Board decries dearth of secondary school teachers in Benue

The Teaching Service Board (TSB) in Benue State has decried the dearth of secondary school teachers in remote troubled areas of the state following high rate of insecurity.

Executive Secretary of TSB, Prof. Wilfred Uji, who made the disclosure in an interview with newsmen in Makurdi, said that some principals and teachers, especially in rural areas affected by herders crisis and other criminal activities, had to seek for transfer to urban areas.

Uji, who narrated how a school principal died of heart attack when he couldn’t raise the ransom of N3million which some criminal elements demanded him to pay or he would be kidnapped and killed, noted that those crises have badly affected the posting and transfer of teachers in the state.

“Our secondary schools, particularly those located in villages, are currently facing challenge posed by insecurity. Now, to post teachers to the remote parts of the villages, you must think about their security.

“Take a look at the Sankera axis for instance, local government areas like Logo, Ukum, Katsina-Ala and so on that have been overran by insecurity from herdsmen to local militias and so on. How do you provide the kind of security that will make the teacher feel secured enough to stay? I have received reports of some of my principals who were threatened by the militias and the herdsmen and one of them died of heart attack.

“The same with teachers who have been threatened, repeatedly, from this (Sankera) axis. Sometimes, people disappear and it’s difficult to trace them. And so, that general state of insecurity has badly affected both the posting, the transfer and the stationing of teachers in those areas that are affected by these crises,” he said.

The TSB boss therefore stressed the need to replace the teachers that have retired and those who have died and some who have relocated for one reason or the other, as he disclosed that he had written a proposal to the state ministry of education to recruit at least  a minimum of 2000 teachers and at most a maximum of 3000 teachers.

Uji said that the Board would need the recruit to augment the teachers’ number and to address the inadequacy in terms of the dearth and scarcity of teachers in secondary schools in the state.