359 Teachers in Borno Earn Professional Licenses

Teachers in three conflict-affected regions of Borno State, Nigeria, are now professionally certified to teach after a year-long training program helped them earn national credentials.

Plan International, working with local partners, trained 359 teachers across Kala-Balge, Damboa, and Mobbar and helped them pass the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria Professional Qualifying Examination. These communities have spent years recovering from insurgency that disrupted education for an entire generation of children.

The effort started when Plan International discovered a troubling pattern. Despite getting children back into classrooms, only two out of every ten students who graduated from primary school could actually read and write at grade level.

"We sat down and did some analysis to find out what the real problem is," said Helen Idiong, Plan International Nigeria's Director of Programme Quality. The answer was clear: not enough trained teachers.

The organization partnered with University of Maiduguri lecturers to prepare teachers for certification exams. Out of 401 teachers who took the test, 359 passed and received their official licenses at a Thursday ceremony in Maiduguri.

The Ripple Effect

The newly certified teachers will serve communities where education infrastructure was destroyed by conflict. Many children in these areas missed years of schooling or never attended at all.

Professional certification means these teachers now meet national standards and can deliver quality instruction backed by proven methods. The European Union funded the initiative, recognizing that trained teachers are essential for long-term recovery in conflict zones.

"This certificate gives us confidence and enables us to provide quality education to learners in our communities," said Khadijat Muhammad, one of the newly certified teachers. She credits the program with launching her professional teaching career.

The training included not just academic preparation but also ethics and professional standards. Teachers learned about maintaining integrity in their profession and protecting students.

Jibrin Adamu from implementing partner CASFOD explained why these three local governments were chosen. "These are areas that have suffered a long period of conflict that destroyed education for many children," he said.

Now that conflict is subsiding, certified teachers can help rebuild what was lost. The program represents a shift from emergency education response to sustainable quality improvement.

For Abubakar Muhammad, another graduate, the promise is simple: "With this certificate, I will do my best to ensure that going forward, my students receive improved educational services."