Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Kano State Government has sponsored the training and re-training of 25,486 teachers as part of efforts to check the prevalence of unqualified teachers in the education sector.
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje made the disclosure during the 2018 Basic Education Week held at the Sani Abacha Stadium, Kofar Mata in the state capital.
The occasion featured the combined graduation of 25,486 in service teachers, who were conferred with the Nigeria Certificate of Education (NCE) and professional diplomas in Education (PDE).
He explained that a recent survey conducted in the sub-sector of basic education revealed that over 25,000 teachers, which represented 54 per cent of the teaching staff, were unqualified: “The affected staff consisted of a majority of SSCE Certificate holders and National Diploma (ND), Higher National Diploma (HND) or graduates,
without teaching qualifications.”
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Following the outcome of the survey, the governor explained that his administration was left with only two options: Either lay them off in compliance with the requirement of the National Policy on Education, which perked the Nation Certificate of Education as the minimum teaching qualification or provide them with some form of training to bring them up to professional scale.
The administration took into cognizance of the social and political repercussions of sacking of an estimated 25,000 people of their means of livelihood, saying the thought of the dire implications caused them to enroll the teachers into the four teacher training institutions for further training.
Some of these courses included pre-NCE, re- medial courses for SSCE certificate holders who would eventually proceed to NCE programmes, NCE programes, National Diploma holders and post graduate certificate courses for HND holders and graduate teachers that had no teaching qualifications.
The governor disclosed that a total of 23,483 of these teachers were graduating during the occasion while adding that 2000 of them had graduated during the 1st Basic Education Week which took place in February last year:
“We are sampling 5,000 for induction by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria.”
He reiterated government’s commitment to deliver of quality education at all levels to the people of the state through the provision of the desired infrastructural and instructional facilities, motivation and capacity building:
“Government alone cannot afford to satisfy the ever-growing demands of the education sector, hence the need for collaborative efforts from all other stakeholders and individuals.”
He commended the efforts of the development partners, with a particular reference to a host of institutions such as the Teacher Development Programme (TDP), Global Partnership in Education (GPE), United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF), National Commission of Colleges of Education (NCCE) for their highly valued interventions in the teacher development programmes in the state.
Aminu Aliyu, Commissioner for Works, who also oversees Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, assured the graduands and the stakeholders that Kano is always ready to achieve the much-desired goals as far as education is concerned:
“Our strategy in improving quality education is one of the best in the country. This is simply possible, because we believe education is the main thrust of our development collectively.
“The state will continue to proffer workable solutions to any challenges in the education sector. We will do our best and we wish to acknowledge and appreciate any stakeholder who is desirous of moving the state forward.”
