African countries have been called upon to pay sufficient attention to the welfare of teachers and the implementation of laid down rules and regulations including ethical standards as steps towards qualitative education in the African continent.

This call was made by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu while declaring open the 7th Annual Conference of African Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities (AFTRA), on Tuesday in Abuja.

The Honourable Minister said that his Ministry has come up with Ministerial Strategic Plan, which, amongst others, seeks to ensure professionalism in the teaching sector and accord teachers deserved respect and recognition.

Mallam Adamu Adamu added that Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has been reinvigorated by new management and governing council which have deep understanding of all distinctions and underlying factors for attractive teaching and learning.

He stressed that, participants should be aware that standards have to be created and maintained to ensure quality, adding that regulatory agencies in the teaching and learning profession in Nigeria, are well positioned to set, review, supervise and maintain the required standards for quality teaching and learning.

The Honourable Minister looks forward to invaluable recommendations of strategic bodies as AFTRA as an important continental forum of regulatory agencies for teaching profession.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Registrar and Chief executive, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, Professor Josiah Olusegun Adiboye, stated that AFTRA teaching and learning in Africa Conference is built on the overarching need to constructively create a platform where in practitioners, academic, ICT experts, employers of teachers, teachers unions, international development partners etc come under one umbrella to network and share ideas conceptualised in papers to be presented, haring that the result of the conference will bring about positive change that will reposition education system in our countries and make positive difference, prosperity in the lives of citizens and global competitiveness of our nations.

There were goodwill messages from partners like African Union, International Forum of Teaching Regulatory Authorities (IFTRA), an international Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, UNESCO IICBA, and African Virtual University among others.

Present at the occasion were Ministers of Education of South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Cameroon, Zambia, Namibia, Lesotho and Democratic Republic of Congo.

The conference is expected to end on Saturday, May 19, 2018.

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