Speaking with journalists during World Teachers day celebration in Ilorin, the state secretary of the NUT in Kwara state, Comrade Jamiu Idris, said that education is a national issue and should not be politicised.
“Proper funding and proper monitoring are required for effective teaching and learning in our schools. The theme of this year’s celebration is Right to education. How do we give the right of education to our children? This should be our priority. We should create equal opportunity for the children to have access to quality education. And quality education can only be guaranteed if you have quality teachers. And having quality teachers is not what you can get in the market and easily. It is a process right from the period of recruitment, placement, training and retraining so that education industry can move forward”, he said.
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The NUT scribe, who demanded the UNESCO budgetary requirement for educational development in the country, said that all hands should be on deck at is the three tiers of government.
“In Kwara state here, we are having problems. There is dearth of teachers, many teachers are no longer in schools because the government is not recruiting. Teachers are retiring every month and government is not replacing them. Where do we go from there? These are the issues”, he said.
He also called on the Kwara state government to go ahead with implementation of planned recruitment of 1,888 teachers, saying that the implementation would help the development of education in the state.
“We do not regard the plan as a political gimmick because the government said it clearly that they want to recruit about 1,888 teachers. We are waiting for them to do that. If they do that it will boost our staff strength in schools. But we want it to be done thoroughly and not a political issue. People who are really qualified should be given the job. It should be transparent. It is not a matter of political compensation this time around”, he said.
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