Edo To Reform Teacher Posting For Optimal Performance

By Alltimepost.com

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has hinted that the state will carry out reforms on the recruitment, deployment, promotion and posting of teachers in the state to ensure fairness in the system and promote optimal performance of teachers.

He made the revelation during a meeting with the Chairman and Members of the State Post Primary Education Board in his office on Wednesday.

“The key issue in appointment is competence and in recruiting these numbers, we would start from the top, from those who score the highest mark. The idea here is to give priority to the employment of the best in our schools. Our teachers must be the best. In those days, when you are very brilliant, you go into academics.” Oshiomhole remarked.

“Just that things have changed now, the brilliant ones go into banking, oil industry, they want to go to customs, immigration and all of that but we need the best brains to impart knowledge and that is why we are ready to pay special incentives to those who are involved in Science Subjects,” the Governor said.

He however said that he would want to be convinced that such teachers would make a difference in terms of the quality of knowledge they impart and that it would be measurable through performance of children in various examinations and periodic assessments.

“We can even work out bonuses for schools that have done well, for pupils that have done well, because, like they say, if the child has not learnt, it might well be because the teacher has not taught. One is a consequence of the other and I need us to tie rewards to efforts, because if we can tie reward to efforts and people see that effort pays, I think they will be greatly motivated and I am sure that our children in both primary, junior secondary schools and senior secondary school will do well.”

Comrade Oshiomhole urged the Board to bridge the manpower gap between the Junior Secondary Schools and Senior Secondary Schools in the state so as to effectively engage the teachers.

“We have merged the Education Ministry to one now so this issue of Basic, Junior Secondary School, Senior Secondary School has to be reviewed. So you should find a way to bridge all these dichotomy of Junior Secondary Schools and Secondary schools so we can use our man power more optimally,” he said.

Governor warned against the indiscriminate transfer and extortion of teachers maintaining that there must be fairness in posting and re-posting of teachers so as to expose them to both urban and rural teaching experience.

“I also want to publicly advice you on a couple of things that have happened in the past which you are also aware of. One of them is indiscriminate transfer or Principals or applicants who seek to be Principals are compelled to part with money to be transferred to schools of their choice.

“The result is that you find some people are permanent Teachers in some schools for 10 years while some other persons have done more than 10 years in a typical village if he doesn’t have either the bribery capacity or he doesn’t have a godfather.”

According to him, government policy is that every Teacher must have both Urban and Rural experience and that no teacher should be permanently left in a rural school and some other teachers permanently left in an Urban School.

“Posting is a legitimate thing you do, not only because of exposure to urban area, but even within urban area, people move around,” he said.

Governor Oshiomhole however advised the Board to look into the qualification of Teachers in the Primary Schools in the state with a view to upgrading those that have acquired degrees in Education from Primary Schools to Secondary Schools so as to ensure effective and proper use of man power.