4403 Teachers Fail Certificate Screening in Ebonyi

4403 Teachers Fail Certificate Screening in Ebonyi

A rather damning report coming out of Ebonyi State, South-East Nigeria, has it that a total of 4,403 primary schoolteachers flunked the screening exercise conducted by the State Universal Basic Education Board.

This was made known by the head of the board’s investigating committee, Prof Anthony Ani, who presented the committee’s report to the board in the state capital Abakaliki over the weekend, Punch reports.

Surprisingly, only 437 of the over 9,000 teachers screened had Teacher Training II certificates, while more than half of the population of primary schoolteachers in the state were without original certificates.

“The board should, as a matter of urgency, compile the names of teachers, especially those who presented statements of result, testimonials, and photocopies and forwarded such names to acclaimed graduating institutions for verification and authentication,” Ani said.

In his recommendations, Ani called for concerted efforts to revamp basic education in the state and recommended that teachers with severe medical challenges should either seek medical attention with government support or be retired from the system, in line with government regulation.

Receiving the report, the chairman, Ebonyi State Universal Basic Education Board, Chief Hyacinth Ikpor, promised the report would be taken with utmost seriousness as the state government was poised to sanitise the education sector.

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Education, Prof. John Ekeh, frowned at the report, stating that teachers without requisite qualifications would be relieved of their duties.

“The truth is that those who are not qualified to be in the classrooms would be shown the way out while those carrying false certificates will be prosecuted,” he said.

At a time of rapidly declining standard of education in the country, it’s incumbent upon Governor David Umahi to act swiftly in sanitising the system.

The future of the youths, and indeed the country, is at stake.