Education Minister Alausa Orders Crackdown On Unqualified Teachers In Secondary Schools

…Says, “Schools Without Certified Teachers To Lose Accreditation By 2027”

BY ABU-SATAR HAMED

FCT, ABUJA, NIGERIA – In a decisive move to reform Nigeria’s education system, the Federal Government has directed that secondary school teachers must obtain proper certification or risk their schools losing the right to serve as examination centres.

From 2027, both public and private secondary schools employing uncertified teachers will be denied accreditation to host major public examinations such as WASSCE, NABTEB, NECO, and NBIAS.

The policy directive, issued on September 11, 2025, was communicated to the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).

Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, explained that the directive is in line with the government’s commitment to strengthen professionalism within the teaching profession, stressing that TRCN certification is now mandatory for all teachers.

It would be recalled that in 2023 the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) declared that about 70 per cent of teachers in some regions in Nigeria were not qualified, rasing serious concerns among education stakeholders in the country.

The education minister’s directive specifically declared that “accordingly, effective from March 2027 for WASSCE, May 2027 for NABTEB, June 2027 for NECO & June 2027 for SAISSCE, any school whose teachers are not duly registered and licensed with the TRCN shall be disqualified from serving as an examination centre.”

Dr. Alausa also indicated in the memo, that “State Governments are therefore requested to take due cognizance of this directive and put in place necessary measures to ensure that all teachers in State-owned Secondary Schools and Private Secondary Schools obtain the requisite TRCN certification within the stipulated two (2) years from the date of this policy directive.”

He also indicated that “compliance with this directive shall be monitored, with Schools expected to achieve a minimum compliance rate of 75% by 2026 and full compliance of 100% by 2027.”

However in order to afford the ease of compliance, “teachers who are non- education graduates but possess not less than 12 months of classroom teaching experience are encouraged to enrol in the abridged professional certification programme offered through the National Teachers Institute, NTI,” the memo stated.

That programme, it was noted “consists of short professional courses lasting between three (3) and six (6) months, after which participants will qualify for TRCN registration and licensing.”

The policy directive concluded stating that this matter be given “the highest priority and ensure wide sensitization of stakeholders,” across the country so as to  “avoid disruption of accreditation for public examinations.”

Based on reports and surveys in the public domains it is believed that many teachers in private schools in Nigeria today are also not qualified and stakeholders believe that the recruitment of unqualified teachers has been a persistent and age-long problem affecting students’ learning.