*As Tambuwal plans refresher courses training for state teachers
He announced that the state government would draw up a new training schedule to ensure refresher courses for all teachers.
Sokoto State needs additional 548 teachers in order to achieve a teacher/student ratio of 1:40, the standard set for public schools in the state.
The schools need assessment sub-committee of the committee on state of emergency, set up by Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, disclosed this in its report and revealed that a total of 360 schools were assessed.
Chairman of the sub-committee, Dr. Shadi Sabeh, who presented the report on Sunday at Government House Sokoto, however, said the unqualified teachers were educated enough to be trained to enhance their qualifications to be in the classroom.
The report harped on the need for the government to urgently act to restructure the imbalance in teachers’ distribution especially between rural and urban areas.
According to the report, 537 teachers should be posted from some schools that are over-staffed within the Sokoto metropolis to the many that are lacking teachers in rural areas.
It also decried lack of ICT infrastructure in schools, noting that 73 percent of teachers surveyed lacked computer skills, while noting that 90 percent of them had not attended any form of training, workshop and seminar in the last three years.
The committee pointed out that, “In general, there is an ardent and urgent need for a robust capacity building program that will close the training gap among teachers in the state.”
It stressed the need for government to enforce compliance with Federal Government’s directives that all teachers must be registered with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).
“At the moment, only 14 percent of the teachers have the necessary registration,” it stated.
Responding, Governor Aminu Tambuwal commended the committee members for a diligent job.
The governor assured that the report would be implemented.
He announced that the state government would draw up a new training schedule to ensure refresher courses for all teachers.
According to him, other measures would also be put in place to ensure turn around in the fortunes of the sector.
