By Yekeen Nurudeen

Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, TRCN,  has said that the proposed Professional Qualifying Examination, PQE, for Nigerian teachers would hold before the end of 2017.

According to a statement by the Head, Information and Public Relations of TRCN, Ojewuyi Muyiwa, the Registrar of the Council, Josiah  Ajiboye confirmed that the tests items have been delivered to the council by the consultants that handled the job.

The tests items, he explained, had been designed and tailored to suit the various categories of teachers to be registered.

He disclosed that the  Council had gone to the Joint Consultative Committee on Education, JCCE to sensitize Nigerians about the examination.

“Everything is set, and we are presently working out the necessary modalities for aggressive sensitization of the teachers who represent our major stakeholders in this process,” he said.

Ajiboye in the statement reiterated that the President Muhammad Buhari administration is committed to ‘teacher quality and professionalism’ in the system saying ” that is why TRCN’s focus is also on teacher quality and Professionalism.”

He noted, that the basic strategy being proposed by TRCN is learner-centered which he said, was a system where teachers adopt-activity-and-solution-based system.

His words, “The era of using teacher-centered approach is gone. In the present era, the teacher is merely a facilitator. Both teachers and learners are expected to constantly update their knowledge, more so, in this era of ICT and new media communication systems. It is not just about the system; rather, it’s about the indicators which include the inputs, the process and the outputs”.

On the call for the education sector to reconsider re-adopting the Teacher Grade II system of Education,  Ajiboye said, the nation’s education system does not need to go back to grade II system in order to revamp the education system.

His recommendation to this effect however, is that the review that the National Commission for Colleges of Education, NCCE, was carrying out should reflect part of the old Grade II curricula.

“We can use ideas and wisdom from what we had in the Old Grade II teachers system to make the present NCE curriculum better. If the teacher factor is not right, we cannot get the teaching system right,” he said.

The TRCN boss called for the re-introduction of the Principles and Practice of Education; review of the length of the period of teaching practice and other components to make the present system more robust and conform to current realities.

“Yes, we cannot undo the past but we can learn from the past to correct the present for better tomorrow so as to revamp the standard and productivity of our education system. We just have to move forward,” he said.