The recent controversy surrounding the planned sack of teachers in Kaduna State by Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i has generated diverse reactions. Daily Trust asked some respondents of their views on the issue.
Dallami Inuwa Hassan, 44, former Councillor, Bauchi
I am not in support of the governor’s decision. I am not after whether he is right or not. I am aware that they have failed the examination, but there are many things that must be considered.
What is happening now is as a result of the scrapping of Teachers Colleges that train good teachers in the past. My advice, not only to Governor el-Rufa’i but also to all governors and the federal government is to bring re-establish those Colleges and place emphasis on producing quality teachers that will impact quality education on our children.
Another advice is for the Kaduna State Governor to recruitment of another number of teachers instead of outright sack. I am sure there is room for improvement for most of them if they will be trained and re-trained.
Karamba Yusuf, 53, Civil Servant
What the governor plans to do is holistic because it is an attempt to sanitise a decayed system. Education has suffered enough neglect in this country especially in the North. Our leaders need to sit up and do the needful. We cannot be pretending that we don’t know the problem in the sector.
However, whatever will be done should be done with all sincerity because some people are seeing the issue as political. I think it is not. But, politicians have a hand in the rot because most of the people employed as teachers are just political jobbers rewarded with teaching jobs. That is the reality.
el-Rufai is known for taking harsh decisions which in most case turn out to be the best for the system. What I will advise is that stakeholders in the sector must rise up.
Hassan Hamidu, 53, Civil Servant
What should be considered first is their qualification. Anyone of them having a genuine teaching certificate should be retained and trained. However, anyone found not to possess the minimum qualification should be sacked and their entitlements paid.
The governor should also put up a mechanism to ensure that teachers receive periodic training to keep them updated in newer teaching skills. Any system that will produce quality teachers must also be strengthened because the education sector had been the most neglected and abused in the country.
Sacking the teachers might be a good idea, but it has its negative effects because no one is sure about the quality of the next person to be employed.
Felicia Yakubu, 18, secondary school graduate
I am in support of the decision to sack teachers who failed. What have these teachers been teaching the children all this while? Having a bad teacher is like poison introduced into the body, it will destroy the whole system.
Anybody who faults Governor el-Rufai’s decision must not have considered the plights and future of the children that are attending public schools in Kaduna State. The issue has exposed the rot in the system which is almost the same everywhere.
The same measure should be taken by any serious minded leader who meant well and wants to provide quality education to pupils in public schools. The issue of education is beyond building structures, it is about the whole system which starts with the quality of teachers and ends with them because you cannot expect good education without having good teachers.
Doris Istifanus, 19, shop attendant
For me, the teachers should be sacked since they failed an examination which ordinarily could be passed by a primary four pupil. I wander which kind of students will be produced by such teachers. Other governors should also do the same in order to ensure that quality of education is raised.
“I will never be against any policy that will improve the quality of education or anything in Nigeria. Government has to be proactive and firm to implement policies. There will be pains, but that is how it is supposed to be. We can’t just be paying lip service to legitimate issues that needed to be addressed no matter what or how it takes.
Martha Agwu, Trader. Enugu
In my simple opinion, sacking people from work at this time when even those already working are finding it difficult should be reconsidered in the interest of their families. The problem is with the recruitment process, and having come this far, the government should devise a more concrete way of screening people for employment.
