'We'll recruit 25,000 new primary school teachers and disengage over 20,000 that failed primary 4 exams'- Elrufai

About two third of primary school teachers in Kaduna State failed to score up to 75 per cent when asked to write examinations meant for primary four students.

This was disclosed by the governor of the state, Nasir El-Rufai on Monday while receiving a World Bank delegation in his office.

“We tested our 33,000 primary school teachers, we gave them primary four exams and required they must get at least 75 per cent but I’m sad to announce that 66 per cent of them failed to get the requirements,” he said.

“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,” the governor said.

The governor stated that his administration would disengage about 20,000 unqualified primary school teachers to restore confidence in public schools.

Mr. El-Rufai said the state will employ 25,000 primary school teachers as parts of efforts to restore dignity and quality to its education sector.

He said this would also entrench equity in the distribution of teachers across the state.

He explained that recruiting teachers had become necessary due to the acute shortage of qualified primary school teachers in the state.

He stressed 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 LGAs, it’s a teacher pupil ratio of 1-9 while in some places it’s 1-100,” he said.

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

Speaking earlier, the World Bank representative, Kunle Adekola, expressed appreciation to the state for investing in education and for the priority given to the girl child.

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

Mr. Adekola said 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.

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