Funmi Olaitan, Ibadan

Registrar/Chief Executive of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Mr Segun Ajiboye, has expressed the determination of the Council to commence school monitoring in 12 states of the country from February.

Ajiboye while speaking with journalists in Ibadan, said the 12 states comprised two states purposively selected in each of the six geo-political zones in Nigeria.

He said the school monitoring programme is to determine and/or ascertain the total number of qualified or unqualified teachers being used to teach Nigerian pupils in those states.

He added that the Council has engaged consultants to carry out the monitoring which will include determining those licensed to teach and those yet-to-be-licensed as well as those registered and yet-to-register with the Council.

According to him, the consultants have eight weeks to submit their report “which will form the basis for weeding out unqualified teachers as well as advising states rightly”.

Ajiboye stated further that the Council is interested in ensuring that it does not derail from its mandate and would organise a retreat/workshop that will be directed by eminent educationists to further improve on the human capital at the disposal of the Council.

He said, “Also this year, the development Teacher Information Systems (TIS) will become functional. Parents in Nigeria will able to know those who are teaching their children in school whether quack or professional teachers. They will be able to make decisions on where to take their ward to for education purposes. The TIS will be useful for knowing the spatial distribution of teachers in Nigeria, their location and their states.”