The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu has stated about 1.3 million teachers are needed in the next six years in order to bridge the wide gap between the number of teachers required and the current number available for basic education.
Adamu, who spoke at the national flag-off ceremony of the 2015 teachers’ development training held in Abuja earlier in the week, noted that the number was the latest released on teachers, said it was in view of this that the federal government was working towards the recruitment and injection of 500, 000 teachers into basic education across the country.
He said: “When completed, it would place more responsibilities and higher expectations on states and local governments in terms of the roles they would play in providing more teaching infrastructure and instructional materials.”
The minister expressed concern on the inability of some state governments and State universal Basic Education Boards to promptly access the matching grants from the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC.
Adamu, while appealing to state governors to promptly utilize the funds for rapid educational development, said the federal government was doing its best to reduce or do away with the requirement of matching grants.
The Federal Government is to release N120m to each state of the federation for the 2015 Teachers’ Professional Development programme.
The former Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission, Dr. Suleiman Dikko, said in addition, the commission, in collaboration with international development partners, had embarked on the training of teachers to equip them with the necessary skills to function effectively in classrooms.
