By Felix Khanoba
No fewer than 11,350 candidates have sat for the first batch of the 2023 Teachers Registration Council’s (TRCN) Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE) nationwide.
Registrar/Chief Executive of TRCN, Prof Josiah Ajiboye, who disclosed this while monitoring the exam at Sascon International School, Maitama, Abuja, on Saturday, said reports from across the country showed that the exercise went on smoothly.
Ajiboye, who was joined by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr David Adejo, further disclosed that Lagos State had the highest registered candidates for the PQE with over 1,500 entrants, followed by Kano State and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
He noted that Kebbi State had the lowest participants in the exercise, stating the exercise, however, recorded tremendous improvement in terms of participation and the accreditation process.
“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.
Speaking further, the TRCN boss said the examination which is conducted in all the states of the federation, started since Wednesday and was concluded in some states 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 on Federal Government’s effort to weed out unqualified teachers, he said one of the major process of weeding out quacks in the teaching profession is the PQE as it is now obvious that nobody can get the TRCN licence without passing a provisional qualifying examination.
“Even if you’re a professor in the university, you just have to write this examination 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, 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.
Also speaking, the Parament Secretary Federal Ministry of Education, Adejo, commended TRCN for the improvement in the accreditation process for the examination.
“This year, documentation has a double level; first, you identify yourself, fill 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 incremental basis every year on the process for professional qualification exam for teachers,” he said.
Adejo restated Federal Government’s position that before you can be a teacher in any school, you must meet a basic minimum requirement and that is what the Teachers Registration Council is doing.
He added that as a result of efforts being made by TRCN, the level of quackery at the junior and senior secondary school levels is reducing, adding that the government is still working on cleaning the database of qualified teachers at early childhood and primary school level.
One of the candidates, Mrs Titilope Yunusa, said she was sitting for the exam for the second time as she could not make it in her first attempt, stating that she does not want to fail this time around.
“I experienced difficulties in my first attempt because I don’t really know how to operate the computer, but now I have learnt and can operate it; that is why I am here to take the examination again, and I am confident of making a good result, ” she said.
