BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
THE Ebonyi State Commissioner for Education, Onyebuchi Chima, has called for the implementation of civil service rules in handling the affairs of teachers in the state.
The commissioner, who condemned incessant penalties to teachers in the state, insisted that if a teacher must be punished, the action must be in accordance with civil service rules.
He frowned at the situation where he said Special Assistants of the Governor on Schools Monitoring went about embarrassing and sacking teachers in the schools.
The Commissioner made his position known during a meeting of Education stakeholders on the issue of Social Media Publications, at his office, in Abakaliki.
Chima said the social media was awash with stories that a particular state official had sacked five teachers, adding that the affected teachers were responding on social media platforms, causing embarrassment to the state and its education sector.
He maintained that teachers were professionals like their counterparts in the medical sector, among other professions, noting that their negative actions should be referred to their supervising ministry for sactions, if found wanting.
The Commissioner emphasised that due process ought to be followed in the treatment of teachers according to Civil Service rules.
Special Assistant to Governor David Umahi on Private Schools, Mrs. Chinyelu Udoku and Princess Francisca Okeke, supported Chima’s decision to stop any form of ill treatment of teachers in their places of duty.
Special Assistant to the Governor on Primary Schools, Uche Achi-Okpaga, also advised those monitoring Education workers to always approach the Ministry of Education when anomalies were discovered, noting that the incident of sacking teachers happened in error.
Recall that two principals were recently demoted and one sacked for alleged negligence and extortion by the Deputy Chief of Staff, Government House, Okechukwu Nwapku.
