TEACHERS REGISTRATION COUNCIL OF NIGERIA ACT

(1) There is hereby established a body to be known as the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (in this Act referred to as "the Council") which shall be a body corporate under that name and be charged with the general duty of-
(a) determining who are teachers for the purposes of this Act;
(b) determining what standards of knowledge and skill are to be attained by persons seeking to become registered as teachers under this Act and raising those standards, from time to time, as circumstances may permit;
(c) securing in accordance with the provisions of this Act the establishment and maintenance of a register of teachers and the publication from time to time of the lists of those persons;
(d) regulating and controlling the teaching profession (in this Act referred to as "the profession") in all its aspects and ramifications;
(e) classifying from time to time members of the teaching profession according to their level of training and qualification;
(f) performing through the Council established under this Act the functions conferred on it by this Act.
(2) The Council shall have perpetual succession and a common seal which shall be kept in such custody as the Council may, from time to time authorise.
(3) The Council may sue and be sued in its corporate name and may, subject to the Land Use Act, hold, acquire and dispose of any property, movable or immovable.

(1) The Council shall consist of a chairman to be appointed by the President and the following other members, that is-
(a) a representative each of the Committee of-
(i) Deans of Education and of Directors of Education in Nigerian universities:
(ii) Provosts of colleges of education;
(iii) Rectors of polytechnics;
(b) one person to represent each of the following bodies, that is-
(i) the National Universities Commission;
(ii) the National Commission for Colleges of Education;
(iii) the National Board for Technical Education;
(iv) the National Teachers Institute;
(c) a representative of the Federal Ministry of Education;
(d) six persons to represent the State Ministries of Education to be elected in rotation among the States of the Federation to be appointed by the Federal Ministry of Education every two years;
(e) two persons to represent the Nigerian Academy of Education;
(f) five persons elected by the Nigeria Union of Teachers in the manner for the time being provided by the constitution of that Association; and
(g) the registrar.
(2) The provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the qualifications and tenure of office of members of the Council and the other matters therein mentioned.
(3) The Council may make regulations providing for an increase or reduction in the membership of the Council and may make such consequential amendments to paragraph (1) of the First Schedule to this Act as the Minister considers expedient in consequence of the increase or reduction.

(1) The Council shall establish and maintain a fund, the management and control of which shall be in the hands of the Council.
(2) There shall be paid into the fund established pursuant to subsection (1) of this section-
(a) all fees and other moneys payable to the Council whether in the course of the discharge of its functions or not;
(b) such moneys as may be provided by the Federal Government to the Council by way of grant or by way of loan or otherwise;
(3) There shall be paid out of the fund of the Council-
(a) the remuneration and allowances of the registrar and other employees of the Council;
(b) all other expenditure incurred by the Council in the discharge of its functions under this Act; and
(c) such reasonable travelling and subsistence allowance of members of the Council in respect of the time spent on the business of the Council as the Council may determine.
(4) The Council may invest moneys in the fund in any security created or issued by or on behalf of the Government of the Federation or in any other securities, in Nigeria approved by the Council.
(5) The Council may, from time to time, borrow money for the purposes of the Council and any interest payable on moneys so borrowed shall be paid out of the fund.
(6)
The Council shall keep proper accounts in respect of each year and proper records in relation to those accounts; and the Council shall cause the accounts to be audited by an auditor appointed from the list of auditors and in accordance with the guidelines supplied by the Auditor-General for the Federation.
(7) The audited accounts shall be submitted to the registered members for approval by them at the general meeting of the Council.
(8) The auditor, appointed for the purpose of this section, shall not be a member of the Council.

(1) There shall be appointed by the President for the Council a registrar.
(2) The registrar shall be the chief executive and secretary to the Council and be responsible for the day to day administration of the Council.
(3) The registrar shall hold office for a term of five years in the first instance and shall be eligible for re-appointment for one further term of five years and no more.
(4) The Council may, from time to time, appoint such other persons as the Council may deem fit to assist the registrar in the performance of his functions under this Act.
(5) It shall be the duty of the registrar to prepare and maintain, in accordance with rules made by the Council, a register of the names, addresses, approved qualifications and such other qualifications and particulars as may be specified in the rules, of all persons who are entitled in accordance with the provisions of this Act to be registered as members of the profession and who apply to be so registered.
(6) Subject to the following provisions of this section, the Council may make rules with respect to the form and keeping of the register and the making of entries therein, and in particular-
(a) the making of the applications for registration;
(b) providing for notification to the registrar, by the person to whom any registered particulars relate, of any change in those particulars;
(c) authorising a registered person to have any qualification which is, in relation to the relevant division of the profession, either an approved qualification or an accepted qualification for the purposes of this Act, entered in relation to his name in addition to or, as he may elect, in substitution for any other qualification so registered;
(d) specifying the fees, including any annual subscription to be paid to the Council in respect of the entry of a name on the register and authorising the registrar to refuse to enter a name on the register until any fee specified for the entry has been paid;
(e) specifying anything falling to be specified under the foregoing provisions of this section:
Provided that rules for the purposes of paragraph (d) of this subsection shall not come into force until they are confirmed at a special meeting of the Council convened for the purpose thereafter or at the next general meeting of the registered members as the case may be.
(7) It shall be the duty of the registrar to-
(a) correct, in accordance with the Council's directions, any entry in the register which the Council directs him to correct as being in the Council's opinion an entry which was incorrectly made;
(b) make, from time to time, any necessary alteration to the registered particulars of registered persons;
(c) remove from the register the name of any registered person who has died;
(d) record the names of any registered members of the profession who are in default for more than four months in the payment of the annual subscriptions, and to take such action in relation thereto (including removal of the names of defaulters from the register) as the Council under this Act may direct or require.
(8) If the registrar-
(a) sends by post to any registered person, a registered letter addressed to him at his address on the register inquiring whether the registered particulars relating to him are correct and receives no reply to the letter within the period of six months from the date of posting it; and
(b)
upon the expiration of that period, sends in the like manner to the person in question, a second similar letter and receives no reply to that letter within three months from the date of posting it,
the registrar may remove the particulars relating to the person in question from the register: Provided that the Council directs the registrar to restore to the appropriate part of the register any particulars removed therefrom under this subsection.

(1) It shall be the duty of the registrar-
(a) to cause the register to be printed, published and put on sale to members of the public not later than two years from the appointed day; and
(b) thereafter in each year after that in which the register is first published under paragraph (a) of this subsection, to cause to be printed, published and put on sale as aforesaid, either a corrected edition of the register or list of corrections made to the register since it was last printed; and
(c)
to cause a print of each edition of the register and of each list of corrections to be deposited at the principal office of the Council,
and it shall be the duty of the Council to keep the register and lists so deposited available at all reasonable times for inspection by members of the public.
(2) A document purporting to be a print of an edition of the register published under this section by authority of the registrar, or documents purporting to be prints of an edition of the register so published and of the list of corrections to that edition so published, shall (without prejudice to any other mode of proof) be admissible in any proceedings as evidence that any person specified in the document, or the documents read together, as being registered was so registered at the date of the edition or of the list of corrections, as the case may be, and that any person not so specified was not so registered.
(3) Where in accordance with subsection (2) of this section, a person is, in any proceedings, shown to have been, or not to have been registered at a particular date, he shall, unless the contrary is proved be taken for the purposes of those proceedings as having at all material times thereafter continued to be, or not to be, so registered.

(1) Subject to rules made under section 4 (6) of this Act, a person shall be entitled to be registered as a member of the profession if-
(a) he passes a qualifying examination accepted by the Council and completes the practical teaching prescribed by the Council under this Act; or
(b) not being a Nigerian, he holds a qualification granted outside Nigeria which for the time being is recognised by the Council and he is by law entitled to practise the profession in the country in which the qualification was granted provided that the other country accords Nigerian professional teachers the same reciprocal treatment and that he satisfies the Council that he has sufficient practical experience as a teacher.
(2) An applicant for registration shall, in addition to evidence of qualification, satisfy the Council that-
(a) he is of good character;
(b) he has attained the age of 21 years; and
(c) he has not been convicted in Nigeria or elsewhere of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty.
(3) The Council shall, from time to time, publish in the Federal Gazette particulars of qualifications for the time being accepted by the Council for purposes of registration.

(1) The Council may approve an institution for the purposes of this Act, and may for those purposes approve-
(a) any course of training at any approved institution which is intended for persons who are seeking to become or are already teachers and which the Council considers is designed to confer on persons completing it sufficient knowledge and skill for admission as professional teachers;
(b) any qualification which, as a result of an examination taken in conjunction with a course of training approved by the Council under this section, is granted to candidates reaching a standard at the examination indicating in the opinion of the members of the Council that the candidates have sufficient knowledge and skill to practice the profession.
(2) The Council may, if it thinks fit, withdraw any approval given under this section in respect of any course, qualification or institution; but before withdrawing such an approval the Council shall-
(a)
give notice that it proposes to withdraw such approval to each person in Nigeria appearing to the Council to be a person by whom the course is conducted or the qualification is granted or the institution is controlled, as the case may be; and
(b) give each such person an opportunity of making representation to the Council with regard to the proposal; and
(c) take into consideration any representation made in respect of the proposal in pursuance of paragraph (b) of this subsection.
(3) Any period during which the approval of the Council under this section for a course, qualification or institution is withdrawn, the course, qualification or institution shall not be treated as approved under this section; but the withdrawal of such an approval shall not prejudice the registration or eligibility for registration of any person who by virtue of the approval was registered or eligible for registration immediately before the approval was withdrawn.
(4) The giving or withdrawal of an approval under this section shall have effect from such date, either before or after the execution of the instrument signifying the giving or withdrawal of the approval, as the Council may specify in that instrument; and the Council shall-
(a) publish as soon as possible a copy of every such instrument in the newspaper; and
(b) not later than seven days before its publication as aforesaid, send a copy of the instrument to the Minister.

(1) It shall be the duty of the members of the Council to keep themselves informed of the nature of-
(a) the instruction given at approved institutions to persons attending approved courses of training; and
(b)
the examinations as a result of which approved qualifications are granted,
and for the purposes of performing that duty, the Council may appoint, either from among its own members or otherwise, persons to visit approved institutions, or to observe such examinations.
(2) It shall be the duty of a person appointed under subsection (1) of this section to report to the Council on-
(a) the sufficiency of the instructions given to persons attending approved courses of training at institutions visited by him;
(b) the adequacy of the examinations attended by him; and
(c)
any other matters relating to the institutions or examinations on which the Council may, either generally or in a particular case, request him to report,
but no visitor shall interfere with the giving of any instruction or the holding of any examination.
(3) On receiving a report made in pursuance of this section, the Council may, if it thinks fit, and shall if so required by the registered members, send a copy of the report to the person appearing to the Council to be in charge of the institution or responsible for the examinations to which the report relates requesting that person to make observations on the report to the Council within such period as may be specified in the request, not being less than one month beginning with the date of the request.

(1) There is hereby established a tribunal to be known as the Teachers Disciplinary Committee (in this Act referred to as "the Committee") which shall be charged with the duty of considering and determining any case referred to it by the Teachers Investigating Panel (in this Act referred to as "the Panel") established by the following provisions of this section, and any other case of which the Committee has cognisance under the following provisions of this Act.
(2) The Committee shall consist of the chairman of the Council and ten other members appointed by the Council.
(3) There shall be established in each State of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja a body, to be known as the State Teachers Investigating Panel and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja Teachers Investigating Panel as the case may be (in this Act referred to as "the Panel") which shall be charged with the duty of-
(a) conducting a preliminary investigation into any case where it is alleged that a member has misbehaved in his capacity as a professional teacher, or should for any other reason be the subject of proceedings before the Committee; and
(b) deciding whether the case should be referred to the Committee.
(4) A panel shall be appointed by the Council after consultation with the State Ministry of Education or the Federal Ministry of Education in the case of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and shall consist of five members one of whom shall be a legal practitioner.
(5) The provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act shall, so far as they are applicable to the Committee and Panel respectively, have effect with respect to those bodies.
(6) The Council may make rules not inconsistent with this Act as to acts which constitute professional misconduct.

(1) Where-
(a) a member is judged by the Committee to be guilty of infamous conduct in any professional respect; or
(b) a member is convicted, by any court or tribunal in Nigeria or elsewhere having power to award imprisonment, of an offence (whether or not punishable with imprisonment) which in the opinion of the Committee is incompatible with the status of a teacher; or
(c) the Committee is satisfied that the name of any person has been fraudulently registered, the Committee may, if it thinks fit, give a direction reprimanding that person or ordering the registrar to strike his name off the relevant part of the register.
(2) The Committee may, if it thinks fit, defer its decision as to the giving of a direction under subsection (1) of this section until a subsequent meeting of the Committee; but-
(a) no decision shall be deferred under this subsection for any period exceeding two years in the aggregate; and
(b) no person shall be a member of the Committee for the purposes of reaching a decision which has been deferred or further deferred unless he was present as a member of the Committee when the decision was deferred.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1) (b) of this section, a person shall not be treated as convicted as therein mentioned, unless the conviction stands at a time when no appeal or further appeal is pending or may (without extension of time) be brought in connection with the conviction.
(4) When the Committee gives a direction under subsection (1) of this section, the Committee shall cause notice of the direction to be served on the person to whom it relates.
(5) The person to whom such a direction relates may, at any time within 28 days from the date of service on him of notice of the direction, appeal against the direction to the Court of Appeal; and the Committee may appear as respondent to the appeal and, for the purpose of enabling directions to be given as to the costs of the appeal and of proceedings before the Committee, the Committee shall be deemed to be a party thereto whether or not it appears on the hearing of the appeal.
(6) A direction of the Committee under subsection (1) of this section shall take effect-
(a) where no appeal under this section is brought against the direction within the time limited for such an appeal, on the expiration of that time; or
(b) where such an appeal is brought and is withdrawn or struck out for want of prosecution, or the withdrawal or striking out of the appeal; or
(c)
where such an appeal is brought and it is not withdrawn or struck out as aforesaid, if and when the appeal is dismissed,
and shall not take effect except in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this subsection.
(7) A person whose name is removed from the register in pursuance of a direction of the Committee under this section, shall not be entitled to be registered again except in pursuance of a direction in that behalf given by the Committee on the application of that person; and a direction under this section for the removal of a person's name from the register, may prohibit an application under this subsection by that person until the expiration of such period from the date of the direction (and where he has duly made such an application, from the date of his last application) as may be specified in the direction.

(1) It shall be the duty of the head of an educational institution to report any misconduct by a registered member to the Panel.
(2) A person in breach of the provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine of N1000 or to imprisonment for a term of three months.

A person shall be deemed to practice as a registered teacher if, in consideration of remuneration received or to be received, and whether by himself or in partnership with any other person-(a) he engages himself in teaching or holds himself out to the public as a teacher; or
(b) he renders any other service which may by regulations made by the Council with the approval of the Minister be designated as service constituting teaching.

(1) The Council may make rules-
(a) for the training of suitable persons in teaching practice and method;
(b) for the supervision and regulations of the engagement, training and transfer of such persons; and
(c) for the fees to be paid by registered members.
(2) The Council may also make rules prescribing the amount and due date for payment of the annual subscription and for such purposes different amounts may be prescribed by the rules according to whether the registered member of the profession is a qualified or an auxiliary teacher.
(3) Rules when made under this section shall, if the chairman of the Council so directs, be published in the newspapers.

The Council may, if it thinks fit, award honorary membership of the profession to persons whom it considers worthy of such honour, on terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the Council.

The Council shall-(a) provide and maintain a library comprising books and publications for the advancement of knowledge of teaching, and such other books and publications as the Council may think necessary for the purpose;
(b) encourage research into teaching methods and allied subjects to the extent that the Council may, from time to time, consider necessary.

Any regulations made under this Act shall be published in the newspaper as soon as may be after they are made.

(1) If any person for the purpose of procuring the registration of any name, qualification or other matter-
(a) makes a statement which he believes to be false in a material particular; or
(b)
recklessly makes a statement which is false in a material particular,
he shall be guilty of an offence.
(2)
If, on or after the commencement of this Act, any person not being a registered member of the profession practices as a registered member of the profession or in expectation of reward, or takes or uses any name, title, addition or description implying that he is in practice as a registered member of the profession, he shall be guilty of an offence:
Provided that, in the case of a person falling within section 10 of this Act-
(a) this subsection shall not apply in respect of anything done by him during the period of three months mentioned in that section; and
(b) if within that period he duly applies for membership of the profession, then, unless within that period he is notified that his application has not been approved, this subsection shall not apply in respect of anything done by him between the end of that period and the date on which he is enrolled or registered or is notified as aforesaid.
(3) If the registrar or any other person employed by or on behalf of the Council wilfully makes any falsification in any matter relating to the register, he shall be guilty of an offence.
(4) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable-
(a) on conviction to a fine of an amount not exceeding N1,000 ; or
(b)
on conviction on indictment to a fine of an amount not exceeding N5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both such fine and imprisonment.
(5)
Where an offence under this section which has been committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or any person purporting to act in any such capacity, he, as well as the body corporate, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-
"**Committee"** means the Teachers Disciplinary Committee established by section 9 of this Act;
**"Council"** means the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria established by section 1 of this Act;
**"fees"** includes annual subscriptions;
**"member"** means a member of the Council and includes the chairman;
**"Panel"** means the Teachers Investigating Panel established by section 9 of this Act;
**"register"** means the register maintained in pursuance of section 4 of this Act;
**"Minister"** means the Minister charged with responsibility for matters relating to education.

This Act may be cited as the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria Act.