Get Certified Teachers or Lose WAEC Accreditation – FG Warns Schools
The Federal Government has directed secondary schools across the country to ensure their teachers are properly certified or risk losing accreditation to serve as centres for public examinations.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, issued the directive in a memo dated Thursday, September 11, 2025, addressed to the Registrar/Chief Executive of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).
According to Alausa, the policy is aimed at strengthening professionalism in the teaching sector and restoring credibility to Nigeria’s education system.
He stated that beginning from 2027, accreditation of both public and private secondary schools for the conduct of major public examinations—including the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), the National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB), the National Examinations Council (NECO), and the Senior Arabic and Islamic Secondary School Certificate Examination (SAISSCE)—would be strictly tied to teachers’ TRCN certification.
“Effective from March 2027 for WASSCE, May 2027 for NABTEB, June 2027 for NECO and 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,” the memo read in part.
The minister directed state governments to begin immediate sensitisation and enforcement, ensuring that both public and private schools comply within the next two years. He also set a compliance benchmark of 75 per cent by 2026 and 100 per cent by 2027.
To ease the transition, Alausa advised teachers without education degrees but with at least 12 months of classroom experience to enroll in the National Teachers Institute (NTI) for a short professional certification programme. The abridged courses, which run between three and six months, would enable participants to qualify for TRCN registration and licensing.
He urged stakeholders to give the directive top priority in order to prevent disruption of accreditation processes for public examinations.
The new policy follows the minister’s earlier warning in July at the inauguration of the 5th Governing Council of the TRCN, where he declared that unqualified teachers must be removed from classrooms to “rescue the teaching profession from mediocrity and restore its lost dignity.”
