TheCable

Josiah Ajiboy, registrar of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN),  3,963 teachers who sat for the November 2023 diet of the professional qualifying examination (PQE) failed the assessment.

According to NAN, Ajiboye said the council conducted the examination to test the professional competence of teachers.

Ajiboye, who spoke during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja on Monday, said the assessment began on December 14 and ended on December 16.

“A total of 15,753 teachers sat for the examination at 38 centres across the country,” the registrar said.

“Out of this, we have 10,636 that passed which is about 72.9 per cent and those that failed are 3,963.”

He said some others had their results cancelled due to examination malpractices.

Ajiboye assured that the council would continue working towards improving Nigeria’s teaching profession.

Jacinta Ezeahurukwe, the director for certification and licensing at the TRCN, earlier said the PQE is vital to ensure that teachers are competent and licenced before they go to teach.

She said the assessment establishes foundational knowledge that a teacher must possess and exhibit as contained in professional teaching standards.

“We examined more than 100,000 teachers in the past. Our target is to cover all unregistered teachers,” she said.

“The examination is mandatory because teaching is a profession and for every profession, there must be a professional qualifying examination.

“If teachers do not write the examination, it would not be possible to license them to teach.

“The examination is not testing subject knowledge, it is testing for professional competence.”