to industrial court

    Teachers take Edo govt to industrial court

    •Assessment test to hold March 22

    The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Secondary School Tutors in Edo State have taken the state government to the National Industrial Court.

    In separate suits, both bodies are suing the government over the teachers’ assessment test to hold on March 22 in Benin.

    Four teachers (Okoekpen Emmanuel, Ebare Sunday, Bola Sunday and Osayande Samuel), on behalf of Secondary School Tutors, are seeking to establish that by virtue of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) Act Cap T3, only TRCN can determine the standard and skill to be attained by teachers.

    Edo State government, attorney general and commissioner for Justice; TRCN; Chairman, Assessment Committee Prof. Dennis Agbonlahor ; Mrs. Yemi Keri (head of Information Technology Agency); head of Service, Ministry of Basic Education and Ministry of Higher Education are listed as defendants.

    The teachers are seeking an order restraining the defendants, excluding the TRCN, their agents or privy from conducting the test, pending the determination of the substantive suit.

    They are also asking the court to restrain the defendants from withholding their salaries or entitlements and terminating their appointments, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.

    In the suit by the NUT, the teachers contend that as employees, their employment cannot be determined by the government on the basis of a competency test without recourse to the Civil Service Rules.

    Their counsel, James Ode Abah, seeks an order restraining the defendants, their agents, servants, officers or privies from terminating their employment, except in accordance with a procedure in compliance with the Edo State of Nigeria Civil Service Rules (revised to January 1, 2006).