250,000 Serving Teachers Get Pathway to Professional Licensing

By Omoyeni Ojeifo

A new Federal Government programme targeting 250,000 serving educators nationwide will offer thousands of uncertified teachers currently in classrooms a dedicated pathway to earn recognized professional licenses.

The Accelerated Teacher Professionalisation Pathway (ATPP) is designed to help teachers without formal teacher-training backgrounds acquire the required professional skills while continuing to teach in their schools.

The initiative is being led by the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, through a Technical Working Group chaired by the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad.

TRCN and the National Teachers’ Institute, NTI, Kaduna, will coordinate the implementation, with support from the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, National Senior Secondary Education Commission, NSSEC, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, NERDC, and National Commission for Colleges of Education, NCCE.

Under the arrangement, candidates will undergo a six-month programme before taking the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, TRCN, Professional Qualifying Examination, PQE, required for registration and licensing, according to a statement made available to PerSecondNews on Friday, by Esther Chiwar, Head of Media, TRCN.

The programme will also provide separate pathways for graduates who studied disciplines other than Education and teachers from the National Diploma cadre.

“Those with university degrees outside Education will take the Postgraduate Diploma in Education, PGDE, while candidates from the National Diploma cadre will follow the Professional Diploma in Education, PDE route,” part of the statement to PersecondNews read.

Training will run through four months of blended learning, combining online self-paced modules, virtual sessions and assessments, followed by two months of supervised teaching practice in the participants’ schools.

According to TRCN, only candidates who successfully complete the prescribed ATPP examination will proceed to the TRCN Professional Qualifying Examination, PQE, before registration and licensing, with the cost of certification and licensing already covered in the programme fee.

Officials say the ATPP is expected to engage 250,000 teachers nationwide, mapped across federal, state and local levels.

The intervention is targeted at a longstanding gap in the teaching profession, where some people already teaching in public and private schools lack recognised professional training or licences.

For teachers affected by the gap, the programme provides a structured route to professional certification without requiring them to leave their current jobs.