At least 11,629 teachers took part in the second batch of the 2022 Teachers’ Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE) conducted by the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) on Saturday across the country.
With 982 candidates, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had the highest number of teachers who enrolled for the examination, Dr Jacinta Ogboso, TRCN’s Director of Examination and Licencing, who monitored the exercise at SASCON International School Maitama, Abuja, said.
“We have a total of 11,629 candidates who registered for this examination nationwide, and in FCT here, we have 982 candidates who are registered,” Dr Ogboso said.
Speaking on the importance of the exercise, she said apart from academic qualifications, teachers’ professional qualifying examination is important for teachers to obtain licenses for their practice.
“So, we no longer depend on the academic qualification; after the academic qualification, we are sure that people who attend the classroom to teach our children are professionally qualified; so this exam is important.”
“If you do not pass this exam, you will not be registered by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, and once you’re not registered and identified as a teacher, you will not be recognised as a teacher in Nigeria and anywhere in the world.”
“So that is why this exam is necessary and crucial; no professional qualifying examination, no teacher registration certificate, and no licensing by Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria,”
Ogboso, however, noted that candidates who fail the PQE are given three opportunities to write, adding that no teacher who went through teacher education should fail the exam more than twice because it covers professional skills and the foundations of education that are taught in colleges of education and faculties of education in all the teacher education programmes.
“So, everybody who has gone through those teacher education programmes should not have a problem passing this examination.”
“The result should be ready within 2 weeks. After this exam, the result will be extracted and analysed; and the management will set the cut-off mark and then we’ll look at it. There are processes in every civil service, so the processes of approving the results will be done, and then the result be released to the public.”
According to her, most of the teachers now are registered and licensed, adding that those who write the PQE and succeed in being licenced have improved self-esteem and self-efficacy.
