Teaching Standards: Kaduna establishes Quality Assurance Board | EduCeleb
EduCeleb
24th January 2018
The Kaduna State government has announced that a law has been passed to establish the Quality Assurance Board to uphold standards in schools. This is a part of ongoing reforms in the state’s education system, the government said.
A statement from the spokesman of the state governor, Samuel Aruwan also indicated that the Kaduna State University( KASU) has been directed to establish an Institute of Education to provide continuous training for teachers.
EduCeleb.com recalls that the Governor Nasir El-Rufai administration in the state last year conducted a competency test for primary school teachers, which majority of them failed to score up to 75%. The government thereafter announced the sack of the teachers numbering close to 22,000.
This later sparked outrage from the state’s chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) and culminated in a strike from January 8. The teachers had called off their strike ten days later and voiced support for the government’s reforms of the teaching profession in the state.
The government through the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) had in December conducted interviews for new sets of teachers it recruited to replace the teachers. After the strike was called off, it announced that sacked teachers could equally reapply.
According to Aruwan, SUBEB reaffirmed plans for the first batch of new teachers to be appointed by February 2018.
“SUBEB informed the meeting that interviews for applicants who passed the recruitment test conducted on 20 December 2017 will commence on Wednesday, 24th January 2018. The interviews will be conducted across the 23 local government areas by panels comprising experienced personnel from the Teacher Development Programme and other professionals.
“The governor disclosed that the Education Reforms in the state require that a commitment to standards be sustained and new incentives provided for teachers. Among these incentives would be a new salary scale for teachers and provision of houses for teachers posted to rural schools.
“Malam El-Rufai observed that the difficulty in securing decent accommodation in rural areas has led to an over-concentration of teachers in urban centres. He said the Ministry of Education will provide designs for construction buildings with at least six flats for teachers and a bungalow for head-teachers in rural schools.
Aruwan reported that a law has been passed to establish the Quality Assurance Board to uphold standards in schools, while the Kaduna State University( KASU) has been directed to establish an Institute of Education to provide continuous training for teachers.
Governor El-Rufai further said that the current recruitment exercise will prioritise teachers of English, Mathematics and the Sciences.
“To expand the production of such teachers, the governor disclosed that the College of Education, Gidan-Waya will adjust its curriculum so that most of its products are trained in Primary Education Studies, Mathematics, English and the Sciences.
“The local government administrators and Education Secretaries commended Malam Nasir El-Rufai for the unwavering manner in which the Kaduna State Government is implementing its education reforms. They noted that the governor’s determined stance has defeated trade union power that was used improperly, and that teachers are now ready for a new phase.”