Niger governor assures qualified teachers of improved welfare, receives report of headcount committee

Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State has assured qualified teachers in the state of their improved welfare.

Governor Sani Bello stated this following the report he received by the committee on the headcount of teachers in public schools in the state at the Government House, Minna.

The governor noted from the report he received that there are 80 percent qualified teachers in the state which he said is commendable and encouraging.

He said with this, all necessary arrangements will be made to improve the welfare of the teachers in order to ensure quality education in public schools.

While applauding the committee for a job well done, the governor directed the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) to set up an implementation committee on the findings made by the teachers’ headcount committee.

“Let us identify our teachers and see how we can support them, our teachers are suffering,” he said.

Governor Sani Bello said the implementation committee should be drawn from the Ministry of Education, Nigeria Union of Teachers(NUT), and State Universal Basic Education(SUBEB)

For the unqualified teachers discovered by the committee, the governor said the opportunity would be created for them to become professional teachers by going back to school.

“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.

The governor enjoined the implementation committee to carry out their functions without sentiments, adding that attention should be given to areas where there are few schools so that they will get more and should be close to communities.

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Presenting the report, Chairman of the Technical Committee on the Teachers Headcount, Comrade Labaran Garba, explained that there are 3,135 primary schools across the state with a total of 24,061 teachers out of which 19,358 are qualified teachers, while 4,703 are unqualified.

He said the state has 498 secondary schools with 6, 870 teachers of which 962 are unqualified.

The Chairman further disclosed that there are 2,406 Local Government Education Administrative staff where 1,276 have teaching qualifications while 1,130 do not have.

Comrade Garba said that one of the committee’s recommendations is to sustain teachers’ headcount after every three years for effective and efficient educational planning in the state.