The Kaduna State House of Assembly (KDHA) has set up a seven-man committee to investigate the planned disengagement of primary school teachers who were said to have failed competency test.
Speaker of the House, Alhaji Aminu Abdullahi Shagali disclosed this to Assembly Correspondents.
According to him, the Committee will look into the cry of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and that of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) as well as all issues related thereto, with an expected results to be made public and in due course.
Alhaji Aminu said this issue has taken another turn as most people failed to understand the position of the government.
“The government did not say it will sac; it says it will disengage them from service as most of these teachers are unqualified. While some will get the benefits of pension and gratuity as they are almost of retirement age, those who are not within the retirement age are going to be sacked based on the fact that they are not qualified to teach our primary school pupils,” he said.
He urged those who have genuine complaints to seek redress by applying for remarking and if need be those interested can reapply to become teachers.
“My major concern is the fact that these teachers have sent very young pupils to the streets to protest, which will at the end of the day benefit them. This is not right; they have shown us that they are not teachers but cheats.
“Most of us that are crying wolf, our children do not attend public schools. In fact, 100% of us, our children are in private schools. Even those making unnecessary comments saying that Kaduna State government is not doing the right thing, their children also do not attend public schools. In fact, most of their children study abroad,” he said.
Shagali advised politicians to stop talking out of selfishness, as re-election into office is only by the will of God Almighty.
“Our wish is that if there are others who will come and do better than us, we will really be happy as we all want the best for the citizens of the Kaduna State.
“A lot of those who are in government attended these public schools to become what they are today. So I see no reason why we should not come together to improve the education sector in the state.
“They are doing this just because they don’t want the standard of education in our state to improve, as they do not want the children of the poor to have basic and sound education as their children. All they want children of the ordinary man to remain below the level of their children,” Alhaji Shagali said.
“Most of those complaining on this issue of disengagement are those whose children do not even attend public schools, most of us our children attend private schools while some are even studying abroad but they are still the same set of people who are complaining, they do not want the educational sector to be improved.”
“The only alternative we have now is to get our public schools to the right standard,get well qualified teachers, because the past government left most of these schools dilapidated, there is the need to restructure them as that has been our aim since the inception of these government. We have been putting in efforts and we will continue to do so.”
“I assure you that the Kaduna Assembly will do its best to see that the educatonal sector in the state is improved to its very best so that the poor will have equal rights as the rich,” he concluded.
