Primary school pupils protest against El-rufai’s sacking of teachers
NUT gives two weeks ultimatum
HUNDREDS of pupils and students yesterday protested against the sacking of primary and secondary schools teachers in Kaduna.
Besides, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) have issued a two weeks ultimatum to Governor Nasir ElRufai to rescind government’s decision on the sack of about 21,780 primary teachers, who have been penciled down for termination.
The NUT said it has concluded arrangements to embark on an indefinite strike and also shutdown all schools in the state if the governor fails to shelve his sack plan at the end of the two weeks ultimatum.
Pupils of the LEA Primary School, Kawo and other schools in the neighbourhood, however, took the news personal when they trooped out into the highway in the metropolis to protest the sack of their teachers.
They were chanting songs against the government’s decision to sack teachers in primary institutions and vowed not to return to the classroom until they were called back.
The pupils aged between six and 13 were also recorded in the Facebook and other social media platforms, matching out of the school premises to the highway in the protest that caused traffic gridlock in the city as many motorists diverted to freer and safer routes.
Meanwhile, the umbrella union of primary and secondary school teachers at a press conference in Kaduna yesterday accused El-rufai of shifting “the goal-post in the middle of the game.”
Chairman of the NUT in the State, Comrade Audu Titus Amba, who read their open letter to El-rufai before journalists said, it was agreed by all stakeholders that the pass mark for the competency test be pegged at 60 per cent, while those who failed to score up to 60 per cent should be retrained.
The letter, signed by NUT Assistant Secretary General, Comrade Adamu Ango, said the NUT, Kaduna State Wing, was a responsible stakeholder in the educational sector even though it was aware of the position of the law as it relates to the body statutorily empowered to regulate the teaching profession.
It noted that it cooperated with the state government in the belief that its intention was altruistic in the sense that it was aimed at boosting education, thereby, enhancing the state.