TheNewsGuru

Tag: Teachers

  • Exam failure: Teachers union commence 3-day fasting, prayer over planned sack of 20,000 in Kaduna

    The Nigeria Union of Teachers, Zaria Local Government Area Branch will on Tuesday begin three days of fasting and prayers over the planned sack of 20,000 primary school teachers.

    68 per cent of the teachers had failed an examination conducted by the Kaduna State Government. The teachers failed to pass the primary four pupils’ exam at excellent level.

    NUT Chairman in Zaria Local Government Area, Malam Yahaya Abbas, said on Monday that the teachers were compelled to seek God’s intervention over the planned sack.

    Abbas said, “Majority of our members here are Muslims and we do not have anywhere to lodge our complaint except to our creator.

    “Therefore, we intend to start a three-day fasting on Oct. 17, in addition to prayers, to seek God’s intervention on the planned mass sack of our members whom government said did not pass its examination.

    “There is no way for everybody to score “A” grade in an examination; that is 75 per cent, this is not what was agreed with the union representatives.

    “The agreement was that the pass mark should be 60 per cent not 75 per cent. Again, the result of the examination is not yet out but the government said it will sack 20,000 teachers.”

    He said that the government still owed some teachers salary arrears of between three months and 13 months, while some of them were being underpaid.

    “I can assure you that there is one female teacher who teaches 200 pupils in a class due to the shortage of teaching staff.

    “Again, sacking of experienced teachers and recruiting new ones is not the solution because anybody who bagged a National Certificate in Education or degree in the last 10 years must have been taught by these categories of teachers.

    “Therefore, if the government argued that the present calibre of teachers are not qualified, then, how do you expect their products to be better than the teachers?”, he asked.

  • ‘21,780 teachers failed primary four exams in Kaduna’ says Gov El-Rufai

    The Kaduna State government has disclosed that about 21,780 out of 33,000 teachers failed the primary four exams they set out to test their knowledge and competence.

    This was made known by the state Governor Nasir el-Rufai while announcing recruitment plans when he received a World Bank’s delegation in Kaduna yesterday.

    According to the governor, they are now looking for 25,000 new teachers in other to restore dignity and quality education to the state.

    “We tested our 33,000 primary school teachers, we gave them primary four examinations and required they must get at least 75 percent but I am sad to announce that 66 percent of them failed to get the requirements.

    “The hiring of teachers in the past was politicized and we intend to change that by bringing in young and qualified primary school teachers to restore the dignity of education in the state.’

    He said that teachers would be redeployed across the state to balance the issue of teacher-pupil ratio.

    “We have a challenge with the teacher-pupil ratio in the urban schools; there is concentration of teachers that are not needed. In some local government areas, it’s a teacher-pupil ratio of 1-9 while in some places it’s 1-100,” he said.

    The governor also that in a bid to improve the education sector, the school directors decided to enroll their children in public schools starting from this academic session.

    The World Bank representative, Dr. Kunle Adekola, also expressed appreciation to the state for stepping up to improve quality education in the state.

    “This state has demonstrated and supported us to achieve our goals,” he said.

    According to him, the Bank would invest N30 million in Rigasa Primary School, which has a population of about 22,000 pupils, as part of its support for the state.

  • World Teachers’ Day: Dogara hails sacrifices of Nigerian teachers

    …Calls for improved welfare for teachers

    Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara has hailed Nigerian teachers for their service to the development of the Nigerian child, calling for opportunities of continuous training and retraining, improved remuneration and provision of requisite infrastructure and facilities for them to impart knowledge on students in line with global standards.

    In a press statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media & Public Affairs, Mr. Turaki Hassan, to mark 2017 World Teachers Day with the theme, ‘Teaching in Freedom, Empowering Teachers’, the Speaker stressed that empowerment of teachers remains a top priority in all education and development strategies.

    He also advocated for the security of the lives of teachers, expressing delight, for instance, that security in the North East had improved significantly which enabled teachers to resume work however, called on security agencies to provide adequate protection to all schools in the region.

    He, further, implored security agencies to step up security in schools to end the harrowing incidents of kidnappings of teachers and students.

    “Teachers are the most important people in the development of any individual and by implication the society, this confers a priority status on them which, sadly, has not reflected in their conditions of service or living standards.

    “It is, therefore, important that proper training, remuneration and provision of requisite infrastructure and facilities for teachers to impart knowledge on students in line with global standards are provided. Their salaries and allowances must be paid when and as due to encourage them to continue to put in their best in this all-important task that they carry out. This will engender improvement in the education sector of Nigeria and produce better-trained teachers, as well as finely baked graduates.

    “Security of our schools remain a priority. Thanks to the determination of the present administration and the bravery of our military troops, students and teachers in the North East can now go to schools freely in most areas.”

    “On our part, the House of Representatives will continue to pursue all measures that will promote the development, empowerment and security of the Nigerian teacher.

    This is evident in our timely response to issues between our teachers and the government that threatened to clog the wheel of progress of the education sector including increasing their retirement age from 60 to 65 years as requested by the leadership of the Nigerian Union of Teachers when they visited me a few months ago.

    The Speaker who had his post-primary training as a Grade II teacher said the House of Representatives will not relent in supporting legislative measures aimed at improving our education sector, including the welfare of teachers, to take it to a point where it can compete favourably with its global counterparts,”

  • Boko Haram: USAID trains 7,169 teachers in Borno

    Boko Haram: USAID trains 7,169 teachers in Borno

    The U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID) says it has trained 7, 169 teachers in Borno to mitigate the shortages of teachers caused by the Boko Haram insurgency in the state.

    Malam Isa Gusau, the Special Adviser to Gov. Kashim Shettima on Communication and Media Strategy, made this known in a statement on Saturday in Maiduguri.

    Gusau said that the figure was disclosed when the Director of the USAID’s Education Crisis Response Project (ECR), Mr Ayo Oladini, paid a courtesy visit to the governor in Maiduguri.

    He said that the training was provided sequel to the advocacy by Shettima to encourage support toward rebuilding and rehabilitation of the education sector ravaged by the insurgency.

    Gusau said that the exercise was designed to expose teachers on post crisis and pupils’ centred methodologies, adding that the participants were drawn from Biu, Jere, Kaga, Konduga and Maiduguri local government areas.

    “USAID has completed training of 7, 169 teachers in the state under its Education Crisis Response Project in five local government councils of the state.

    “The project has so far enrolled 15, 197 displaced children in 304 temporary schools, to enhance access to basic education in conflict and crisis environment‎.

    “USAID also engaged 30 local education authority officials as mentor teachers, while 130 facilitators were deployed to 304 learning centres, to enhance management, monitoring and evaluation services.

    “ECR is a three year project funded by USAID. The project is being implemented in Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe and Yobe States.

    “ Currently, providing basic literacy programme to 47, 722 children and youths in 731 learning centres in the North East,” Oladini was quoted as saying in the statement.

    Gusau said that the Borno State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) was collaborating with ECR to expand the scope of participation in the teacher training exercise.

    Shettima also commended the USAID over the gesture and reiterated government’s commitment to training and recruitment of additional teachers in the state.

    The state government had reconstructed and rehabilitated thousands of classroom blocks and schools vandalised in communities liberated from Boko Haram insurgents.

    The government also embarked on construction of 22 model mega school designed with a 2, 000 students-capacity each, to expand the scope of school enrolment.

    Statistics from the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) showed that 1, 400 schools were destroyed; 2, 295 teachers killed, while 19, 000 teachers were displaced by the insurgency in the North-East.

    The UN agency added that an estimated 3 million children were in need of emergency education support at the start of the new academic year in the region.

  • Teachers’ strike: Al-Makura deploys commissioners, permanent secretaries to invigilate NECO exams

    The Nasarawa State Government has said it won’t be moved by the strike action embarked upon by teachers on its payroll as arrangements have been concluded to deploy commissioners and permanent secretaries of MDAs in the state to invigilate the National Examination Council (NECO) examinations.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the NECO examination has been scheduled to hold between May 25, 2017 and July 25, 2017.

    “The examination will hold as scheduled; we have made adequate arrangements to ensure it is hitch-free. Commissioners and permanent secretaries will invigilate,” Abdulahi Agwai, permanent secretary in the education ministry, said on Friday in Lafia.

    He said that school principals, vice principals and other senior non-academic staff had also also been enlisted as invigilators.

    Agwai assured parents that the strike would not affect the examination, and advised them to send their wards to school.

    “Many officers in the education ministry, like chief inspectors and supervisors, are also at work. These categories of officers will even be more than enough to invigilate and supervise the exercise in all centres,” he said.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS), embarked on an indefinite strike on May 12, to press for improved working conditions.

    Its chairman, Gabriel Agbashi, has directed the teachers to remain at home and await further directive from the union’s leadership.

  • A/Ibom to re-absorb 5,000 sacked teachers after screening – HoS

    The Akwa Ibom State Government has said it will re-absorb the 5,000 teachers sacked last October on ground of alleged fake credentials and other irregularities observed in the recruitment process.

    The State Head of Civil Service, Mrs Ekereobong Akpan, made the announcement on Thursday in Uyo while briefing newsmen.

    Akpan said the government had set up modalities for the screening and re-validation of the affected teachers, adding that the exercise would commence on Feb. 11.

    The Head of Service said the government had decided to open another window of opportunity to enable the teachers, especially those who possess relevant qualification to be recruited.

    She said that the teachers would be screened on presentation of their original letter of appointment from the suspended the exercise.

    “The affected persons will be expected to supply their birth certificates, First School Leaving Certificates, Educational Qualifications, Certificate of Origin and other credentials earlier submitted in the aborted recruitment exercise.

    “Let me state here and very sincerely that all the affected persons, who succeed at this fool proof screening shall be offered appointment to teach in our public schools,” Akpan assured.

    She said that the government had also set up a committee to ascertain the total number of staff inherited from the six privately owned community schools taken over by the government in 2012.

    She expressed surprise that the staff strength in the six community schools increased to 546 after the government took over the schools.

    “Let me break the good news that the committee set up has submitted its report.

    “All the bonafide teaching and non-teaching staff as identified by the community, who used to payroll them, will be absorbed into the service,” Akpan said.

     

    NAN

  • Kwara teachers take to fasting, praying over unpaid salaries

    Thousands of teachers in public primary and Junior Secondary Schools in Kwara say they have embarked on fasting and prayer to ensure payment of their six months’ salary arrears by state government.

    The Deputy Chairman of the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Alhaji Toyin Salihu, disclosed this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in llorin on Monday.

    Salihu, who also the Principal of Sheikh AbdulKadir College, llorin, said that the teachers’ action was for God’s intervention for the payment of their salary arrears.

    He said that though the fasting and prayers were voluntary for both Christians and Muslim teachers, it would continue until God accepts their request.

    The NUT Deputy Chairman said that the government had commenced full monthly payment for the teachers’ salary, but that they were yet to receive their six months’ salary arrears.

    Salihu said that the unpaid six months arrears had added to the untold hardship being experienced by the teachers and their relations.

    Effort by NAN to speak with the Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Ademola Banu on the issue proved abortive.

    NAN correspondent sent text message to Banu and visited his office, for his comment on the issue but he did not respond.

    Normal academic activities were, however, in progress in some of the primary and junior secondary schools NAN visited in some parts of llorin, the state capital.

    Teachers in public primary and junior secondary schools embarked on strike in 2016 over unpaid several months of salaries.

  • Bayelsa Primary school teachers threaten strike over unpaid salaries

    By Murphy Aigbe – Yenagoa

    Teachers from public primary schools in Bayelsa have again threatened to revisit their suspended strike action and paralyse the primary school system if their demands which include payment of the backlog of salaries are not met.

    The teachers under the auspices of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) therfore called on Governor Seriake Dickson to save public primary education from imminent collapse.

    The teachers urged Dickson to prevail on local government councils to pay backlog of full month salaries owed primary school teachers in the state.

    Their call was contained in a seven-point communique signed by John Toinpre Kala-Ama, state NUT chairman, Johnson Hector, principal secretary and Akanyo Timi, publicity secretary, following an emergency meeting of the state wing of the union at Teachers House, Yenagoa.

    They said the state government should assume its constitutional collaborative responsibility of augmenting the funding and management of the primary school system through the Universal Basic Education Programme.

    The teachers also appealed to the state and local governments to quickly address the issues of payment of imprest to headmasters and equitable distribution of instructional materials for functional academic work.

    Other problems, they stated, include acute shortage of teachers, non-implementation of promotions and annual increment for primary school teachers, among others.

    They demanded that the NUT be also represented at the state education committee as directed by the government.