The Kaduna state government has said 21,650 job seekers have applied for teaching jobs in the state. It also said vacancies are still available and urged other qualified willing applicants to apply.
“As at close of work today, the State Universal Basic Education Board received in total, 21,650 applications from prospective teachers. Please apply if you’re qualified before the deadline”, said a statement on Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s Facebook wall.
Teachers recruitment became necessary in the state following government’s resolve to sack tens of hundreds of teachers who recently flunked a competence test.
Moreover, Samuel Aruwan, senior special assistant on media and publicity to the governor, said the government ‘welcomes’ President Muhammadu Buhari’s endorsement of the state’s education reform.
“We thank the President and many Nigerians for supporting the tough choice we have made in the interest of the future of our children”, said Aruwan in a press release.
He added the president’s backing of the reform is “the triumph of reason over sentiment”. “We owe our children unfettered access to decent education in the public system, and we shall not relent in delivering it.”
President Buhari lent his support to Governor El-Rufai’s insistence on sacking over 21, 000 teachers said to have flunked competency tests based on the standard of primary four pupils. “The state of education in Nigeria calls for a serious concern”, the president said at a government retreat on education in Abuja, on Wednesday.
“The problem is no longer a secret that the quality of education in Nigeria requires greater attention and improvement,” President Buhari stated, adding that the education sector had faced “historical abuses, mindless impunity and corruption.”
However, teachers’ union, the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, and the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, have led protests in the state over the issue.
Fola Ademosu
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