TRCN ready to audit teachers’ credentials in A/Ibom

The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has said it will soon commence the verification of registered teachers in Akwa Ibom state with the intention to flush out those with fake teaching certificates in the state.

State Coordinator of the council, Aletor Omonzokpia confirmed that the verification exercise will begin in March with teachers from public schools.

Speaking yesterday in an interview in Uyo, Omonzokpia said the registration of qualified teachers ended in 2019, while the verification exercise will be done to authenticate licensed teachers.

He explained that the verification would prove the veracity of licenses as many teachers were in possession of fake licenses, adding that the state commissioner for education would approve the registration before it will be carried out.

Omonzokpia disclosed that so far, 20, 023 primary school teachers have been registered in the state, 8, 218 in secondary schools, while other teachers outside the secondary and primary schools sector are 6, 017.

He however, lamented that private school teachers have not fully complied with the registration as expected, adding that it was a major challenge for the council.

“We have a lot of teachers that have written the examination and passed, but they have not come to collect their licences because for one to have our certificate now, you have to write what we call promotional qualified examination. That examination is now a criterion for one to register. 

“But, most of them have not turned up for the examination even after passing the exam. We are going to verify those teachers that have come to register. Thank God, we have gotten the names of teachers in this state both in the public and private sectors. 

“So, the register will help us verify the registered ones. We will go to each local government and create a centre while creating the centre, we will pick a school with the largest population and invite others schools to come there. 

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“So after the verification, the office will tell us another line of action. If they mobilise us, we will start that next month. We are facing a lot of challenges, especially those teachers in the private schools.

“They don’t want to identify with us, but we are trying to let them know that this TRCN has come to stay as in other countries. We have a regulatory body that regulates the profession. 

“Until now the private schools teachers have not complied fully as expected from them and that’s the challenges we are facing. 

“The verification  is for both public and private schools because we’ve written to the proprietor of private schools in the state concerning what we intend to do, but we are going to start with the public schools,” he stated.

The state coordinator further said the TRCN will begin a pilot scheme for the enforcement of the use of only registered teachers in some selected states.