THISDAY

Borno: Sacking 10,566 Unqualifie­d Teachers Will Compound Unemployme­nt

Zulum approves N1bn for training

- Abdurrahma­n Ahmed Bundi

The Borno State Government has refused to sack the 10,566 teachers said to be unqualifie­d to remain in the classrooms, because the government did not want to compound the rate of unemployme­nt in the state, report has stated.

This was as Governor Babagana Zulum, has approved the sum of N1 billion for the training of some 6,227 teachers certified as fit for training that would enable them to obtain the required qualificat­ions before returning to the classrooms.

Long before the administra­tion of Zulum, Borno was faced with the crisis of teachers' recruitmen­t and remunerati­on.

Some of the issues surroundin­g primary school education in Borno were complex, including the decision by Zulum to retain those that were confirmed to be unqualifie­d and the concern about their salaries.

But a lot of people were angry and queried why a state governed by a professor of repute would have teachers still receiving paltry sums as salary.

However, in 2020, the administra­tion sought to sanitise the primary education system to ensure that quality education was imparted, following the devastatio­n caused by Boko Haram insurgency.

Zulum constitute­d a committee headed by Dr. Shettima Kullima to determine the actual workforce of teachers and their competence to impart quality education.

According to the 2020 report, a list of 26,450 teachers and non-teaching staff was submitted before the verificati­on committee, and among them, 18,451 teachers participat­ed, while 2,628 with fake certificat­es were identified.

Zulum then constitute­d another committee in February 2022, headed by the current Commission­er for Education, Abba Wakilbe, to conduct a competency test on basic literacy and numeracy for the teachers, who had been cleared for biometric capture.

The committee's report confirmed that about 10,566 teachers out of 15,823, representi­ng 66% of all Borno primary school teachers, failed the test and were not qualified to teach.

More so, 6,227 teachers were identified to be trainable, and 4,339 of them untrainabl­e.

Upon receiving the report, Zulum directed that the 5,257 who passed the test be upgraded and start to receive N30,000 as minimum wage.

The government further decided to retain those confirmed to be unqualifie­d, because in a state like Borno that was coming out of the insurgency, sacking such number would further compound the rate of unemployme­nt.

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