Few months after Governor Ademola Adeleke relieved about 1,500 teachers recruited by the immediate past administration, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Osun State chapter, has raised the alarm over what it described as shortage of teachers in public schools.
According to the NUT, there is acute shortage of teachers in the public schools, noting that there is no school in all the local governments across the state that does not need teachers.
This is coming barely six months after Governor Adeleke relieved about 1,500 teachers recruited by former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, citing irregularities in the recruitment process.
Chairman of the NUT in the Osun, Comrade Muritala Fatade, in an exclusive interview published by OSUN DEFENDER on Friday, said the worst hit are schools in the rural areas of the state.
Fatade lamented that the dearth of teachers in public schools is worse in the schools that are in remote areas in every part of the state.
The NUT boss said some secondary schools in Osun have five-to-eight employed teachers to service the whole school, urging the state government to as a matter of urgency, recruit more teachers.
Fatade also appealed to the government to reinstate those who went through the proper process among the 1,500 teachers recruited by the previous administration and sacked by Governor Ademola Adeleke.
He said even with the reinstatement of some of the sacked teachers, the government still has a lot of vacuum to fill in providing adequate teachers for the state-owned schools.
The NUT Chairman added that the government’s intention to improve the standard of education in public schools cannot be achieved without adequate teachers in the schools.
He said: “We have an acute shortage of teachers in Osun State government schools as of today. The shortage is just too enormous to the extent that in rural areas, we have some schools where we have five, six and eight teachers in a whole secondary school.
“It is only the urban centre that is fairly okay but talk of the rural areas, the shortage is too much. We want to appeal to our Governor to please employ more teachers as a matter of urgency.
“I will like also to plead on behalf of the 1500 teachers that the last administration rushed their employment. For those who got the employment through due process, the government should please reinstate them.
“Even if they reinstate these people, we still need more teachers. What we have now is an acute shortage. The gap they need to fill is just too much. There is no school in all the local governments across the state that does not need teachers.
“The 1500 teachers cannot even fill the gap. They will have to immediately recruit more. We want the government of Osun to come to our aid.
“The government is talking about improving the standard of education, there is no way they can achieve this without having adequate teachers on the ground.”
On infrastructure, Fatade said some school buildings are dilapidated, adding that the schools are also lacking adequate teaching materials.
He said: “In the area of infrastructure, in terms of buildings, we are fairly okay but we still have some dilapidated buildings in our schools.
“Also, the teaching materials are not adequate. We are appealing to the state government to provide teaching materials in order to aid teaching and learning in our schools.” (Culled from Osun Defender)
