The Kaduna State Universal Education Board (SUBEB) on sunday released the names of 11,220 teachers qualified to teach in government owned primary schools in the state.
According to the Executive Chairman of the board, Nasir Umar, the names released are those who passed the competency test conducted by the state government.
It would be recalled that the Kaduna state government had conducted a primary four examination to test the competency of its teachers where 21,780 out 33,000 teachers were said to have failed. The state government claimed that 75 percent of the teachers who sat for the test failed as a result of which, it has began the process of recruiting new and qualified teachers.
The Kaduna state chapter of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) had also threatened to embark on an industrial action should the state make true its plan to sack the over 21,000 teachers who failed the competency test.
The union stressed that only the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has the competency to test teachers’ proficiency; thereby saying the test conducted by the state government was not professional.
Addressing newsmen yesterday at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, the SUBEB boss announced the release of 11, 220 names who scored 75 and above out of the 33,000 teachers that sat for the test, saying, based on their performance, they are considered competent to teach in the state primary schools.
He said three months notice would be given to those who failed the competency test for disengagement. "Those who are above five years of practice would be retired while those below five years would be disengaged," he said.
Meanwhile, he urged all the teachers including the ones who failed the test to go back to their duty and wait for further directives.
According to him, the exercise has no political undertone, saying giving the issue a political colouration would impact negatively on the ongoing educational reforms in the state.
He maintained that the present administration led by Governor Nasir El-Rufai is deeply passionate about reviving the state’s education sector.
he urged teachers who are not satisfied with their result to approach the committee set up to look into such cases; assuring that their papers would be remarked.
He also gave a window that those who failed the test can still apply in the ongoing recruitment exercise.
"The state initially began training of the teachers that failed the competency test but discovered that no amount of training would improve them. 33,000 primary school teachers sat for the competency tests agreed upon by all educational stakeholders including the Nigerian Union of teachers (NUT).
"At the end of the test, 21,780 scored below 75 percent. We conducted the test because we went round and discovered that the schools are not doing well as some teachers cannot even speak English.
"All the stakeholders including NUT, Teachers Regulatory Council of Nigeria were involved in the competency test even though NUT wanted the pass mark to be 60. For the test, we agreed that only 40 teachers be in a class.
"Afterwards, we invited those who marked NECO and WAEC to mark the test scripts and it was a conference hall marking as nobody was allowed to go home with the scripts. After that, we brought in Kaduna State University Professionals, we also brought in a foreign organisation and they analysed the tests.
"So, people should not bring politics into this educational revolution," he reiterated.
Umar said he has so far received over 13,000 applications at the SUBEB headquarters, noting that some applicants submitted their applications at the local government secretariat.
