No fewer than 11,350 teachers across the country have sat for the May Diet of the Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE), organised by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew Adejo, while monitoring the conduct of the examination at Sascon International School in Abuja on Saturday, May 20, expressed satisfaction over the conduct of the exercise.

Adejo, who commended the new technology introduced by the council to get the authenticity of the certificate of teachers, said the examination has witnessed some level of improvement.

He noted that the improvement would go a long way to weed out quackery from the system, saying: “Last year we just moved from accreditation and candidates go straight to write but this year, accreditation has a double level.

“This year, candidates will have to first do the accreditation, fill the form and you also cross-check your slip with the APP that TRCN has developed to give it authenticity.

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“So I think they are improving on incremental basis every year on the process for PQE for teachers.

“The Federal Government is making efforts to weed out quacks but you know it is very difficult but this exam is part of the way we can weed out quacks.

“We are insisting that before you can be a teacher in every school, you must meet the basic minimum standard.

“As at today, at the junior and senior secondary as well as early childhood school levels, quackery is reducing.”

Adejo stated that the ministry was working on cleaning the teachers’ database to have less quacks in the profession so that quackery does not affect the standard and quality of the country’s education.

He, therefore, urged state and federal educational quality assurance team to ensure teachers have the required qualifications and skills to teach.

On his part, the TRCN Registrar, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, said the report from centres across the country indicated hitch-free processes.

Ajiboye commended the candidates for comporting themselves before and during the examination, saying teachers were now realising the importance of the PQE.

He said: “There has been improvement in the accreditation process because part of what we did was to develop an APP to accredit the candidates and this is working perfectly well.

“For this year, we have over 11,350 with Lagos having the highest with 1,500 candidates followed by FCT, while Kebbi has the lowest candidates.

“So, what we did is to combine states with lower candidates.”

Speaking, some of the candidates said the technology introduced by the council helped in checking some of the discrepancies in its accreditation processes.

The Star