How we’re addressing shortage of teachers—Adamawa, Bauchi others

Adamawa State Universal Basic Education Board (ADSUBEB), Dr Salihi Ateequ, said the Board has trained 4,458 teachers, provided 15,660 sets of furniture to primary and junior secondary schools.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola on Sunday the Board has also distributed 140 mattresses and 840 chairs for early child care.

He said these were part of the measures taken by the state government to provide good working environment for teachers in public schools with the hope of attracting new hands in the future.

He said the state government had also constructed 97 three-block of classrooms and renovated 119 schools across the 21 local government areas of the state in 2021.

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Similarly, stakeholders in Bauchi, Jigawa, Gombe and Yobe advocated for more the establishment of more schools and good welfare packages as measures to bridge the teacher gap in schools.

In Bauchi State, Dr Aliyu Tilde, Commissioner for Education, said the state government would adopt modern teaching methods to address the problems of manpower shortage in schools.

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Tilde said that other measures employed by state included recruitment of additional teachers and introduction of online teaching programmes.

According to him, the digital passport device entails adopting information and communication technology gadgets to teach students online.

“Teachers will be teaching students online on core subjects,” he said, adding that the state had 19:1 student-teacher ratio, which he said is comparatively good even in advance climes.

Also, Malam Musa Wadata, Chairman, Bauchi State Teachers Service Commission, said that plans had reached advanced stage to recruit additional teachers for secondary schools in the state.

Wadata said the gaps were more prevalent in core subjects of English language, chemistry, physics, mathematics and physics.

He said it was unfortunate that conversely, teachers for Hausa, Arabic and Islamic Studies were recruited in excess during the previous recruitment exercises.

“We need between 500 and 1,000 additional teachers in core subjects to close the existing gaps,” he said.

According to statistics released by the commission, Bauchi State has 215 senior secondary schools, 6,110 teachers and over one million students..

To enhance teacher training, stakeholders in Jigawa have advocated the establishment of more Colleges of Education and mass employment of qualified teachers to address the teacher gap in basic education nationwide.

The stakeholders identified lack of qualified teachers as one of the factors militating against quality graduates from basic and post basic education sector.

Mr Baffa Abubakar, a teacher, said there was the need to establish more teachers colleges to fast track training of qualified teachers.

Abubakar also called for proactive measures to make the teaching attractive in the country.

“Special remuneration should be attached to teaching so as to make it attractive to Nigerians, especially among the youths,” he said.

Another respondent, Malam Tafida Aminu, urged governments to encourage volunteer teaching services.

“Those with teaching profession willing to teach voluntarily should be encouraged to teach so as to fill the manpower gaps in our schools,” he said.

In the same vein, stakeholders in Gombe State advocated special incentives for teachers to effectively bridge the manpower gap in schools.

Mrs Elizabeth Ogunjobi, a primary school teacher, said the condition of service was not encouraging teachers to stay on the job.

Ogunjobi said primary school teachers in the state were not promoted for years in spite of working in public schools as civil servants.

The trend, she said, discouraged fresh graduates from becoming teachers, adding that, “salaries and other welfare packages are not prioritised by the authorities.”

Also speaking, Mr Ahmed Madugu, Director of School Services, Ministry of Education, Gombe State, attributed the manpower gap to high rate of retirement of teachers in the state.

Madugu said that plans were underway to recruit more teachers through Teachers Service Commission in the state.

On his part, Saleh Abdu, Chairman, Parents Teachers Association (PTA), Model Primary School, Damaturu, Yobe, called for recruitment of more teachers to enhance access to quality education for all.

“We are experiencing shortage of teachers, especially those teaching English and Mathematics.

“Some years back we enjoyed the services of N-POWER which deployed teachers to the schools but they since completed the programme and left,” he said.

The chairman advised the state government to accord priority to the recruitment of qualified teachers under its newly-initiated Educational Revitalisation Programme.