Prof Anwukah’s many gaffes

Minister of State for Education Prof. Anthony Anwukah made several controversial remarks in just one speech last week. Speaking at an event to mark his 65th birthday, Anwukah said at present, more than half of persons in the teaching profession lack the basic teaching qualifications and that plans are underway to sack such teachers and […]

Minister of State for Education Prof. Anthony Anwukah made several controversial remarks in just one speech last week. Speaking at an event to mark his 65th birthday, Anwukah said at present, more than half of persons in the teaching profession lack the basic teaching qualifications and that plans are underway to sack such teachers and lecturers. He said the law prohibits persons without basic teaching qualification from engaging in teaching and that offenders are liable to prosecution. Anwukah however regretted that nobody is enforcing this law. He then urged teachers who have not acquired the minimum teaching qualification to do so within the next year or two.
Prof Anwukah also said the forth coming recruitment of 500,000 teachers across the country will be open only to holders of the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) and Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree. Persons without basic teaching qualification, he said, should not apply. The minister also said the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) will not take charge of the 500,000 teachers’ recruitment exercise because it “is purely an educational task.”
All three statements by the minister are controversial, not well thought out and were apparently made without consulting other stakeholders. For example, was the decision to sack teachers without requisite teaching qualifications taken in consultation with state governments who employ most of the teachers, the National Council on Education or the Joint Consultative Committee on Education (JCCE)?  Although it is ideal to weed out unqualified teachers, most states have not found it practical to do so. It is also not clear whether the two years grace period mentioned by the minister is an official extension of the earlier deadline given to unqualified teachers. This is because the National Council on Education, at its 50th session in Yenagoa in 2003, fixed 2006 as deadline for unqualified teachers already in the system to obtain the minimum teaching qualification of NCE.
They are to do so through an upgrading distance learning programme organized by the National Teachers Institute (NTI). The National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) respectively directed vice chancellors, rectors and provosts that lecturers in their institutions should obtain basic teaching qualification before the 2006 deadline. Ten years after the deadline expired, most state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have failed to enforce it and comply fully with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) professionalization guidelines. Tertiary institutions in the country also fell short of implementing the policy. This is because there are no enough trained and qualified teachers to serve the schools and institutions.
As Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anwukah should have gone beyond lamenting over the non-prosecution of persons who engage in teaching without the requisite qualifications. He should have directed the enforcement of the TRCN Act of 1993 that makes it an offence under section 17(2) for anyone to engage in teaching without being registered by TRCN. The Act stipulates a punishment of five thousand naira or two years jail term or both for this offence.
If government’s  planned recruitment of half a million teachers this year is restricted to qualified ones as Anwukah said, that contradicts earlier policy. President Muhammadu Buhari said in his 2016 budget speech that “500,000 teachers will be recruited, trained and deployed” to primary schools where teachers of basic school subjects are in short supply. This implied that graduates who have no teaching qualifications will be recruited under the scheme. Is Prof. Anwukah now redefining that promise? If government wants only those with NCE and B Ed, then it will not find 500,000 graduates to recruit.
The minister’s precluding the FCSC from the recruitment process is also untenable. All Education Officers in the Federal Ministry of Education are recruited through the FCSC. Its role has never been seen to hinder the employment of eligible applicants. Finally, we believe that major policy statements should not be made at birthday parties.