We are only redeploying unqualified teachers – Kaduna State official

The Deputy Director of Schools in the Kaduna State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Idris Aliyu said that the state government is not planning to sack any teacher but redeploy the unqualified and untrainable ones to where they can perform better.

The state government had recently conducted a primary four examination to test the competency of its primary school teachers where 21,780 out of 33,000 teachers were said to have failed. See some of the test scripts of the teachers. 

Following the poor performance of the teachers, the state government has began the process of recruiting new and qualified teachers. The Executive Chairman of State Universal Education Board, Nasir Umar last Sunday released the names of the 11,220 teachers who passed the tests and are qualified to teach in public primary schools in the state.

Umar also said three months notice would be given to those who failed the competency test for disengagement; noting that teachers who are above five years or practice would be retired while those below five years would be disengaged. 

But the deputy director of schools, Aliyu mentioned that there was no such plan to sack teachers; urging the people not to politicize the issue.

According to him, teachers who are trainable would be trained and retrained while those who are not trainable would be redeployed to areas where they perform more efficiently.

“There is room for training and re-training in the case for those who are qualified and have their TRCN certificate but failed the competency test. Those who are trainable would be trained while those who are completely not trainable would be redeployed so as to give room for qualitative teaching and learning in the state’s primary and post primary schools. Let us not politicize this issue of teachers. This is the first time a government is making a political will to upgrade and standardize the teaching profession in public schools. All we are trying to do is to quantify and upgrade the teachers,”

“Teachers who are not real teachers but within the teaching profession would be removed and not sacked but placed appropriately where they can suitably work and where we have vacuum, we will employ qualified teachers to teach. That is why the government has embarked on recruitment of 25,000 teachers who must be qualified with their TRCN certificate. So there is nothing like sacking, we would only re-deploy them to where they belong. There are some teachers who have been working for over 35years, some are also over 60years of age and still practicing, we are going to place them appropriately. The governor did not talk about sack of teachers, we are only redeploying them to where they are fit to work,” he reiterated.

He therefore urged the teachers to go back to their classrooms and continue working.

In an interview,the Registrar and Chief Executive of TRCN, Professor Josiah Ajiboye said the responsibility of the council is to register teachers, confirmed with a certificate and a license. While he described teaching as a noble profession, he stressed that as a regulatory authority, the council has power to regulate and monitor the affairs of teachers in Nigeria.

“The laws establishing TRCN has empowered the body to be in charge of teacher registration, professionalism and teacher quality. We are working closely with states of the federation to make sure that teachers in the state are competent and qualified to deliver. We want to seek understanding with various states to make sure that teachers can be taken through training programmes. If you discover that there are lapses, teachers can be taken through in-service programme to expose them to new techniques and strategies in teaching. Those who are not qualified can be sent for further training to make sure that you get them qualified,”

“For instance, when it was discovered that there were large number of unqualified teachers in Kano state, the state government took it upon itself to get those who are not qualified back to school and as at the middle of this year, about 8,000 teachers got qualified by the state government and the idea is that by next year, the remaining 19,000 teachers would also be qualified. So this is the kind of arrangements we have with states and we call on other states to key into it to make sure that teachers are up to date in everything they do,”

“The idea is not to remove teachers from their employment but to ensure that they are competent and qualified to deliver. We know that no education can rise above the quality of its teachers, therefore, quality teachers is key to quality education and that is why we emphasize that those who will be in the classrooms must not only be qualified but competent. We can remediate where we find deficiency rather than remove teachers from their job. Remediation is the key,” he stressed.