From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

Teacher’s Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has expressed pride in the contributions of Nigerian teachers abroad, stressing that available report indicates they are competing favourably among their contemporaries, and are highly sought after.

TRCN Registrar, Josiah Ajiboye, disclosed this in Abuja, yesterday, during a one-day retreat on the state of education in Nigeria, organised by the Education Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria (ECAN).

He said while there are challenges in the education system in Nigeria, it’s not as bad as being portrayed within and outside the country.

He said: “Our graduates are competing favourably across the world due to the increasing quality of education as evident in the quality of graduates. We have not allowed our challenges to limit our progress.

“Just recently, I signed a professional standing for over 260 Nigerians going to teach in Canada. The United Kingdom (UK) is also making move to take Nigerian teachers.

“Undoubtedly, we have challenges of inadequate infrastructure, industrial actions by lecturers, out-of-school children and several others. In all these, we are still the best. We must accentuate the positives and stop destroying the image of the country through negativities because all nations have challenges.”

Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Ishaq Oloyede, in his remarks, commended the association on their roles in projecting the image of the country, especially in the education sector.

Oloyede, who was represented by the Head, Public Affairs and Protocol, JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, called for the introduction of a national education insurance scheme to address the problem of access, especially in state universities.

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“The Federal Government put in place state institutions to address the need of admission access because one of the major problems is spaces in our institutions and most candidates cannot afford these institutions.

“The country should be able to support the education scheme whereby certain percentage can be paid by the Federal Government so that subscribers can attend private institutions,” he said.

On the issue of lowering cut-off marks, he explained the cut-off mark was a minimum benchmark that institutions must not go below which did not affect education standards.

Meanwhile, Registrar, National Examination Council (NECO), Ibrahim Wushishi, who spoke on the global acceptability of NECO certificate, said its certificate had global recognition through educational assessment body.

“NECO is a strong member of the International Association for Educational Assessment, and we play a vital role in the global assessment of examination.

“So, candidates that took their NECO examinations are being admitted into secondary and tertiary institutions in foreign countries like in US, Canada, Germany, India, China, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Sweden and they write the council to authenticate the results

He assured NECO will continue to deliver quality services to Nigerians, in addition to supporting of agencies

Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, described journalists as dependable ally, who have supported the agency in its operations over the years.

Echono, who was represented by Abdul Oniyangi, said he is carrying out reforms that will increase public confidence and trust in the activities of the Fund.