By Izunna Okafor, Awka
Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo has cleared the air over the Tuesday protest by a group of teachers in the state, who said the he relieved them of their appointments and asked them to go and re-apply for the teaching job in the ongoing teachers’ recruitment exercise in the state, just few months after they were engaged by the immediate-past administration of Chief Willie Obiano.
Racall that the protesting teachers had, on Tuesday, barricaded the entrance of the Anambra State House of Assembly complex in Awka to seek the intervention of the House in their situation, while also claiming that they have not been paid since last year.
They said they were previously engaged by the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) of the various communities in the state due to shortage of teachers in various government schools across the state, years after which the Obiano-led Administration converted their hitherto temporary engagement to a permanent employment in November 2021.
However, in a statement issued on Thursday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Christian Aburime, Governor Soludo declared that no qualified teacher in the state’s school system was sacked relieved of his/her appointment by his administration. He rather said he is repositioning the education sector according to standard practice and in line with the objectives of the his administration.
According to the Governor, the affected PTA teachers were only asked to regularize their employment with the government by taking part in the online teachers’ recruitment test initiated by the state, as their ‘conversion’ to the school system in the last days of the last administration was done in an irregular, hazy circumstances.
He also said the idea is to ensure that only those with requisite qualifications, proven capacity and commensurate experiences are recruited into the school system! and never to witch-hunt anybody or take away anybody’s job.
The statement reads: “The attention of Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR, has been drawn to publications on protest by Teachers engaged by the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) purportedly converted to permanent staff in Anambra state schools that were sacked by his administration.
“The protesters who barricaded the entrance of the state House of Assembly in Awka displayed placards with various inscriptions, claiming to have been engaged by the state government before the termination of their jobs.
“For the avoidance of doubt, no qualified teacher in the state’s school system has been relieved of his/her appointment.
“The government is rather repositioning the education sector according to standard practice and in line with the objectives of the Soludo administration.
“The affected PTA teachers who were “converted” to the school system in the last days of the last administration in an irregular, hazy circumstances, were only asked to regularize their employment with the government by taking part in the online teachers’ recruitment test initiated by the state. Teachers all over the world are recruited through a serious and systematic pedagogical based process. The “conversion” method is rather new to the teaching field and is totally unacceptable in the State.
“The idea is to ensure that only those with requisite qualifications, proven capacity and commensurate experiences are recruited into the system. It is not to witch-hunt anybody or take away anybody’s job.
“Please ignore any mischievous or unfounded publication on this matter.
“At all times, Prof Soludo means well for the good people of Anambra State and will stop at nothing in giving them the best, education inclusive.”
