THE leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), has reiterated its call on Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai-led administration in Kaduna State to reverse the decision on the sacked 2,357 teachers.
National President of NUT, Comrade Audu Titus Amba, told Nigerian Tribune in Abuja, that the union would stop at nothing to ensure the reinstatement of the affected teachers, including the declaration of a nationwide strike.
He condemned the action of the Kaduna State government, insisting that the sack of the teachers, which was based on a competency test, was designed by the government to casualise the teaching profession in the state.
The NUT President, Mba, was also among the affected 2,357 teachers as announced by the Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (KADSUBEB). He was accused of not showing up for the competency test conducted by the KADSUBEB while others were said to have failed the test.
The state government had in 2018 sacked 21,780 teachers who failed a competency test, and replaced them with 25,000 others who were recruited through vigorous processes.
The board had also in December 2021 sacked 233 teachers for alleged possession of fake certificates.
Mba, however, said that instead of sacking the teachers, what the state government should have done was to ensure the training and retraining of teachers for them to improve in knowledge and service delivery.
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He said: “The National Executive Council (NEC) of our great union in good faith had in accordance with the international best practices in the teaching profession advocated that the Kaduna State government should rather embark on continuous teacher training programme, which would at the end of the day improve knowledge and service delivery by teachers in the public schools of Kaduna State.
“This is what obtains in other professions such as nursing, medicine and law. The very concept of competency test is an aberration with regard to the fact that the teachers in Kaduna State had prior to their recruitment in the state public service attended schools and institutions that are statutorily saddled with the responsibility of teacher education, and these institutions certified them to be competent, fit and proper to be teachers.”
He added that in accordance with the Kaduna State public/civil service rules, these 20,000 teachers were employed on a temporary basis and placed on a one-year probationary period.
Mba stated: “It is pertinent to state that the Kaduna State Government’s purported competency test was held during the pendency of Suit No NICN/54/2021 before the National Industrial Court, Kaduna Division and Motion on Notice filed therein seeking to restrain it from conducting the said competency test.
“Furthermore, the dismissal of the 2,357 teachers was done during the pendency of another Motion on Notice seeking an order restraining the Kaduna State government from dismissing any teacher in the public schools of Kaduna State for not writing and or passing its competency test.
”The action of the Kaduna State government validates the belief by all and sundry that it has zero level tolerance for the rule of law and decency in public affairs, which are the hallmark of a modern state in a democratic setting such as Nigeria.”
He expressed his resolve to continually support all the teachers in Kaduna State, who have fallen victim to what he called the anti-labour policies in the state.
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