Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Registrar, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, said on Thursday, that its Professional Qualification Examination (PQE) has helped to get teachers acquainted with computers as essential tool for 21st century education.
He said that in 2017 when TRCN started PQE, many teachers had no idea of how computer system works, not to talk of using it for professional examination.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, on Thursday, ahead of forthcoming PQE, the Registrar, stressed the need for Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) to organise periodic computer appreciation training for the teachers ahead of PQE.
He explained that December PQE diet is the final mop up examination for unlicensed teachers to escape the wrath of Federal Government when the eviction of unlicensed teachers from classrooms start in January, 2020.
He said: “In 2017 when we started PQE, many teachers were totally unaware of how to use the computer. It wasn’t their fault because of the age they found themselves.
“There were several instances where the teacher, when faced with the computer at the examination hall, begins to click buttons different from the instructions.
“In one of the diets in 2017, I saw a teacher who was clicking submit when the system was asking that she start. The other one just picked the computer mouse and was waving it to the monitor.
“In Rivers State, a teacher was asked to supply her email address, and her response was that the governor, Nyesom Wike, has tried so much for them. He pays our salary regularly and provide other things for us. But one thing he failed to do for us was to provide email address for us. There were several other display of ignorance.”
He was however glad that the teachers are beginning to be familiar with the computers who has reflected in their performance in past examinations.
He maintained that December 31, 2019, deadline for eviction of unlicensed teachers from classrooms across Nigeria is sacrosanct as was declared by the Federal Government.