Kaduna state Governor, Nasir el-Rufa’i, has disclosed that Competency tests for secondary school teachers will soon be conducted across the state to separate the incompetent ones from those that are competent.
Kaduna state government conducted similar test for the over 30,000 primary school teachers in the state last year, following which 21,780 that failed to obtain 70% pass mark were sacked and replaced with newly recruited 25,000 teachers.
Speaking on Sunday on his twitter handle, @GovKaduna, monitored in Kaduna, el-Rufai noted that the state is committed to restoring the integrity of the teaching profession.
He also revealed that the state government has decided to pay urban teachers in the state 27.5% higher than average civil servants, while rural teachers will earn 32.5% higher than their other civil service colleagues to attract the best to the teaching profession.
“We are doing our best to restore the integrity of the teaching profession. We have finished tests for primary school teachers and we are going to administer competency tests for secondary school teachers.”
The competency test for primary school teachers and subsequent sack of those that failed the test caused lot of brouhaha with the Nigeria Union of Teachers ( NUT ) and the umbrella body for workers, Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC ) taking umbrage at what they referred to as unfair treatment of teachers.
Despite the unions embarking on protest after which they took legal action, the state government stuck by its gun and followed through with its decision. This latest step, if taken, may cause further uproar in the state.