Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has revealed that the sacking of incompetent teachers did not start with his administration, while adding that previous governments also did likewise.
He said this in his New Year message to residents of the state on Monday. This statement is coming against the backdrop of heavy criticism of the governor over plans to replace 22,000 teachers who failed a competency test in October, 2017.
According to him, the affected persons were dismissed from their jobs because they were unqualified, recalling how the government of the late Sir Patrick Yakowa dismissed 4,000 teachers with fake results.
Mr El-Rufai pointed out that at the resumption of office, the Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria, ESSPIN, report he received showed that 83 per cent of the teachers scored less than 25 per cent in Maths and literacy exams.
He said that the Yakowa-led government responded to reports that 50 per cent of primary school teachers were unqualified by giving such teachers a five-year deadline to acquire the appropriate qualifications.
In his words, “The Kaduna State Executive Council, at its August 8, 2012 meeting, after considering the report of the verification committee, gave a five-year window for under-qualified teachers to acquire the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE).
“This five-year grace period has now expired, and that is why this administration weeded out teachers who didn’t have the requisite skills and qualifications to teach,” he said.
El-Rufai also recalled that the 2015 ESSPIN report on pupil and teacher competence levels showed that 83 per cent of the teachers scored less than 25 per cent in Maths and literacy exams.
Primary two pupils scored an average of 14 per cent in English and 27 per cent in Maths, while primary four pupils scored an average of 13 per cent in English and 17 per cent in Numeracy.
The governor added, “The government responded to this report by getting the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) to conduct a survey of teacher competence. We took further steps to address these gaps by training and retraining the teachers.”
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