No fewer than 300,000 teachers in public primary and secondary schools in the country may miss benefiting from the new welfare package the federal government wants to implement for teachers in its employ.
The development affects teachers who are not licensed, certificated and registered by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, TRCN.
It was gathered that the government has made registration with the TRCN a condition for benefiting from the scheme.
The TRCN, which conducts Professional Qualifying Examination, PQE, four times a year, has so far registered and licensed about 800,000 teachers out of the about 1.1 million teachers in public schools.
Speaking on the matter, Registrar of the TRCN, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, said being licensed by the TRCN was a requirement to benefit from the package.
He said the TRCN is one of the brains that proposed the welfare package and is also a part of the implementation process.
Ajiboye added that the council had the capacity to conduct examinations for teachers yet to be licensed by it while allaying concerns that government might not have the capacity to meet the financial implications of the scheme.
He advised teachers in private schools to also take steps to be registered by the council, warning that it would heavily descend on unqualified teachers.
The new welfare package approved by President Muhammadu Buhari includes a special Teachers Salary Scale, various allowances, increase in retirement age from 60 to 65 and length of service from 35 to 40 years.
Students studying education in tertiary institutions are also to enjoy teaching practice allowance and special bursary awards.
Discover more from LN247
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
