5,665 unqualified teachers discovered in Niger state’s primary, secondary schools

A teachers’ headcount done in Niger state has uncovered 5,665 unqualified teachers in primary and secondary schools across the state.

This was indicated by Labaran Garba, the technical committee chairman on the teachers’ headcount, when he presented the report of this year’s headcount to Governor Abubakar Sani Bello in Government House, Minna.

He said of the total of 24,061 teachers in 3,135 primary schools, 4,703 were unqualified, while 962 teachers out of 6,870 teachers in 498 secondary schools in the state were also unqualified.

Garba noted 1,276 local government education administrative staff members with teaching qualifications.

The committee recommended that the teachers’ headcount be conducted every three years to enable effective and efficient educational planning in the state.

Receiving the report, the governor assured the qualified teachers of due attention but said the unqualified ones should be taken out of the system or given an option to go back to school and acquire the necessary qualifications.

He admitted that teachers were suffering from poor working conditions and pledged to give them the necessary support to motivate them.

“The number of unqualified teachers is high – over 4,000. We should take them out, but we can also give them the option to be trained and come back,” he said.