UBEC warns of nationwide teacher shortage crisis
… The decline rate in basic education for teachers is announced to be 29%.
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has sounded the alarm on the shortage of teachers in public schools in Nigeria, lamenting the 29% decline in the number of public primary and secondary school teachers due to the coronavirus pandemic.
UBEC Director-General, Dr. Hamid Boboi, stated this at a one-day conference on promoting partnership with the organized private sector and other key stakeholders in the implementation of the UBE program held in Abuja yesterday.
Dr. Boboi, who called for synergy between government and the private sector to address the myriad challenges facing the basic education sub-sector, noted that the over N100 billion annual funding for the sub-sector was insufficient.
He therefore called on the private sector to work with governments to address this challenge.
To achieve universal basic education by 2030, sub-Saharan Africa needs 5.4 million teachers at primary level and 5.4 million teachers at secondary level, according to the latest figures released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 11.1 million teachers are needed.
According to Boboi, the more than NOK 100 billion spent by the federal government on basic education through the Commission was completely inadequate, given the lack of infrastructure in this sector and the provision of important educational materials.
“Across the country, we have serious challenges in different regions. The infrastructure we need exceeds the resources we have.
“We also need to make sure that we provide the materials they need. Unfortunately, we have not been able to meet these challenges, especially as the number of teachers has decreased due to COVID-19. The virus has reduced the number of teachers in classrooms by about 29 percent, especially in public schools, where the number of teachers is almost down.
“Despite the efforts of the federal government, our other partners are not providing these critical materials. Therefore, we must come together to strategize and make a difference in the lives of children. “We need to think about what we can do to help,” he said.
Also, according to UNESCO’s 2022 report, Nigeria has more than 20 million children out of school, the highest number in Africa and the third highest in the world.
Boboi said this was part of the agenda for the meeting with the private sector and expressed concern about the development.
He said there are over 45 million children in the basic education sub-sector in Nigeria, adding, “This conference is aimed at finding ways to engage the private sector to support the development of the basic education sub-sector. The aim was to explore ways to build a functional relationship with the – The sector devise programs that will be beneficial to the development of basic education in the country.
“Every year, the federal government injects an average of NOK 100 billion into this subsector. Resources from the federal government alone cannot run the system.
“What we don’t always engage with, but always raise, is the teacher issue. That we pay our teachers well, we reward them appropriately, we motivate them. Unless we can do that, it’s going to be very difficult for teachers to provide the kind of education that we all think they have.”
In separate submissions, representatives from Oando Foundation, Aliko Dangote Foundation, Aspire Coronation Trust Foundation, Civil Society Action Coalition for Education for All (CSACEFA) and others said that the commission and the private sector While seeking synergies, the company also promised to expand its scale. Different educational interventions in sub-sectors.
Source: guardian.ng