The federal government has said plans were being made to terminate the appointments of teachers and lecturers lacking the basic teaching qualifications in all segments of the educational system, ranging from primary, secondary and the university system.
The move to sack the teachers may not be unconnected with government’s desire to sanitise the educational system, with a follow up, of the employment of about 500,000 teachers nationwide.
Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah argued that though Nigeria is “not doing so badly, we have not yet evolved a very stable system.”
He said: “Our teachers’ education is not yet where it should be, and I have been singing it like a song since accepting this responsibility, that we must have quality teachers in our school system. And what does it mean to have quality teachers? You must have teachers who are trained to be teachers.
“Right now, the education system in terms of teachers is almost populated by more than 50per cent of people who are not trained to be teachers. We must develop the act of teaching; you must be trained as a teacher,” he said.
“If you want to be a teacher, you must be trained, you have the requisite skills, and this run from our primary schools to our universities, you must train people on how to teach, the way we are doing it now is like half measure,
“If you do not have the teaching qualifications, please do something about it within the next one year or two to acquire to the basic skills you need as a teacher, if you have to continue to functioning in the classroom. If not, we are urging government to look at that sector very seriously,” he explained.
