FOLASHADE KEHINDE
THE Federal Government has said that, from next year, the minimum qualification for a teaching job in Nigeria will be a First Class certificate.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echonu, said the Federal Government had resolved to limit entry into the teaching profession to the “very best”.
He, however, said those who graduated with Second Class Upper degrees would also be considered.
Echonu spoke during a monitoring exercise of the Professional Qualifying Examination, organised by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria.
He said these measures were part of concerted efforts to improve the quality of teaching and learning in Nigerian schools, adding that the Federal Government wanted the best brains as teachers in Nigeria.
The PS said, “With effect from next year, we will not admit or engage people as teachers if they don’t meet a particular threshold. We are now limiting entry to only the best.
“You must have a first class or 2:1 as minimum and if you have qualification in other subjects that is not in education, we will arrange for a conversion programme to be administered by NTI, TRCN and any university that has faculties of education; you also have to learn ways of communicating and managing students.
He said teachers who did not have the requisite qualifications would be migrated out of the classrooms.
“We are migrating teachers who are not qualified or do not have the requisite qualifications, competency, not licensed or registered out of our classrooms to make way for qualified personnel,” the PS noted.
