Paul Osuyi, Asaba
One thousand teachers have been employed by the Delta State government to bridge the shortage of teaching staff in some specialised subject areas across public primary and secondary schools in the state.
No fewer than 58,000 persons had applied for the job when the vacancy was advertised by the government earlier this year.
Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education in the state, Patrick Ukah, said the newly-employed teachers would be posted to rural areas where their services were mostly needed for special subject areas including Mathematics, Biology, Computer Science and others.
According to him, the new employees would sign “a contract to serve in rural areas for the first five years before being posted out.
“We took into consideration their areas of residence and local government of origin in the recruitment process. If you look at the data, fewer number was taken from the capital area, most of them are coming from rural areas. So you serve in your local area for a period before seeking a transfer.”
Ukah who described the recruitment process as transparent, said the 1,000 teachers were the brightest and best among the over 58,000 that initially applied for the job.
He urged them to be committed and carry out their respective assignments with the professionalism that is required in ensuring that the state produced the best in terms of academics in Nigeria.
“They should know that they are privileged to have been selected and given this job. But one thing is that they are the brightest and the best. The process was not doctored, everything was computer-based.
“So I don’t expect them to be going about pressuring politicians to influence their posting, they must put in their best in any area of the state where they find themselves,” the commissioner added.
Some of the new teachers who were in Asaba on Friday to complete the employment process (biometrics and data capture), corroborated Ukah’s position that the process was transparent and not unduly influenced.