TEACHER LICENSING
Teacher registration and the State teaching licence
Teaching in Nigeria is a licensed profession. Every person who teaches in a Kano school, public or private, holds a registration with the Teachers Registration Council in the form TRCN/KN/NNNNNN and a current State teaching licence.
Who must register
Every person teaching in a school in Kano State must be registered. That includes the classroom teacher in a village primary school, the graduate on youth service posted to a secondary school, the subject teacher in a fee-paying academy, the workshop instructor in a technical college, the head teacher and the principal, and the proprietor who takes a class. It makes no difference whether the school is public, private, community, mission or Islamiyyah, or whether the person is full time, part time or unpaid.
Registration is with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria and produces a registration number of the form TRCN/KN/NNNNNN, which stays with the teacher for life. The State teaching licence is issued on top of it by the Ministry, is what actually authorises practice in a Kano classroom, and runs for three years at a time.
The Ministry's Directorate of Teacher Development processes both, and the teachers register is checked whenever a school files a staff list, whenever a school applies for an approval or a renewal, and at every inspection. Of roughly 78,000 teachers in the State, the register is the list against which salaries, postings and promotions are made.
Qualifications accepted
One of these is the entry ticket. A candidate with a degree in a subject but no teaching qualification registers after the Postgraduate Diploma in Education.
- Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) — the minimum teaching qualification for a Nigerian classroom.
- Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) in any teaching subject.
- Bachelor of Science in Education (B.Sc (Ed)).
- Bachelor of Arts in Education (B.A (Ed)).
- Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE), for a graduate whose first degree was not in education.
- Master of Education (M.Ed), which registers at the senior category.
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in education or in a teaching subject.
- A Grade II certificate holder already in service registers provisionally while upgrading to NCE under the teacher development programme.
From application to licence
Apply and upload your credentials
Sign in at /user/login and enter your qualification, the awarding institution, the year and your teaching subject. Upload the certificate, the statement of result where the certificate is not yet issued, your identification and two passport photographs.
Credential verification
The Directorate verifies the award with the awarding institution. This is the step that takes the time, and a scanned certificate that is legible shortens it. Verification is included in the registration fee.
The professional qualifying examination
Candidates who did not read education sit the professional qualifying examination: education policy and law, curriculum and instruction, measurement and evaluation, and professional ethics. It is held quarterly at accredited centres in Kano. Holders of NCE, B.Ed, B.Sc (Ed), B.A (Ed) and PGDE are exempt.
Induction
Successful candidates attend a one-day induction, take the teacher's oath and receive the registration number in the form TRCN/KN/NNNNNN. Induction ceremonies are held twice a session, in November and in May.
The State teaching licence is issued
The Ministry issues the licence against the registration number. It names the holder, the registration number, the category, the subjects and the expiry date, and it appears in your account as a printable document within 30 working days of a complete application.
Renew every three years
File the renewal in the last term of the third year with evidence of the continuing professional development hours completed. The Ministry notifies the registered phone and email 60, 30, 14, 7 and 1 days before expiry.
Fees and turnarounds
Paid online with the application. Nothing else is payable to any person at any stage.
| Item | Who pays it | Amount | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|
| First registration and credential verification | Every new teacher | ₦12,000 | 30 working days |
| Professional qualifying examination | Candidates without a teaching qualification | ₦9,500 | Held quarterly |
| Induction and the teacher's oath | Every new registrant | ₦5,000 | November and May |
| State teaching licence, first issue | Every registered teacher practising in Kano | ₦5,000 | With the registration |
| Licence renewal, three-yearly | Every practising teacher | ₦7,500 | 21 working days |
| Replacement of a lost licence | On request | ₦3,500 | 10 working days |
| Change of category after a further qualification | On request | ₦4,500 | 21 working days |
| Letter of good standing for a teacher leaving the State | On request | No charge | 10 working days |
The licence in numbers
78,000
Teachers in the State
Public and approved private schools
3 years
Licence term
Renewed in the last term of the third year
40 hours
CPD per cycle
At least 12 of them subject-specific
44:1
Pupil–teacher ratio
The reason registration is enforced
Continuing professional development
A licence is renewed on evidence of practice and of learning, not on payment alone. Each three-year cycle requires 40 hours of continuing professional development, of which at least 12 must be in the teacher's own subject and at least 6 in assessment and record keeping. Hours are logged in your account as they are earned, so that renewal is a matter of pressing submit rather than assembling three years of paper in a week.
Hours are earned at Ministry subject-mastery clinics, at board-run training, at school-based mentoring sessions certified by the head teacher, at an accredited workshop run by a development partner, and by supervising a student teacher on teaching practice. A further qualification completed during the cycle counts for the whole of it.
The teacher development programme carries the cost of Ministry-run training for teachers in public schools. Private school proprietors are expected to release and support their teachers for the same clinics, and attendance is one of the things an inspection looks at under Teacher Qualification.
Teaching without a current licence
An unregistered person teaching in a Kano school commits an offence under the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria Act, and so does the school that engages him. The teacher is removed from the classroom on discovery, and any salary drawn for the period may be recovered.
For the school the consequences are heavier: unregistered teaching is scored under Teacher Qualification at inspection, it bars a private school from an approval or a renewal, and it can suspend an existing approval. A school found to have entered an unregistered person as a teacher on its staff list is treated as having made a false declaration.
A licence that has lapsed is not a criminal matter but it is a bar to practice. File the renewal before the expiry date on the licence: the reminder ladder at 60, 30, 14, 7 and 1 days exists so that no teacher is caught out by it.
Questions teachers ask
I registered in another state. Do I register again in Kano?
I have a B.Sc in Chemistry and no teaching qualification. What is my route?
Does a proprietor who teaches need a licence?
What if my certificate is still with the institution?
How do I prove my continuing professional development hours?
I am retired but teach part time at a private school. Am I covered?
My licence expired two years ago. Can I still renew?
Register, or renew your licence
Thirty working days for a first registration, twenty-one for a renewal, and the whole cycle tracked in your own account.