The Federal Government today unveiled a new digital portal to ease teachers’ registration, certification, and professional development as part of ongoing reforms to strengthen Nigeria’s education sector.
Speaking during the unveiling of the digital portal and the Strategic Vision for Nigerian Teachers in Abuja, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, said the move was aimed at transforming the nation’s education sector for national development.
The minister explained that the portal, developed by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), would serve as a comprehensive platform to facilitate seamless registration, certification and renewal of teachers’ database on a sustainable basis nationwide.
“It will also enable examination scheduling, professional development tracking as well as serve as a national database for teachers’ performance and career progression.”
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The minister said the reforms extended beyond technology to the rollout of a strategic vision for teachers anchored on professionalisation, digitalisation, accountability, equity, and global alignment.
Alausa, who hinted that the government would also introduce a mandatory Teacher Ethics and Criminal Record Verification Framework to ensure ethical standards and safety in classrooms, stressed that the initiative “is not punitive; it is protective. It is about safeguarding our children and upholding the moral integrity of our classrooms.”
According to him, private school owners will also be required to verify the TRCN registration and ethical clearance of their teachers, with the portal integrating a secure verification system.
In her remarks at the forum, TRCN Registrar, Dr. Ronke Soyombo, said the portal was part of the plan to digitise the council’s operations and improve efficiency.
She said: “With this portal, teachers across Nigeria can conveniently register, access their results, and print their certificates from the comfort of their homes without visiting state offices.”
While confirming that the TRCN has streamlined its Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE) from 23 subjects to five core areas foundational mathematics, literacy, digital literacy, safeguarding, and pedagogy, Soyombo also spoke on the Council’s plans to introduce an AI-powered lesson plan generator by October to provide contextualised instructional materials for teachers.
She projected that the initiative would lead to 50% increase in TRCN certified teachers, improve child protection and lead to global benchmark.
Commenting on the initiative, CEO of TeckPlus Digital Solutions, the firm that developed the platform, Dr. Patrick Adeleye, said the project commenced about 20 months agoin furtherance of the government’s efforts to solve lingering challenges in teacher data management.
He recalled: “Before now, we did not have accurate figures on the number of teachers in Nigeria, how many were certified, or even qualified to be in the classroom. This affected the overall learning outcome.”
The techno expert maintained that the new portal would drastically reduce bottlenecks that had been delaying teachers’ access to certification and licensing and create a reliable national database under the government’s Education Management Information System (EMIS) agenda.
