The Niger State Universal Basic Education Board (NSUBEB) has urged the state government to employ 3,000 new teachers to fill vacancies left by those that had died or retired from the service.
Its Chairman, Alhaji Alhassan Bawa, told newsmen on Saturday in Minna that the call became necessary because of the acute shortage of teachers in the primary schools.
“Many teachers have retired, some have died, but they have not been replaced. We want government to look into this situation in the interest of quality education,” Bawa said.
He said that NSUBEB had already sent the request to that effect to the state executive council.
“As I speak with you, the request is before the Commissioner of Education,” he said.
Bawa complained that the operations of the board were hampered by the lingering paucity of funds.
He regretted that the challenge of funding had become “increasingly difficult”, saying that many schools were in bad shape and had remained so in the past 20 years.
The chairman said that government had executed many intervention projects in many schools, but declared that much still needed to be done.
“The rains have set in and the yawning gap is staring at us; roofs of many schools have been destroyed by storm. The situation is tough. When you solve one problem, another sets it,” he said.
Bawa appealed to teachers, parents and students to bear with the government, and assured them that the challenges would be surmounted “as soon as funds are available”.