The TRCN chief noted that the program is designed to attract more teachers into the profession and to upgrade the skills of existing teachers, emphasising that the program is a step towards improving the quality of education in Nigeria.
She said, “Definitely, we have a lot of unqualified teachers, if I can call them that, who are teaching in our classrooms, but they don’t have the teaching qualifications, particularly in our private schools. And it’s one thing for you to say you’ve been to the school very well. You’re well, clued up and everything, but you may not have the pedagogy of how to actually break it down to suit the needs of the children, and that’s why it cannot be one cap fitting all.
“So, everybody has got to address that. And as soon as we have the accelerated program that’s going to bring a lot of teachers in, because a lot of teachers also might want to come to our public schools, because what is stopping them from coming to public schools is because of not having education degrees.”
She revealed that the council is launching an accelerated professional diploma program for teachers without teaching qualifications.
The program, which will be completed in six months, aims to professionalise teachers and increase the number of qualified educators in the country.
Soyombo stated that the program is designed for experienced teachers who are not education graduates but are currently teaching in schools.
The TRCN chief also highlighted the council’s efforts to support teachers with resources and training, including setting up teacher support groups and providing resources for lesson planning.
She explained, “What we are doing with this particular government is that we are accelerating professional diploma in education for people that don’t have it, now is a time where they will be able to have access, instead of using the one year, we’re actually accelerating into six months. This is only for experienced teachers, because we have quite a lot of unqualified teachers. They are graduates of other disciplines, but they’re not educationist. So, we’re going to be having a lot of teachers coming into education, because people are very eager now to get accelerated as quickly as possible, and in order for them to get certified as well with TRCN, and that’s something that TRCN is doing.
“And the other thing that TRCN is doing is, when it comes to teachers, how can we upgrade our teachers? We are also supporting them with resources in classes.
“What we’re setting up is teachers supporting teachers, because there are some very good teachers that are very good, and what they’re doing is, how can they plan lessons for the others to actually be supported? So that’s going to encourage a lot of teachers to want to come in. Those are the kind of things we are doing in order to increase the number of teachers in schools.”
In addition, Soyombo emphasised the importance of collaboration among teachers, saying that it is key to improving education in Nigeria.
She noted that teachers can learn from each other and share best practices, and that the TRCN is promoting a culture of collaboration among educators.
