Lack of facilities aiding production of poor quality teachers, says TRCN boss

The Registrar of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Professor Josiah Olusegun Ajiboye, has said that most facilities that would have aided the production of highly qualified professional teachers are “lacking in our education system, which result in the production of poor quality teachers.”

Ajiboye, who spoke at the weekend, said lack of definite structures and strategies in funding education, as well as “perennial crisis of funding” also constitute some of the major constraints besetting the sector in the country.

In a paper he presented at a Workshop, organised by the Tai Solarin College of Education, Omu-Ijebu, Ogun State, recently, Ajiboye said apart from inadequate facilities, there is also the absence of programmes that would aid teachers’ welfare.

“One major problem in producing competent teachers for our schools is getting the right calibre of students. Subscription to teacher education institutions, especially teacher training colleges, or colleges of education are usually by candidates who do not readily get admission into the universities,” he said.

He said among the successful best practices the country could copy from Finland and Singapore are: “The development of rigorous, research-based teacher education programmes that prepare teachers in content, pedagogy and educational theory, as well as, the capacity to do their own research and that includes field work mentored by expert veterans.”

He also stressed the importance of “Significant financial support for teacher education, professional development, reasonable and equitable salaries and supportive working conditions,” if the profession must grow in leaps and bounds.

Ajiboye maintained that Nigeria has no excuse not to have the best education system “because the country has everything it takes to develop the educational system.”Provost of the institution, Dr. Adeola Kiadese Lukman, disclosed that the college was currently experiencing challenges, including incessant industrial dispute, inability to prepare grant- winning proposals, poor research output, non-accreditation of academic programmes and publications, as well as “poor funding.”

He said the aim of the workshop was to acquaint academic staff with international best practices in teacher education for quality service delivery.The Provost added that the institution had concluded arrangements to affiliate with the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye to commence degree programmes.