Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), on Saturday, announced temporary suspension of the October diet of the Professional Qualification Examination (PQE) in its Ibadan centre, Oyo state, due to unruly behaviour of the teachers.
The Council said the aggrieved teachers attacked its officials and facilities at the centre for unknown reasons on Friday when the examination started, and continued same unfriendly attitude on Saturday, thus leading to the suspension of the exercise.
TRCN Registrar, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, disclosed the information in Abuja, on Saturday, while speaking to reporters on the October diet of the TRCN PQE that was conducted across Nigeria on Friday and Saturday.
He said the Council will reschedule the exercise after it must have investigated the cause of the unfriendly behaviours from the teachers and punish those found guilty.
He disclosed that over 69, 000 candidates sat for the examination which was conducted simultaneously across Nigeria using the Computer Base Testing platform.
He said: “Oyo state had highest number of registration with 5,145 teachers. It was followed by Lagos with 5,117 teachers that participated in the examination. Kaduna state and FCT had 4, 616 and 4, 214, respectively. Zamfara state was the lowest with 397 teachers that registered for the PQE examination.
The Registrar also announced that plans have been concluded for foreign based teachers who are interested in PQE to participate in the examination from their base and get professional certificate.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, who monitored the examination at a centre in Maitama, Abuja, was impressed with the organization and conduct of the teachers that participated in the exercise.
He congratulated the teachers for their interest in capacity development and assured them that December 2019 deadline for eviction of unlicensed teachers from classrooms is sacrosanct.
“To this end, TRCN has been directed to make contingency plan for additional diet in November to allow the final batch of interested candidates to take the examination and get certified.
“From January 2020, all teachers who are not certified by TRCN would not be allowed access into our classrooms. That’s the decision of government,” he said.