12,000 Applicants Scramble For Teaching Job In Ekiti

By Ayodele Oni

Over 12,00 applicants who applied for teaching job in Ekiti state have been pruned down to 1,300 candidates.

The applicants had earlier sat for the recruitment examination aptitude test for teachers in public primary schools in Ekiti State after which those of them that scaled the first hurdle were invited for second round of interview.

The Executive Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Prof. Femi Akinwumi who disclosed this in Ado Ekiti during the interview/documentation process for successful candidates, said only applicants that scored 45 percent and above in the qualifying examination were shortlisted.

He added that the focus was to fill existing vacancies for teachers in the state’s public primary schools, insisting that there was no room for compromise in conducting the exercise to meet global best practices.

According to him, special consideration was accorded to people living with disabilities among the candidates, as well as candidates from communities with hard-to-staff schools, saying that the move would address the difficulty in providing staff for schools in difficult terrains and remote locations.

The SUBEB boss pointed out further that a bulk of the successful candidates in the ongoing exercise would be posted to rural communities to ensure the provision of qualified personnel in all schools across the state.

Expressing appreciation to Governor Biodun Oyebanji for approving the Board’s proposal for the recruitment of qualified personnel into the Basic Education sector in the state, he assured that the exercise would be fair and just.

Akinwumi also solicited the continued support of the people on the recruitment exercise, urging those that were not invited to the interview not to be discouraged as the exercise would be a continuous process.

“The present administration in the State understands the plight of the unemployed graduates and will continue to do everything within its powers to reduce the number of people in the labour market.”