May 21, (THEWILL) – The Kano State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has decried the poor quality of education in the state, blaming the situation on the dearth of qualified teachers.
The Permanent Member on the board, Rabi’u Sale Gwarzo, made the remark at a roundtable on teacher recruitment and deployment organised by Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria, PLANE, held in Kano on Tuesday.
According to Gwarzo, the quality of educational delivery across the state is seriously deficient in several aspects, including low commitment from teachers.
Other factors affecting the quality of education in the state, he said, included low quality of teachers, inadequacy of female teachers in rural areas and shortage of teaching and learning materials.
“These challenges resulted in jeopardising the education system in the state. Today marks a significant milestone in our collective journey towards embracing opportunities presented by PLANE in engaging stakeholders in constructive dialogue regarding the shortage of teachers in basic education.
“We are all aware that the educational issue has become a very important and crucial aspect of human development and every responsible government worldwide today has earmarked it as a key issue that needs serious attention, especially access, equity and quality.
“However, the quality of educational delivery across the State is seriously deficient in a number of aspects. They can be summarized as inadequate number of trained teachers, low quality of teachers, gender imbalance (inadequacy of female teachers in rural areas), low commitment from teachers and shortage of teaching and learning materials.
“These challenges resulted in jeopardising the education system in the state,” he said.
However, the government, according to him, has taken huge steps towards tackling the problems.
In her presentation, Director Personnel, SUBEB, Mariya Hodi Adamu, disclosed that SUBEB had implemented several strategies to address the challenges to teacher recruitment, aimed at ensuring quality education from the basic level.
According to Hodi, to increase recruitment drives, SUBEB had launched targeted recruitment campaigns to attract more qualified teachers, particularly focusing on filling the gaps in rural areas.
She explained that the board had also enhanced training programmes, “thereby introducing professional development programmes to improve the skill and the capacity of existing teachers.”
“The board also introduced improved incentives and benefits to make teaching profession more attractive, in addition to working on improving salary structure, offering other benefits to teachers, especially those willing to work in rural areas, e.g. professional and hazard allowances, staff car loan e.t.c.
“The Board has also invested in improving schools infrastructure, making schools more conducive to teaching and learning. The government approved the building of new classrooms, renovations and provision of teaching aids to enhance the quality of education.
“Community involvement: the Board has engaged local communities to support teacher recruitment and retention.
“Merit-based recruitment: efforts have been made to ensure that the recruitment process is transparent and based on merit to reduce the impact of political interference and nepotism and ensure that the most qualified candidates are selected.
“The Board has put in place a mechanism for regular monitoring and evaluation of teachers performance and the recruitment process. This helps in identifying areas for improvement and making necessary adjustments,” she explained in her presentation.
Speaking, the State Team Lead of PLANE, Umar Lawan, said the programme was organised to foster collaborative dialogue between education stakeholders and media professionals for improved coverage and awareness creation on education initiatives, challenges and ongoing reforms in the state.
About the Author
Abdullahi Yusuf is a seasoned journalist, communicator and was previously the Deputy Editor-In-Chief and Zonal Manager, News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Jos, where he retired on December 15, 2021
