Education
MANY stakeholders in the education sector have decried the deplorable state of most primary schools in Kaduna.
They spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Monday.
The stakeholders urged the state government to take measures to improve the quality of teaching and learning.
Mr Ibrahim Dalhatu, the state Chairman, Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) told NAN that only few primary schools in the state were in good condition.
Dalhatu said that the situation was more pathetic in schools in the rural communities where most of the primary schools were located.
“Some of the schools in urban centres are a bit better but hardly will you find a school out of 10 in rural communities that has a complete chair and desk for pupils and teachers,” he said.
On teacher’s remuneration, the NUT chairman described the situation as pathetic, considering the poor salary package and delay in payment.
He said that a newly recruited teacher with a National Certificate of Education receives between N37, 000 and N38, 000 monthly, while those with university degree receive between N45, 000 and 46,000.
According to him, a good school infrastructure alone does not make a good school, it must be accompanied with good remuneration, good welfare package and a good condition of service for teachers.
Mr Tijjani Aliyu, Citizens Co-chair, Kaduna Basic Education Accountability Mechanism, said that the state government had been making efforts to fix the backlog of deplorable primary schools in the state.
Aliyu said that in spite of the efforts, the gap was still worrisome, adding that some schools had remained in a deplorable state for the past seven years.
He said that the schools were characterised by blown-off roofs, lack of sufficient furniture and learning materials, lack of sufficient water and gender sensitive toilet facilities.
Aliyu equally lamented the poor state of teacher enumeration, which he said was responsible for poor teacher’s performance and productivity in primary schools.
“It is also worrisome that primary school teachers are being promoted but without corresponding increase in salary.
“Only recently, the government sacked 2,357 primary school teachers over competency tests.
“The state government had in 2018, sacked 21,780, for allegedly failing a similar test, while 233 others were sacked in December 2021 for allegedly presenting fake certificates.
“This recurrent sacking of primary school teachers is counterproductive to the development of basic education in the state,” he said.
Mr Kabir Babasidi, the chairman, School-Based Management Committee, Primary School, Ibrahim Taiwo Road, Kaduna, said most primary schools do not have furniture and learning materials.
Babasidi stressed the need for increased investment in the education sector to address the dearth of infrastructure for quality teaching and learning.
One of the primary school teachers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told NAN that his salary was N40, 000 a month after spending about 13 years in the service.
According to him, the poor enumeration is responsible for the exodus of teachers from the primary schools to secondary schools which pay a better package.
“Not only is the salary very poor, but it is also not being paid on time. Most times the salary is spent on credit before it arrives.
“As I am talking to you now, some of us have not received their June and July salaries and August is gone already.
“Not only that, more than N19, 000 is being deducted from our meagre salaries every month for over a year now and it is not reflected in our payslips,” he said.
In her reaction, Mrs Hauwa Mohammed, the Public Relations Officer, Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (Kaduna SUBEB), said that the board does not delay payment or unlawful deduction of teachers’ salaries.
Mohammed said that the salaries of primary school teachers and all Local Government Education Authorities were the sole responsibility of Local Government Councils.
On infrastructure, the Executive Chairman, Kaduna SUBEB, Mr Tijjani Abdullahi, said that the board was executing N8.6 billion worth of projects to bridge infrastructural gap in delivery of basic education.
He said that the projects were being implemented under the 2017, 2018 and 2019 Universal Basic Education (UBE) interventions projects. (NAN)
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Tags: Ibrahim Dalhatu Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) Tijjani Aliyu
