12,539 Candidates Write Teachers’ Qualifying Examination

Over 12,539 candidates have sat for the May Diet of the Teachers’ Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE), conducted by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) across the country.

The director, certification and licensing, TRCN, Dr Jacinta Ezeahurukwe, who spoke with newsmen in Abuja yesterday while monitoring the conduct of the examination at SASCON International School, Abuja, said the examination introduced in 2017 had come to stay.

This is just as the council warned state governments and owners of private institutions in the country against the recruitment of individuals without the requisite TRCN certification and licensing to practice as teachers across primary and tertiary levels of education.

Meanwhile, Benue State made a surprise quantum leap with 1,416 candidates, topping other states and the FCT as the state with the highest number of registered candidates for the examination.

She said PQE, which is designed to test the professional knowledge of those in the teaching profession, was a prerequisite for licensing and certification of teachers before being allowed to teach in the classrooms in Nigeria.