Enhancing the Teaching Profession in Nigeria: A Historical Perspective

Teaching is a special profession that should be given every encouragement if a society must grow in every ramification. The worth of society’s citizens makes that society important in comity of nations. The teaching profession in Nigeria has gone through many stages and even today there are disagreements as to whether it should be called a profession. The change in status actually came after the founding of its umbrella body The Nigeria Union of Teachers (N.U.T.). The formation of this body helped to radicalize the status of teachers in Nigeria as it fought many battles with government in order to enhance the status of the profession. This has culminated into the establishment of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) in charge of the registration of teachers and currently the approval of a special salary scale for teachers known as the Teachers Salary Scale. Although this has not been fully implemented, it is hoped that it will further enhance the profession when it finally takes off in all the states of the federation. The paper is an attempt therefore to bring history to bear on the rough roads of the teaching profession in Nigeria.