Jobseekers rush for application forms as Oyo plans to recruit 7,000 teachers

It was a salad of shouts of Eureka, push to remain on queue, journeying back and forth, looks of dejection as the mad rush to obtain recruitment forms for teaching and non-teaching positions in secondary schools in Oyo State entered day two on Wednesday.

Like it was on Tuesday, nursing mothers, pregnant women, the young and old, in their thousands, as early as 6.30 am, bombarded State Secretariat, Ibadan which houses the headquarters of the Teaching Service Commission and TESCOM zonal offices at Oke Bola Comprehensive High School, Leaf Road and Bishop Philips Academy, Iwo Road to queue for the recruitment forms.

For those who got their forms after staying on the queue for hours, they were quick to jump for joy and put calls to loved ones that they have conquered, while others who could not get their forms at close of work sat on pavement and floor dejected, with some feeding their babies.

While some got the forms after presenting their local government identification, those who could not get the forms on Wednesday, stood in twos and threes, questioning the recruitment processes adopted by the state government.

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Running through their conversations were questions about why the process was not done online, observations that the security agencies were overwhelmed to handle the number of potential applicants, the existence of limited agents and points of forms distribution.

Those who could not get their forms on Wednesday, however, maintained that they will even return earlier on Thursday, though they noted that it will be double jeopardy for them to go through such stress to obtain forms yet not get employed.

Notwithstanding the information that the forms can be downloaded online, some applicants maintained that they will rather explore the manual option.

According to them, forms gotten manually are more authentic than those downloaded online.

Speaking with Tribune Online over the phone, Chairman, Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Mr Akinade Alamu confirmed that the forms will be available online from Thursday for applicants to download though they will subsequently submit manually at TESCOM offices.

He, however, said the availability of the forms online will not foreclose the manual distribution and subsequent submission of the forms at designated TESCOM offices.

The state government had on Tuesday announced its decision to recruit 7,000 teachers, 2,000 non-teaching staff and 1,600 night guards for its secondary schools.