BY AGENCY REPORTER
The Nigeria Union of Teachers, Kaduna State Wing, has said that no teacher in public primary school in the state would sit for the competency test being organised by the state government.
The union stated this in a communique issued at the end of an emergency meeting of its Executive Council, held in Kaduna, on Wednesday.
The union, in a communique signed by its state Chairman, Mr Ibrahim Dalhatu, and Assistant Secretary-General, Mr Adamu Ango, suggested that the funds meant for the exercise should be channelled to training and re-training of teachers.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the state government had in January 2018, sacked about 22,000 teachers for failing a competency test conducted in 2017.
On July 14, the government announced plans to conduct another competency test for primary school teachers to ensure quality teaching in basic schools.
The union, after its emergency Executive Council meeting over the planned test, unanimously resolved that no teacher in public primary school would sit for the test.
According to the communique, writing a competency test does not determine the competency of a teacher.
“Competence of teachers can only be appropriately determined in the classroom and the last test had already produced competent teachers.
“This is because the newly recruited teachers were subjected to rigorous examinations and verifications before being employed into the teaching service.
“Setting a standard by the government can only be valid if the appropriate regulatory bodies like the Teachers Registration Council are involved,” it said.
NAN recalls that the state government recruited 25,000 qualified teachers to replace the over 22,000 sacked ones in 2018.
