Another 223 teachers found with fake certificates in C’River

CHAIRMAN of the Cross River State Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr. Stephen Odey, has disclosed that another 223 teachers with fake certificates have been uncovered in the course of the verification exercise carried out by the board.

He stated this in an interview, saying that this was in addition to the 758 teachers earlier discovered with fake certificates.

Odey said, “We have close to 16,000 teachers in Cross River State, and as at the time I had a press conference, I mentioned that about 758 teachers had been uncovered to be going about with fake certificates.

“On the 9th of May, 2017, the number had risen to 981 confirmed to be carrying fake certificate, ranging from TC2, NCE and bachelor’s degree in education. It is quite alarming.”

Consequently, the SUBEB chairman said the teachers would be demoted.

“The governor is very passionate about the welfare of human beings, and by his philosophy of putting food on the table, we consider those factors on humanitarian grounds not on legal issues by saying ‘okay, we grant you amnesty and give you opportunity to go back to school; but it goes with some consequences.

“If you are on Grade Level 9, we step you down to Grade Level 4 commensurate to school certificate. The psychological effect of that one alone is as good as serving some years in prison; and that is exactly what we have done.”