Edo: APC Says Public Schools Lack Qualified Teachers

By Ayodele Oni

The All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo chapter has blamed inaction and insensitivity of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) for shortage of qualified teachers in public schools in the state.

APC accused Governor Godwin Obaseki-led factional PDP government for the collapse of the educational system in the State as evident in the shortage of teachers in public school.

The APC, in a statement in Benin on Sunday, said if the  government had listened when it repeatedly raised the alarm few years ago, by employing qualified teachers, the present decadent scenario would have been avoided.

The party, in the statement, signed by Victor Ofure Osehobo, Assistant State Publicity Secretary, 

said its position was confirmed during the recent World Teachers Day, when the State chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, (NUT), told the state governor to employ permanent teachers in Edo public primary and secondary schools.

The state NUT chairman, Bernard Ajobiewe, while welcoming the Governor to the event, lamented that the shortage of teachers across Edo State public schools have become an embarrassment.

According to him, “Our schools are grossly under-staffed especially primary and secondary schools in our rural communities.

“We need permanent teachers that would take the job more seriously. No matter the beauty of the schools, with all the infrastructure without teachers, whatsoever that is put in place in the system is cosmetic at best. So, there is urgent need to step up the staffing requirements in our schools.”

APC stated that “As a party, we condemn the inaction of Obaseki’s government, it is inexcusable, because such nonchalance and indifference has only served, since 2016 to paralyze the once vibrant education sector in our State.

“The insensitivity of the Governor became glaring over the years when repeatedly he claimed to have transformed Education with the fictitious Edo Best 1.0 and very recently with Edo Best 2.0.

“Obviously, the two programs are hallmarks of his Make Edo Grounded Again, MEGA policy.

“Edo people know that the socalled Edo Best 1.0 as it turned out, was the governor’s purchase, in billions of Naira, of fairly used handheld devices for non existent teachers.

“Because it was a hoax, the governor recently renamed it Edo Best 2.0 with the announcement of a change in the designation of heads of schools as Executive headmasters or Principals.

“We call on the Edo state government to do some soul-searching over its failure as it has left children without quality education which is the key to their leadership of tomorrow.

“Only a careless and inept leadership like the PDP government would ignore the danger signals a decline in education standards pose to the future of our state.

“This is why we align with the NUT and insist that, for the future of our State to be reassured, the Governor Obaseki government must immediately begin the recruitment of trained teachers and deploy them to schools across the state.

“Edo state belongs to all of us, just as every Edo child has a right to quality education; no government should mortgage education, which is the lifeblood of any society for any reason or under any guise, whatsoever.”