APC, NUT lament shortage of teachers in Edo public primary, secondary schools

Edo State Government House.

By Editor

October 9, 2022

The Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has thrown its weight behind the Nigeria Union of Teachers' (NUT) call on the state government to employ permanent teachers in public primary and secondary schools.

The party added its voice to the teachers' agitation on Sunday in a statement signed by its Assistant State Publicity Secretary, Victor Ofure Osehobo and made available to dailymonitorngr in Benin City.

Recall that the dailymonitorngr had last Friday reported that the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) during the 2022 World Teachers' Day celebration in Benin  told the state government that they need permanent teachers in  public primary and secondary schools and not that of Edo Star teachers.

The World Teachers Day had in its  theme, "The transformation of education begins with teachers".

Supporting the  teachers' demand, the party blamed the collapse of the educational system in the State on the alleged inaction and insensitivity of the People's Democratic Party-led government in the state.

Ofure, who said the party condemned the alleged inaction of Obaseki's government noted that shortage of teachers in public primary and secondary schools in rural areas was  inexcusable.

He opined that the shortage of teachers since the assumption of the Obaseki-led government in 2016 was a deliberate ploy to paralyze the once vibrant education sector in the State.

"The APC said if the  government had listened when it repeatedly raised the alarm few years ago, by employing qualified teachers, the present decadent scenario would have been avoided. 

"The party said its fears were merely during the recent World Teachers Day, when the State chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, told the state governor to employ permanent teachers in Edo public primary and secondary schools.

"The insensitivity of the  Governor became glaring over the years when repeatedly he claimed to have transformed Education  with the fictitious EdoBest 1.0 and very recently with EdoBest 2.0.

"Obviously, the two programs are hallmarks of his Make Edo Grounded Again, MEGA policy.

"Edo people know that the so called EdoBest 1.0 as it turned out, was the governor's purchase, in billions of Naira, of fairly used handheld devices for nonexistent teachers.

"Because it was a hoax, the governor recently renamed it EdoBest 2.0 with the announcement of a change in the designation of heads of  schools as Executive headmasters or Principals", he said.

While calling on the Edo state government to do some soul-searching over the current state of education in the state, he observed  that failure to employ qualified permanent teachers in public schools has left children without quality education which is the key to their leadership of tomorrow.

Ofure further alleged that it was only a careless and inept leadership like the PDP government would ignore the danger signals a decline in education standards pose to the future of the state. 

He posited that it was as a result of the danger posed by the shortage of teachers that made the party to  align with the NUT.

The party insisted that, for the future of the State, the governor must immediately begin the recruitment of trained teachers and deploy them to schools across the state.

"Edo state belongs to all of us, just as every Edo child has a right to quality education; no government should mortgage education, which is the lifeblood of any society for any reason or under any guise, whatsoever',he added.

Recall that in April 2021, the state government said it spent over N6 billion on infrastructure for its public primary schools in the last three years.

Ms Osa-Oviawe, the then, chair , Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) made the disclosure during an interactive session with journalists as part of activities marking the third year anniversary of the launch of Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) in Benin City.

She said part of the fund was spent on the construction and rehabilitation  of over 400 schools while furnitures were also provided by the state government.

She also disclosed that the administration trained over 11,000 teachers, and that there were plans to hire about 3,000 graduates as new teachers in the state.

Other was distribution of over seven million textbooks, instructional materials and examination papers to students.