Tackling teacher inadequacy in schools

FOLASHADE ADEBAYO 

The human resource challenge in education has continued to be a source of worry for players in the sector. They are concerned that the dearth of subject teachers, especially in the core courses, such as Mathematics and English, could cause more damage to the performance of pupils in the Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations.

First to raise the alarm recently was the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, on November 13. Speaking at the 60th National Council of Education meeting in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Shekarau attributed the abysmal performance of pupils in the 2014 SSCE to lack of skilled teachers in Mathematics and English.

Of the 1.7 million candidates who sat for the examination this year, Shekarau noted that only 529,425 candidates obtained credits in five subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics.

He further explained that when this performance was compared with the 2012 and 2013 May/June WASSCE results, there was a marginal decline in the performance of the pupils.

He said, “There is no doubt that we have a challenge in, among others, the availability of teachers of Mathematics and English Language,’’ he said among other things.

But according to stakeholders, Shekarau’s observation has showcased a pressing need, especially in primary and secondary schools across the country. Therefore, they have called on respective governments to recruit adequate teachers for all subjects

This was the highlight of the National Executive Council meeting of the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools held in Lokoja, Kogi State on Wednesday.

In a communiqué, the ANCOPSS said government must continually improve the welfare of teachers as well as recruit more who would teach trade and core subjects in all schools.

Speaking with our correspondent on Thursday, the National President of ANCOPSS, Hajia Binta Garba, lamented that apart from English and Mathematics, teachers are lacking in subjects, such as Photography, Painting and Decoration, Computer Studies and Animal Husbandry.

Declaring that the need for teachers varies from state to state, she said the shortfall in the numbers of teachers available in the government-owned primary and secondary schools might affect the new secondary school curriculum geared towards making senior secondary school leavers self-reliant.

“The new curriculum is designed in such a way that pupils who have passed out of secondary schools can fend for themselves. It is a way to de-emphasise white-collar jobs and encourage entrepreneurship. But there is also the inadequacy of teachers in core and trade subjects. Some schools have to borrow Agricultural Science teachers to teach Animal Husbandry,” she said.

The President, Nigerian Union of Teachers, Mr. Michael Alogba, also knocked the government for trivialising teachers’ recruitment. In a recent interview with our correspondent, Alogba, who put the number of teachers in the country at one million, said he could not remember the last time any state government recruited more teachers into its workforce.

But more voices have joined the debate. In a meeting convened on Tuesday by the Lagos State chapter of ANCOPPS, stakeholders urged the government to take the matter more seriously.

The zonal administrator, West Africa Examination Council, Mr. O.M Adebayo, who spoke on the occasion, maintained that the scarcity of skilled workers is not only limited to Mathematics and English but also to all subjects. He however advised ANCOPSS to also scrutinise the teaching abilities of existing teachers.

“The shortage of skilled teachers in my opinion is not limited to English Language and Mathematics. Worrisome, however, is the lack of commitment and integrity on the part of some teachers. The issue before this august body, therefore, is not to focus on managerial competencies alone, but also teaching competencies of the teachers they manage, to make the achievement of effective service delivery a reality,” he said.

The Lagos State NUT Chairman, Mr. Segun Raheem, supported Adebayo’s position. Raheem, represented by the publicity secretary of the association, Mr. Ola Hamzat, described as appalling, situations where one teacher takes a subject in three different classes. He urged the government to invest in human resources in the education sector.

“In order to make all the efforts by the government to be crowned with success, that area needs to be addressed. There are instances where only one teacher will take SS1, SS11 and SS111or JS1, JS11 and JS111. If we truly want efficiency in our schools, the government needs to recruit more teachers,” he said.

But the challenge of inadequate teachers in public primary and secondary schools across the country is a long standing development. According to Alogba, Nigeria has about one million teachers in the primary and post primary education sector. This figure, according to him, is grossly inadequate.

Aside from core subjects such as Mathematics, English, Chemistry, Physics, our correspondent learnt that subjects such as Fine Arts, Technical Drawing as well as Music are worst hit. Also the department of Guidance and Counseling in many of the schools have gone extinct for lack of recruitment of professionals.