About 21,780 out of 33,000 teachers failed the primary four test administered to determine their competence by the Kaduna State government.
Kaduna state is therefore shopping for 25,000 new teachers as one of the plans to restore dignity and quality to education.
Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State unveiled the planned recruitment when he received a World Bank’s delegation in Kaduna on Monday.
“We tested our 33,000 primary school teachers, we gave them primary four examination and required they must get at least 75 per cent but I am sad to announce that 66 per cent of them failed to get the requirements.
“The hiring of teachers in the past was politicised and we intend to change that by bringing in young and qualified primary school teachers to restore the dignity of education in the state,” the governor said.
He stressed that teachers would be redeployed across the state to balance the issue of teacher-pupil ratio.
“We have a challenge with the teacher-pupil ratio in the urban schools; there is concentration of teachers that are not needed.
“In some local government areas, it’s a teacher pupil ratio of 1-9 while in some places it’s 1-100,” he said.
The governor said that in a bid to improve the education sector, the school Directors decided to enrol their children in public schools starting from this academic session.
Speaking earlier, the World Bank representative, Dr Kunle Adekola, expressed appreciation to the state for investing in education and for the priority given to the girl child.
“This state has demonstrated and supported us to achieve our goals,” he said.
Adekola said the Bank would invest N30 million in Rigasa Primary School, which has a population of about 22,000 pupils, as part of its support for the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Education Intervention Fund by the World Bank and other collaborative development partners, is rendering support to about 13 Northern states and a state from each of the other four geopolitical zones of the country.
My view on this is simple. As a trained teacher myself is is difficult to believe that this obtains in Nigeria in the 21st century. But how can you contradict it when the presdident of a country that boast of renowned professors could not rebuff allegations that he did not pass High School? This is obly Kaduna State we need not imagine what is happening in other states in the North because of the so-called FEDERAL CHARACTER. And the unbaked products of this system are flushed into the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHMENTS as directors and mangers, tell me how Nigeria will ever move forward. This morning in the news a Yoruba director of Diamond Bank Nigeria PLC was raging and ranting (I used this because they prefered Buhari to Jonathan, and never saw anything bad in that choice); she was unhappy that a head of one of her Bank’s Department, by name, Aisha Mahmad was lifted over seven (YES, 7 Directors) and received two promotions in two days to finally become the Deputy Governor of Nigeria’s Apex bank, Central Bank of Nigeria) because Buhari wanted her there. What a Nation, what a people!
Great move by Governor Nasir el-Rufai.If 21,780 out of 33,000 teachers failed the primary four test administered to determine their competence by the Kaduna State government, those teachers need to be replaced or be retrained. How can they teach their elementary school children if they did not pass primary four pupils test?
I am a firm believer that “if the teacher did not teach, the students will not learn” and “if the students did not learn, the teacher did not teach.” I have held this teaching motto/philosophy for 36 years in Atlanta Georgia while teaching, caring and mentoring High School, college, and university students. The passing rate of all students under my tutelage each year remained between 85% to 100%. A great teacher must find a way or make one for his/her students to excel academically.
In fact, excellent teachers in the academic business will agree with me that “all students and even the less elite teachers can improve if they have a nurturing/conducive environment to learn and they bring the right attitude to the learning environment (school).
I think that every State in Nigeria, not just Kaduna State, must in a hurry begin to take the responsibility of recruiting qualified teachers if their Governors want to see significant progress in our children’s’ academic performance. Governor Nasir el-Rufai should be commended for taking the bold step to restore the credibility of teaching and learning in his State; he has taken a bold step.
Sincerely,
Prof. Francis Osita Onukwuli
National Publicity Secretary, APC-USA Chapter
Vice-Chairman, APC-USA, Georgia Branch