Parents, Teachers Demand Swift Action over Teachers’ Shortage in FCT Schools

Many parents and teachers in the Federal Capital Territory have decried the continued shortage of teachers in virtually all primary and secondary schools in the nation’s capital.

They also called on the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to approve the recruitment of more teachers into the schools, saying the current situation is already crippling learning.

Reporters who went round the schools, reports that the situation was worse in the rural communities with some having two teachers attending to over 100 pupils.

Speaking on the development, the chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), FCT wing, Comrade Abdullahi Mohammed Shafas, said the lack of enough teachers, especially at rural primary schools, has been one of the major challenges facing learning in the FCT.

He said despite the increase in child enrollment in the 95 public primary schools in the nation’s capital, virtually all the schools are lacking teachers.

He called on the FCT administration to, as a matter of urgency, recruit additional teachers to bridge the gaps.

Also speaking, the chairman of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) in FCT, Alhaji Usman Abubakar, identified inadequate class teachers as the major challenge facing education in the nation’s capital.

He said the association had made several efforts to engage what he called PTA teachers in order to complement the existing teachers in some of the schools but said most of them have abandoned the schools.

“The PTA has written severally to the FCT UBEB to liaise with the FCT administration on the need to recruit more teachers for primary schools, especially in rural schools, but this has not yielded a positive response,” he said.

He appealed to the management of the FCT Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) to recruit more teachers for the schools.

He added, “There are several PTA teachers who have been teaching in some schools for over 12 years without being absorbed. I think there is the need for the FCT administration to look at such teachers by absorbing them in order to complement the existing ones.’’ 

Schools lament

Our correspondent visited some of the primary schools and observed that the shortage of teachers has been one of the major challenges facing them.

At the LEA Central Primary School in Kwali, it was also observed that pupils were piled up inside one classroom attending to a lesson.

The head teacher of the school, Mr. Zakari Suleiman, said as a result of the shortage of teachers, the school has been combining pupils inside one classroom.

He said some of the PTA teachers that were employed to support the few teachers hardly show up.

“Actually, we have some PTA teachers who normally support the regular teachers on some subjects, but since the resumption of this first term, some of them did not show up, as they complained that UBEB has refused to absorb them,’’ he said.

At Kayarda LEA primary school in Kuje Area Council, the situation was the same as pupils were also seen jam-packed inside one of the classrooms attending a lesson.

A teacher, who spoke to our reporter on condition of anonymity, said the pupils, especially those in Grades 3, 4, and 5, were combined inside a single classroom due to the inadequate teachers in the school.

“There are some subjects like PHE and health science that we don’t have teachers to handle them. So, we have to combine the three classes so that the only teacher that handles science subjects will now teach them,” he said.

Also at LEA primary school, Zuba, the situation was the same as pupils were seen inside a classroom with only one teacher attending to them for a lesson.

The head of the school, Malam Haliru Abdullahi, who spoke with our reporter, said the school lacks enough teachers for some subjects.

He said despite the increase in the population of the school, the number of teachers in the school continues to shrink.

He appealed to the FCT UBEB to recruit more teachers for the school.

When contacted, the director of the FCT UBEB, Dr. Hassan Suleiman, said the board was making efforts to address the challenge of inadequate teachers in all public schools in the territory.