Governor Sani Bello disclosed this, following the report he received from the committee set up on headcount of teachers in public schools in the state, at the Government House, Minna.
The governor said from the report he received indicating that there was 80 percent qualified teachers in the state, the development was commendable and encouraging.
“The outcome of the headcount of teachers by the committee set up shows that there are 80 percent qualified teachers in our service is encouraging and commendable.
“The number of the unqualified teachers,(4,000) is high but we will not sack them but rather give them an option to go back to school for retraining and come back into the service in order to ensure quality education in public schools in the stste.”
Governor Bello directed Secretary to the State Government, Ahmed Matane to set up an implementation committee on the findings made by the committee.
“Let us identify our teachers and see how we can support them because there are indications that our teachers are suffering,” he remarked.
He said the implementation committee should be drawn from the Ministry of Education, Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, and state Universal Basic Education, SUBEB, urging the committee to carry out their functions without sentiments but rather pay attention to areas where there were few schools so that they will get more and should be close to communities.
Chairman of the Technical Committee on the Teachers Headcount, Labaran Garba, while presenting the report explained that there were 3,135 primary schools across the state with a total of 24, 061 teachers out of which 19, 358 are qualified while 4,703 were unqualified.
He also revealed that the state has 498 secondary schools with 6, 870 teachers of which 962 were unqualified.
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FAQs on the crisis as the Niger State Government uncovers thousands of unqualified teachers in public schools:
What did the Niger State Government uncover?
The Niger State Government revealed that it found over 4,000 unqualified teachers working in primary and secondary schools during a headcount exercise aimed at assessing staff qualifications on the payroll.
Why is finding unqualified teachers a problem?
Unqualified teachers lack the proper training or certification to teach effectively, which can lower the quality of education and hinder students’ learning outcomes, prompting concerns about education standards in the state.
What kinds of teachers were found to be unqualified?
The exercise uncovered teachers who did not possess the minimum required teaching qualifications such as the National Certificate in Education (NCE) or its equivalent, despite being employed on the government payroll.
What actions has the government proposed?
Authorities have suggested that unqualified teachers should either be removed from the system or given opportunities to acquire the necessary qualifications before continuing in service.
How does this impact students and parents?
The discovery has raised concerns among parents, educators, and policymakers that students may not be receiving quality instruction, increasing pressure on the government to improve teacher training, recruitment, and oversight to ensure better learning outcomes.
