Lagos Leads As 11,350 Teachers Take Certification Exam

The first round of the nationwide Teachers Registration Council’s (TRCN) Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE) got 11,350 applicants on Saturday.

Registrar of TRCN, Prof Josiah Ajiboye, who disclosed this while monitoring the exercise at Sascon International School Maitama, Abuja, said reports from across the country revealed that the exam went on smoothly.

The TRCN, Nigeria’s regulatory body for teaching organizes the exam commonly referred to as the PQE.

Ajiboye said that Lagos State has the most candidates registered for the PQE with over 1,500 applicants, followed by Kano State and the Federal Capital Territory. Ajiboye was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, David Adejo.

The TRCN boss stated that although Kebbi State had the lowest number of participants in the exercise, overall participation and the accreditation procedure had significantly improved.

“Well, generally, all over the country, we have about 11,350 candidates who are writing the exam, with Lagos State having the highest with 1500 plus candidates, followed by Kano State and FCT Abuja; then you have a state like Kebbi with the lowest number of candidates for the examination.

“There has been a lot of improvement with regards to even the accreditation procedure because part of what we did was to develop an app to be able to accredit candidates, and this is working perfectly well.

“We’re able to check your name, your passport photograph will also appear and everything like that, so we know that the people that are writing the exam are those who actually applied; so, it’s been going on smoothly,” he said.

He claimed that the test, which is given in each state under the federal government, began on Wednesday and was finished in some of them on Friday.

Ajiboye commended commend the candidates for displaying better comportment, adding that their conduct “shows that there is maturity and the people are now realising that this is serious examination.”

Speaking about the Federal Government’s efforts to filter out ineligible teachers, he stated that the PQE is one of the main methods of doing so because it is now clear that no one can obtain a TRCN license without completing a provisional qualifying examination.

“Even if you’re a professor in the university, you just have to write this exam before you can get the certificate and the licence.

“So, part of the process for weeding out this quackery in the profession is what we are on. And another thing that we are doing in that regard is also school monitoring. You will recall that in February 2020, we started the school monitoring programme. two boards.

“Monitoring is a continuous exercise. So, we are still on, we will not relent. And we have also processes for checking our certificates, and the authenticity of those certificates.

“We have certain features in our certificates and the licence that actually will enable us to know whether it’s really a fake one or a genuine one. So, we are on top of it,” he said.

Adejo also spoke in favour of TRCN and praise them for their enhancements to the exam’s accreditation procedure.

“This year, documentation has a double level; first, you identify yourself, fill out the form, then you also cross-check your sleep with an app that was developed to give it authenticity.

“So, I think they are improving on an incremental basis every year on the process for professional qualification exam for teachers,” he said.