Some teachers in Niger can’t read or write, says SUBEB chairman

Isah Adamu, chairman of the Niger State Universal Basic Education Board (NSUBEB), says quite a number of teachers in the state can neither read nor write.

He stated this on Thursday, during a two-day roundtable discussion on revamping basic education in the state.

Adamu said the meeting was to obtain the support of stakeholders on how to address challenges in the performance of basic education in the state.

He explained that the event became necessary after the board mobilised resources to register 250 pupils for the Suleja Academy, but lamented that records showed zero percent performance.

“We set an agenda for ourselves, driven by the mandate given to us by his excellency, alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, to work assiduously to improve the state of basic education in Niger state,” he said.

“Our first line of action was to go round the state for on-the-spot assessment of our school system. What we found was very appalling. The situation in some of the schools visited was very pathetic; teachers’ inability to deliver lessons effectively and above all, teachers who could not read nor write.

“In order to get a clearer picture of the situation, we as management came up with a committee to audit the teaching and administrative staff across the 25 LGAs of the state.

“The report found out that quite a number of teachers we have in the state could not read nor write.”

He added that for the national examination into unity colleges, 21 pupils passed the examinations out of 250 that were registered.

In his address, Abubakar Bello, the governor, lamented that basic education had declined abysmally.

Bello, who was represented by Ahmed Ketso, his deputy, enjoined participants to develop viable solution to ensure a sustainable system of education at the basic level.

He said his administration is committed to providing quality education in the state by clearing the backlog of Universal Basic Education (UBE) matching grants from 2013 to the first quarter of 2019 to improve access to learning.

In May, some teachers across some public primary schools in the state were dismissed over alleged certificate forgery and absence from work.

Speaking on the development, the NSUBEB chairman had said the move was to flush out all unqualified teachers in public primary schools, as part of measures to restore sanity to the basic level of education in the state.