John Shiklam in Kaduna
The Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (KADSUBEB) would dismiss 233 teachers with fake certificates.
The Chairman of the KADSUBEB, Mr. Tijjani Abdullahi, who disclosed this during a news briefing yesterday in Kaduna, said that the culprits would be prosecuted for forgery.
Abdullahi also said that teachers in the state would undergo another competency test.
The first competency test took place in 2017, leading to the sacking of over 20, 000 teachers that failed the test which was trailed by controversies.
He said that the KADSUBEB, had in April 2021, embarked on a verification exercise to ascertain if all the teachers have the requisite qualifications for employment.
“So far, the board has verified 451 certificates by contacting the institutions that awarded the certificates.
“Nine of the 13 institutions contacted have responded, as at today. The responses from the institutions showed that 233 teachers presented fake certificates.
“This represents 51 per cent of the 451 certificates on which responses have been received from the awarding institutions. One institution disowned 212 of these 233 fake certificates.
“The board will dismiss the 233 teachers who presented these fake certificates, while their files will be forwarded to the Ministry of Justice to initiate prosecution for forgery,” he said.
Abdullahi said that the KADSUBEB would continue to check the integrity of certificates presented by teachers to ensure that the teaching profession would not devalued by impostors.
He added that names of the 233 teachers found to have presented fake certificates will be uploaded on the website of the Kaduna State Government.
The chairman also disclosed that the board would soon conduct another competency test for teachers.
He said: “When the Kaduna State Government recruited 25,000 new teachers after the 2017 competency test, it made clear that it will continue to assess its teachers both for their own improvement and for better delivery of learning outcomes for pupils.
“The board will follow up the competency test with series of training programmes, organised in batches for teachers.
“This will begin in January 2022 for 12,254 teachers. The board has signed MoUs with the National Teachers Institute (NTI), the College of Education, Gidan Waya, and the Federal College of Education, Zaria, to conduct the training exercise.”
