TRCN Adopts ATPP to License 250,000 Non-professional Teachers

The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has adopted the Federal Government’s Accelerated Teacher Professionalisation Pathway (ATPP) to provide a route to professional licensing for 250,000 non-professional teachers.

The council said the programme would enable serving teachers without professional teaching qualifications to acquire the required training and certification while remaining in service.

Head, Media, TRCN, Esther Chiwar, disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday.

According to Chiwar, the ATPP will run in cohorts and target serving teachers in public and private schools across the country.

She said participants who complete the prescribed training and pass the ATPP examination would qualify to sit for the TRCN Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE).

Successful candidates will then be registered as professional teachers and issued licences by TRCN.

The Federal Government designed the programme to address the challenge of teachers who possess academic qualifications in various disciplines but lack professional teacher training.

Under the initiative, graduates from non-education disciplines can pursue a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE), while eligible candidates from the National Diploma cadre can take the Professional Diploma in Education (PDE).

Both pathways will run for six months and combine blended learning with supervised teaching practice.

The first four months will involve self-paced online modules, virtual facilitation and assessments. This will be followed by two months of supervised teaching practice in the participants’ schools.

The programme will also allow successful participants to proceed to the TRCN PQE, with certification and licensing covered by the programme fee.

The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, leads the initiative, while a Technical Working Group chaired by Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad coordinates its implementation.

TRCN and the National Teachers’ Institute, Kaduna, will drive the implementation alongside the Universal Basic Education Commission, National Senior Secondary Education Commission, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council and National Commission for Colleges of Education.

Chiwar said the programme would help provide a structured route for serving non-professional teachers to obtain recognised teaching qualifications and professional licences.

She added that the initiative would cover teachers mapped across federal, state and local government levels.

The programme is expected to strengthen professional standards in the teaching profession while providing serving teachers with an opportunity to obtain formal professional qualifications without abandoning their current employment.