Gov. El-Rufai Reform Faces Resistance From Pupils
Bomba Dauda
Not fewer than 48hrs to the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) proposed protest in Kaduna State over Governor Nasiru El-rufai of Kaduna State planned sacking of twenty one thousand (21,000) primary school teachers who failed the competency test organized by the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), pupils in the metropolis have embarked on mass demonstration in support of their teachers.
The move by the government have stirred up discussions across array of experts in the education sub-sector, while some criticized the government for wrongly channeling the resource that he should have used to train unqualified teachers into the unpopular school feeding programme in the state. NUT tongue lashed the governor for his high handedness.
According to the Secretary General of the union, Comrade Adamu Ango, “it was agreed by all stakeholders in the educational sector that the pass mark for the competency test be pegged at 60 percent while those who are unable to score up to 60 per cent be retrained. However, in a classical display of bad faith which started as a rumour, the Kaduna state government unilaterally and arbitrarily pegged the pass mark for the test at an unprecedented 75 per cent,” has said.
A retired educationist who wants his name not mentioned, argued that, “The government of El-rufai is void of diplomacy and it does not consult experts in the formulation and even execution of his policy in all the sectors. He needs to consult experts before he arrive at a conclusion, experts who do not only understand the industry but, understand the terrain as well. Right from the onset, we criticized that, El-rufai should have used the monies he used in his so-called feeding programme for the training and retraining of teachers. If he had done that, there wouldn’t have been any need for such a scandal.”
According to eye witness account, “Yesterday, pupils in Kawo in the northern axis of the state demonstrated against government anticipated sacking of their teachers. The children chanted in Hausa, which translate in English, “We don’t want.” A day after the protest in Kawo, pupils in Kamazou, Narayi, Television and other areas in the metropolis also staged a peaceful protest today.
