Drama As El-Rufai Sacks NUT President And 2,356 Other Teachers Over Competency Test

El-Rufai Vows Not To Withdraw Child From Public School Despite Kidnap Threats

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has shown 2,357 teachers the door.

The termination of the teachers’appointments was not unconnected to the conducted competency test.

Their dismissal was contained in a statement by The state’s Universal Basic Education Board (KADSUBEB) on Sunday in Kaduna.

KADSUBEB’s spokesperson, Hauwa Mohammed, said the board conducted a competency test for over 30,000 teachers in December 2021.

She said that 2,192 primary school teachers, including the National President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Audu Amba, had been dismissed for refusing to sit for the competency test.

Mohammed said that some 165 of the 27,662 teachers that sat for the competency test were also sacked for poor performances.

“The services of teachers who scored below 40 per cent are no longer required, and their appointments have been terminated from the Public Service for their poor performances.

“Teachers who scored 75 per cent and above were recognised as those who passed the test and qualified for attending courses in leadership and school management,” she said.

She said qualified teachers would be included in Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programmes to enhance their capacities to deliver quality teaching to pupils.

Reacting, Ibrahim Dalhatu, state chairman, NUT, dismissed the competency test and the sacking of the affected teachers as “illegal”.

Dalhatu said the union had secured a court order restraining the board from conducting the competency test, adding that it conducted the test without recourse to the rule of law.

“The competency test should be used to determine teachers’ capacity gap and tailored specific training programmes to improve their capacities,” he said.

In 2018, the Kaduna government sacked 21,780 teachers who failed a competency test and replaced them with 25,000 others recruited through robust processes.

In December 2021, the board also sacked 233 teachers for allegedly possessing fake certificates.

Photo Credit: Getty 

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