..Say 22,000 sacked for alleged failure in 2017
By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
Kaduna teachers Union body has vowed to ressist any attempt by government to organize another competency test for teachers in public primary schools in the state.
Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Kaduna State wing made the assertion in a communique issued at the end an emergency meeting of its Executive Council held in Kaduna.
The communique signed by the state chairman, Mr Ibrahim Dalhatu and the Assistant Secretary-General, Mr Adamu Ango, stated that no teacher in the public primary school in the state will sit for the competency test “being organised by the state government.
Instead, the Union suggested that funds meant for the exercise should be channelled to training and re-training of teachers.
The state government had in January 2018 sacked about 22,000 teachers for allegedly failing a competency test conducted in 2017.
The government announced plans to conduct another competency test for primary school teachers to ensure quality teaching in basic schools.
The union, after its emergency executive council meeting over the planned test, unanimously resolved that no teacher in public primary school would sit for a competency test again.
According to the union, writing a competency test does not determine the competency of a teacher.
“Competence of teachers can only be appropriately determined in the classroom and the last test had already produced competent teachers”, it stated.
The Union noted that the newly-recruited teachers were subjected to rigorous examinations and verifications before they were employed into the teaching service.
It stressed that the Union is not against having professional and competent teachers in the classroom, adding that it would support an exercise that was aimed at reviving the education sector.
The union however argued that determining the competence of teachers in their own field of endeavour could not be done by the government alone. End
