Embattled Kaduna State Government yesterday said the ongoing strike by the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in the state would not stop its education reform.
In a statement issued in Kaduna by Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to Governor Nasiru El-Rufai, Samuel Aruwan, the state government said it would not allow unqualified teachers in its schools.
He said the state government was determined to protect the future of the students as more than two million pupils were enrolled in public primary schools.
Aruwan commended teachers who reported to work in spite of efforts by the NUT to unlawfully prevent them from working.
He said the government had begun collation of reports from education administrators on teachers and reiterated that teachers who absented themselves from work would be sanctioned according to the law.
“Appropriate reminder of the potency of these rules (laws) has been issued in previous government statements.
“Across the state, the illegality of the NUT’s strike action is being compounded by physical attempts to frustrate those teachers who wish to work.
“No law permits any worker to tamper with another’s right to work. The attention of the security agencies has been drawn to this dangerous pattern of conduct,” Aruwan said.
He said the state government had concluded marking of scripts of 43,000 applicants who applied for teaching positions, disclosing that 25,000 qualified teachers would be employed.
Teachers in public secondary and primary schools in Kaduna State last Monday began an indefinite strike action over job security and welfare issues.
Our correspondent reports that the strike was called by the state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT).
The government last Sunday threatened to sack any teacher that joined the strike.
In some of the schools in Kaduna metropolis only security guards were noticed in the premises as students and teachers remained at home.
At LGEA Primary School Mahuta and Unguwan Boro only security guards were at the premises while the classrooms were under lock and key.
One of the security guards told our correspodent that no teacher had resumed, adding that some of the pupils went home after hanging around with no teacher to attend to them.
Reports from Zaria, Sabongari, Makarfi, Soba, Giwa and Ikara Local Government Areas indicate total compliance to the strike as teachers and students remained at home.
The NUT Chairman, Zaria Local Government, Malam Yahaya Abbas said the strike was inevitable as the state government had ignored all efforts to meet the teachers’ demands.
He contended that the sack of about 22, 000 teachers, one of the reasons for the strike, was carried out in total disregard to civil service rules and regulations.
NUT Chairman, Sabongari Local Government Usman Rabi’u, appreciated teachers in the area for complying with the strike order by the NUT and urged them not to waer “until justice is done.”
He, however, urged the state government to meet the demands of the union so as not to prolong the strike.
Our correspondent reports that the NUT had on November 6, 2017 gave the state government a two-week ultimatum to reverse its decision to sack about 22, 000 teachers.
The union had obtained an injunction from the National Industrial Court, Kaduna, restraining the state government from disengaging any teacher until the determination of the substantive suit on the matter.