The Minister of State for Education, Mr Chukuemeka Nwajiuba has said that plans were underway to begin Teachers Exchange Programme with the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy to develop digital literacy capacity of teachers in the country.
Nwajiuba, disclosed this in Abuja while monitoring the conduct of the Teachers Professional Qualifying Examination PQE organized by Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).
He said the Federal Ministry of Education was working out details with the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy to use digital bridge institutes across the six geo-political zones to enhance the computer knowledge of the Nigerian teachers.
He also said that TRCN had been mandated to work with the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) to activate the One teacher, One Computer programme .
He said through this, the Federal Ministry of Education would enable laptop vendors to vend to teachers while they have the payment done within the period of two to four years.
” We are working in collaboration with the ministry of communication and digital economy to do exchange programs with teachers to use the digital bridge institutes that had already been built by the Federal Ministry of Communication and we are still working on the details.
“The Federal Ministry of Education will enable laptop vendors to vend to teachers and we will give them a period of time of 2-4years 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 further applauded the conduct of the PQE and said he identified professional knowledge and teacher competence in the computer based examination.
According to him, 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”.
In the same vein, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Sonny Echono, who also monitored the PQE at SASCON international school Maitama Abuja , hinted that the Career Path Progression for teachers in Nigeria had been approved by the government and National Council on Establishment level.
“We decided to resuscitate teaching profession in Nigeria through additional incentives and career paths.
“ This is to ensure that teachers are actually specialised in specific areas ;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”.
Also, the TRCN Director of Certification and Licensing, Dr Jacinta Ogborso, said a total number of 12,586 candidates across 35 states and the FCT registered for the PQE nationwide.
She disclosed that no candidate registered for the PQE in Zamfara state due to the security challenge facing the state.
” Registration for PQE was affected in Zamfara state due to communication and security issues in the state”
Ogborso 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 .