The Federal Government has declared that henceforth, only First Class and Second Class Upper graduates will get teaching jobs in Nigeria.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono disclosed this known on Saturday during a monitoring exercise of the Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE), organised by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).
Echono who stressed that the decision was aimed at having only the best brains in Nigerian classrooms as teachers, insists that as from 2021, only qualified teachers would be allowed to teach in the country.
According to him, teachers without requisite qualifications and practicing license will be removed from the Nigeria Teaching Service.
“By 2021, we will not engage teachers if they don’t meet particular threshold. We are now limiting entry point of teaching only to the best who are qualified. We will engage individuals with second class upper and first class divisions,” he said.
“You must have a first class or 2:1 as minimum and if you have qualification in other subjects that is not in education, we will arrange for a conversion programme to be administered by NTI, TRCN and any university that has faculties of education or this programme because you also have to learn ways of communicating and managing students.
“We are migrating teachers who are not qualified or do not have the requisite qualifications, competency, not licensed or registered to pseamless.out of our classrooms to make way for qualified personnel because we want to achieve learning and teaching and learning occurs in our schools.”
Echono said since most studied in fields not related to teaching, they need to learn pedagogy and methodology through the National Teachers Institute (NTI) and the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).
“They will undergo specific programmes that will empower them to teach. We must enforce Mr. President’s directive that only qualified teachers will be allowed into our classrooms,” he added.
Echono who assured teachers that they will get better remuneration with peculiar allowances, announced that the government was finalising figures with National Income Salaries and Wages.
The Permanent Secretary confirmed that the National Implementation Committee on Teachers’ Revitalization/Resuscitation Plan will be inaugurated this month.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has urged government agencies to include more youths in driving modern methods of farming to reduce unemployment and bolster Nigeria’s economy.
