Nigeria to Recruit 500,000 Teachers

Nigeria will hire an additional 500,000 teachers in 2016.

This announcement was made by President Muhammadu Buhari during his Christmas address to the nation.

Currently, there are 570,000 teachers in public primary schools. UNICEF estimates indicate that about 40% of school going children are out of school.

The public primary school system has suffered neglect over the years forcing many parents to send their children to private schools which are often run by unqualified personnel.

The Deputy Chairman of Lagos Wing of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, Adesina Adedoyin, has urged the government to involve teachers in the recruitment drive to ensure it is devoid of politics.

“For the exercise to succeed, trained teachers, who love teaching, should be considered for employment and not relations of political office holders,” he said.

Basic education is run by Nigeria’s 36 states. The failure to meet the Education for All (EFA), has prompted the federal government to move in and save the sector from total collapse.

Nigeria to hire 500,000 teachers Currently, there are 570,000 teachers in the public primary schools. The country’… https://t.co/P134l7Vz7T

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During a Word Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal in 2000, 164 countries pledged to achieve “Education For All” by 2015- in which all school-age children would have access to education while adult illiteracy would be a thing of the past.

15 years later, Nigeria is far from actualising the EFA goals despite financial support from international partners.

Boko Haram

Another challenge bedeviling the sector is attacks by the Islamist group Boko Haram.

According to a report released by UNICEF on Tuesday, 22 December, an estimated one million children have been forced out of school, as a result of violent attacks by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria and neighbouring countries.

A majority of these children are in Nigeria.

Children have become a deliberate target- often subjected to sexual slavery, forced marriages, kidnappings and even brutal killings by Boko Haram, whose name roughly translates to “Western education is forbidden”.

President Muhammadu Buhari, pledged to tackle Boko Haram before taking office in May. He set a self imposed deadline of December 31 to stamp out the group.

Yet, the fighters have continued their brutal raids in Nigeria and neighbouring countries, and analysts say the deadline is highly unlikely to be met.