[EDUCATION] Kaduna parents, pupils beg for end to strike

Pupils of public primary schools in Kaduna state and their parents have appealed to the striking teachers to call off the ongoing strike in the interest of the children who are left stranded. 

Primary and secondary school teachers in Kaduna state had on January 8, 2018 embarked on an indefinite strike action to express their grievances over the sack of about 22,000 teachers who allegedly failed a primary four test conducted to test their competency by the state government.

Since the strike began children attending public schools have not been going to school while their colleagues in the private schools are progressing academically. 

A seven-year-old pupil attending LEA primary school, Trikania, Musa Lawal who was found roaming the street at school time expressed sadness over the strike embarked upon by the teachers, saying, “I wish my parents had money to send me to a private school so that I don’t have to suffer for the disagreement between government and the teachers.”

Another pupil, Margaret schooling at Barnawa lamented that she has resorted to hawking banana to help her poor parents since they have been stopped from going to school because of strike. She however urged both government and the teachers to come to an agreement and consider the children of the poor masses. 

She appealed to the government to consider the plea of the teachers; while he stressed the need for teachers too to bear the children in mind in everything they do. 

A parent, Ibrahim Haruna described as very bad the strike action embarked upon by teachers which he said has left the children stranded and idle. He appealed to the teachers to call off the strike and go back to work. “I believe that what government is trying to do is for the better education system in the state because truly there are some unqualified teachers that do not know what the profession entails.” 

He therefore appealed to both government and the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) to dialogue and bring to an end the strike action so that the children of the common man can enjoy quality education. 

Another parent, Murtala Mohammed said he has been sending his children to school and their teachers keep sending them back home. “I think what we need at this point is prayer for government to succeed if it is sincere with what it is doing. Government should endeavour to settle with the teachers because the entire situation is affecting their morale and it is affecting the pupils,” he added.

Halima Ibrahim, a parent said that in her own opinion, she feels it is wrong for government to declare some teachers unqualified and still ask them to continue to teach. "What do you expect from such teachers because their morale is already down. Since government has refused to rescind its decision on their sack, then, it should hasten the settlement of the affected teachers as well as the recruitment process so that the education sector in the state can be stable and focused," she advised. 

Kaduna state government has issued termination letters and letters of compulsory retirement to some of the teachers who were said to have the competency test as the case may be while the process of recruiting 25,000 new teachers is ongoing. 

An official of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) told Daily Trust the marking of scripts for candidates who wrote the examination has been concluded, noting that the first batch of newly recruited teachers would be ready soon for deployment. 

While some of the sacked teachers accused the present government of lack of training and capacity building, SUBEB has earmarked N337million for leadership and capacity training for school head teachers and assistants, training of 200 Almajiri school teachers on literacy and numeracy skills and jolly phonics training for 1,200 teachersPupils of public primary schools in Kaduna state and their parents have appealed to the striking teachers to call off the ongoing strike in the interest of the children who are left stranded. 

Primary and secondary school teachers in Kaduna state had on January 8, 2018 embarked on an indefinite strike action to express their grievances over the sack of about 22,000 teachers who allegedly failed a primary four test conducted to test their competency by the state government.

Since the strike began children attending public schools have not been going to school while their colleagues in the private schools are progressing academically. 

A seven-year-old pupil attending LEA primary school, Trikania, Musa Lawal who was found roaming the street at school time expressed sadness over the strike embarked upon by the teachers, saying, “I wish my parents had money to send me to a private school so that I don’t have to suffer for the disagreement between government and the teachers.”

Another pupil, Margaret schooling at Barnawa lamented that she has resorted to hawking banana to help her poor parents since they have been stopped from going to school because of strike. She however urged both government and the teachers to come to an agreement and consider the children of the poor masses. 

She appealed to the government to consider the plea of the teachers; while he stressed the need for teachers too to bear the children in mind in everything they do. 

A parent, Ibrahim Haruna described as very bad the strike action embarked upon by teachers which he said has left the children stranded and idle. He appealed to the teachers to call off the strike and go back to work. “I believe that what government is trying to do is for the better education system in the state because truly there are some unqualified teachers that do not know what the profession entails.” 

He therefore appealed to both government and the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) to dialogue and bring to an end the strike action so that the children of the common man can enjoy quality education. 

Another parent, Murtala Mohammed said he has been sending his children to school and their teachers keep sending them back home. “I think what we need at this point is prayer for government to succeed if it is sincere with what it is doing. Government should endeavour to settle with the teachers because the entire situation is affecting their morale and it is affecting the pupils,” he added.

Halima Ibrahim, a parent said that in her own opinion, she feels it is wrong for government to declare some teachers unqualified and still ask them to continue to teach. "What do you expect from such teachers because their morale is already down. Since government has refused to rescind its decision on their sack, then, it should hasten the settlement of the affected teachers as well as the recruitment process so that the education sector in the state can be stable and focused," she advised. 

Kaduna state government has issued termination letters and letters of compulsory retirement to some of the teachers who were said to have the competency test as the case may be while the process of recruiting 25,000 new teachers is ongoing. 

An official of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) told Daily Trust the marking of scripts for candidates who wrote the examination has been concluded, noting that the first batch of newly recruited teachers would be ready soon for deployment. 

While some of the sacked teachers accused the present government of lack of training and capacity building, SUBEB has earmarked N337million for leadership and capacity training for school head teachers and assistants, training of 200 Almajiri school teachers on literacy and numeracy skills and jolly phonics training for 1,200 teachers.