Only 31.6% of Borno State’s 17,229 educators are qualified to teach.
This was the finding of a committee, set up by governor Babagana Umara Zulum, which was given the task of conducting basic literacy and numeracy competency among teachers in the 27 local government areas of the state.
The shocking findings of the report were released on Thursday, February 17.
Zulum described the findings as “very scary”.
Of the 17,229 teachers across the state, only 5,439, representing 31.6%, were found to be competent to teach; 3,815, representing 22.1%, were found to be not competent to teach and also not trainable; 7,975 teachers, representing 46.3%, were found to be not fully competent but trainable.
The state’s commissioner of education, Lawan Abba Wakilbe, released the findings in a statement.
The report revealed that 2,389 teachers, representing 13.9%, had been teaching without any formal qualification from any institution.
Maiduguri Metropolitan Council had the highest number of untrainable teachers, with 396, followed by Askira-Uba with 281, Chibok with 268, Bama with 246 and Biu with 219.
It said that of all the 17,229 teachers, 1,627, representing 9.4%, were degree holders; 8,153, representing 47.3%, were NCE holders; 713, representing 4.1%, held teachers’ grade II certificates and 2,281, representing 13.2%, were SSCE/GCE holders.
A staggering 2,389, representing 13.9%, did not have any formal certificate.
“Despite the report, Zulum assured that he will not sack the 3,815 untrainable teachers but he will, depending on the recommendations made by the committee, consider approving the transfer of the teachers to areas where they can perform other tasks, such as tree planting at the ministry of environment,” the statement said.
RNI reporter Fatima Grema Modu spoke to Abubakar Adamu, a lecturer at the University of Maiduguri in Borno State, who said politics, corruption and lack of responsibility was the cause of the weak education system.
“The outcome of the committee’s report has been a shock to all in the education system of the state because some teachers were found to have no certificates to teach at all, which is highly worrisome for pupils they have been teaching,” he said.
“In the first place, many of those teachers are teaching without any proper schooling themselves, so it is not a surprise that pupils don’t absorb the required knowledge they’re supposed to receive. Secondly, some politicians contribute to this, because sometimes their corrupt ways lead to the recruitment of their own candidates or relatives, who do not have even the basics of teaching and we end up having many teachers who are not qualified to provide education to students.”
He said this was disastrous for pupils, who would rely on their education to get them out of a life of poverty and who hoped to become professionals in various fields in the future.
Adamu praised the bold step by the government and called on it to look further into the problems in the education system, saying some teachers needed updated training from time to time. He said those teachers who wanted to further their teaching expertise should be given a sponsorship for extra training. This, he believed, would ensure that pupils received a quality education.
AISHA JAMAL
