FG to commence Teachers exchange program soon – Minister

The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba has disclosed that plans are underway to begin Teachers Exchange Program with the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy to develop digital literacy capacity of teachers in Nigeria.

Nwajiuba, stated this in Abuja on Saturday while monitoring the conduct of the Teachers Professional Qualifying Examination PQE organized by Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria.

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The Minister said they are working out details to use digital bridge institutes across the six geo-political zones to enhance the computer knowledge of the Nigerian teachers.

Nwajiuba also disclosed that the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria TRCN has been mandated to work with the Nigerian Union of Teachers NUT to activate the One teacher One Computer programme.

“The Federal Ministry of Education will enable laptop vendors to vend to teachers and we will give them a period of time two to four years period of time to complete the payment, we have finished carrying out interviews for the vendors we just want the NUT and TRCN to conclude,” he said.

The Minister who applauded the conduct of the PQE, said he identified professional knowledge and teacher competence in the computer based examination.

” We took time to review what TRCN has put in place for the conduct of PQE, we observed that the teachers are being conducted in a workable manner and the integrity of the exam is commendable, we also came to inspect and see what may be the gaps in the way are as we access them”.

On his part, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, hinted that the Career Path Progression for teachers in Nigeria has been approved at the government and National Council on Establishment level.

“We decided to resuscitate teaching profession in Nigeria through additional incentives and career paths to ensure that teachers are actually specialized in specific areas and individuals in teaching profession will now follow through a particular career path , we will now have people who will make specialise in School administration, curriculum and special skills,” he said.

TRCN Director Certification and Licensing, Dr Jacinta Ogboso, said a total number of 12,586 candidates across 35 states and the FCT registered for the PQE nationwide aside Zamfara state due to the security challenge facing the state.

Ogboso attributed the reduction in the numbers of candidates who registered for the November 2021 PQE to previous surge the council had registered saying that a good number of teachers in Nigeria have been registered.