Yuguda: No going back on screening of teachers

Category: News Published on Thursday, 17 January 2013 06:00 Written by Ahmed Mohammed, Bauchi

Bauchi state Governor Isa Yuguda has explained the rationale behind government decision to screen teachers in the state, saying that it is in the best interest of education at the foundation level declaring that there is no going back on the decision.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Ishola Michael Adeyemi stated that Yuguda explained this while fielding questions from newsmen in Bauchi Wednesday.

The governor said the aim of the screening is to ensure that qualified people are employed as teachers in all public schools in the state as against the present situation where unqualified people are engaged as teachers.

The Governor who did not hide his displeasure over the controversy caused by the screening exercise said “we are ready to make positive change in the education sector particularly at the foundation level; we will ensure that only qualified people are employed as teachers, no going back on the screening exercise.”

“I don’t know why they are fighting over the screening exercise, if one is sure that he or she is qualified to be a teacher, he or she should be ready to prove such. What we said is that all teachers in the employ of the state government should bring original copies of their papers to prove that they are qualified to be teachers in our primary schools.”

Yuguda said the exercise is not aimed at witch-hunting anyone but to ensure “our children got the best foundation for their education in order to have a brighter future. You will be surprised that there are some of the teachers who do not know what they are to teach the pupils, a development that is a threat to their educational future.”

He also said that Bauchi state is not the only state conducting the exercise pointing out that it is a national issue as embedded in the new education policy of the country as all unqualified teachers will be phased out from the teaching profession in order to standardise the system as obtained in other parts of the world.