Abdulkadir Yunusa, the Chairperson of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Jigawa State, has disclosed that the state needs no less than 32,000 classroom teachers to fill the existing gap between the students and their teachers.
He attributed the massive retirement of teachers without prerequisite replacement, as one of the factors for the teachers deficit that led to the huge gap across the schools in the state, according to Premium Times.
Yunusa disclosed this on Thursday during an interview with reporters at the NUT secretariate in Dutse, the state capital, as part of the event to mark the 2023 World Teachers’ Day, noting that between 2015 and now, about 14,000 teachers retired from service but only 1,700 teachers were given permanent appointments despite the increasing numbers of enrollment and the building of more classrooms.
“We have 3,486 post-basic and basic levels schools. In the previous administration, only 1,700 teachers were recruited and over 14,000 teachers have retired from 2015 to date.
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“Grade two teachers who were recruited and started teaching in the years 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988 are the major workforce in Jigawa state (in the teaching profession) and have all now retired.
“We have so many schools that have only one, or two teachers. Other senior secondary schools don’t even have a teacher, we have almost 200 schools that have one teacher, each.
“If you want to have a balance we have to recruit over 32,000 teachers in Jigawa state, Mr Yunusa said.
Recall that Governor Umar Namadi of Jigawa state on Tuesday, issued letters of employment to 1,000 graduates employed under the J-Teach scheme under the state’s Ministry for Higher Education and Information Technology urging them to work hard to secure permanent appointments, stressing that the scheme is a temporary arrangement and they would be given permanent appointment letters if they show commitment to their work.
“You will be part of the history of the revitalization of education in Jigawa State. Each one of you will be posted to his community to help impact knowledge to the younger generation.
“You are going to teach your brothers and sisters, you must be fair to them, and be dedicated. Remember when you were also in secondary school, whatever you don’t want a particular teacher to do for you, please don’t do it to these students”.
However, Abdulkadir Yunusa, the NUT chairman, who commended the governor for the gesture a few months after he assumed office, said the union frowned on the casualization of teaching in the educational sector because of its likely negative impact.
“We (NUT) are not happy because the 1,000 teachers are not recruited permanent and pensionable but we are happy because the government has hinted that he is going to give them permanent and pensionable appointments in subsequent. We know him, he keeps his word.
“In the last administration, the government recruited 4,500 at the basic levels, now making 5,500 J-Teach teachers in Jigawa state. The recruited teachers will not fill the existing gaps in the educational system, especially in the schools.
“These figures cannot solve our problems. We need a permanent and pensionable appointment of teachers in the state.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) put Jigawa state among the top states with out-of-school children in northern Nigeria including Bauchi, kebbi, Katsina, and Kano.
