20,000 teachers required to address shortfall in public schools in C’river

THE Commissioner for Education in Cross River, Stephen Odey, has said that a minimum of 20,000 teachers is required to address the shortage of teaching staff in public schools across the state.

The commissioner, who disclosed this during a press briefing in Calabar, yesterday, said that the Bassey Out- led administration had embarked on massive employment of teachers to bridge the gap.

Odey, however, noted that the employment would be carried out in phases, considering the paucity of funds.

The commissioner further said that there are several ongoing reforms to revamp the education sector in the state.

Odey said: “We are determined to reform the sector holistically because we want to make Cross River a reference point in the education sector among the comity of states.

“There is already a memo before the governor for us to start with the employment of 6,000 teachers.

“We discovered that in many schools, especially in the rural areas, there are only two teachers, and this is not how we intend to be the best in the country.

“The money the government paid as a fee for the West Africa Examination Council ( WAEC) for students in the state will amount to nothing without teachers to teach them.”

Odey disclosed that priority would be given to the employment of teachers in their catchment areas, as the state is not buoyant enough to pay peculiar allowances to teachers in rural areas.

Speaking on the payment of WAEC fee, Odey dispelled the rumour that the 16,301 list was padded, but was not exhaustive, as some schools that submitted late were not captured.

He said: “The only issue that arose from the list was that we found out that some names were duplicated during compilation, which brought the figure to about 16,287 students.

“Even at that, we had students from about 20 schools that were not included, because of late submission. For instance, a particular school in Boki had over 1,000 students not included.

“For the avoidance of doubt, those principals found not to have been diligent in their duty have been sanctioned.”