Only a
handful of public school teachers in Edo State took part in the controversial
competency test that the state government asked public school teachers in the
state to undertake, as most of them shunned the test.
The test
was meant to determine the eligibility of the over 13, 000 teachers in the
employment of the state government to continue as teachers in its schools.
At the
University of Benin, where teachers in the Edo South district were booked to
write the test, only 73 teachers were accredited while 14 and 12 teachers were
reportedly accredited in the Edo Central and Edo North districts respectively.
Some of
the teachers, who wrote the test at the University of Benin, said that they had
to come for it because they were afraid of losing their jobs.
“My
brother, I come oh,” a male teacher said in pidgin. “What if Oshiomhole wins
the case and he sacks us for not coming? Will the union feed me? That’s why I
decided to come and see what is happening,” he said.
It was
learnt that less than only 15 teachers presented themselves at Ekpoma, venue of
the test in Edo central, while an observer of the exercise at Auchi in Edo
North district described it as “very scanty”.
Speaking
on the exercise, secretary of the Edo State chapter of the NUT, Mr Akin Adeojo,
said he was pleased that the teachers complied with the directive not to attend
the exercise.
He said it
was regrettable that the Edo State government chose to disregard a court
injunction restraining it from proceeding with the competency test.
Counsel to
Academic Staff Union of Secondary School (ASSUS), Barrister Olayiwola Afolabi,
who was at the venue of the exercise, expressed displeasure over the decision
of the Edo State government to go ahead with the competency test even when a
subsisting court injunction ruled otherwise.
He
debunked the allegation credited to the state Commissioner for Information, Mr
Loius Odion, that the court order was not served on the state government,
adding that the order was pasted on the walls of some offices at the Government
House when the officials were evading them.
It was
observed that security personnel were on ground to forestall any breakdown of
law and order following alleged threats by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT)
to disrupt the exercise.
The
Chairman of SUBEB, Prince Stephen Alao, who was on ground to monitor the test,
said the test was not meant to shortlist teachers for retrenchment.
“This is
the beginning of a learning exercise for Edo State primary and secondary
teachers.
“With this
assessment going on today, government would now be able to plan properly in the
training for all our teachers in the state.
“This is
because, without the assessment, we will not know the kind of training to
organise for upgrading our teachers.
“So, this
test is just merely to ascertain where we are and where we need to go and that
has been the dream of the governor.
“And with
this assessment, I am so glad that this is one of the first steps in many years
to revamp the education sector in Edo State,” he said.
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