Kaduna State has at least 34,487 certified and qualified primary and junior secondary school teachers, representing 90.5 per cent of 38,097 in the state’s employ.

The figures are in the Kaduna State Baseline Assessment of Teacher Provision and Policies Report compiled by the Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria (PLANE).

PLANE is a seven-year education programme funded by the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to promote inclusive education and improved learning outcomes in primary schools.

Presenting the report at the Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (Kaduna SUBEB) on Tuesday, PLANE’s consultant, Sunny Kulutuye, said the assessment was to identify priorities and policy gaps.

Mr Kulutuye explained that the assessment was limited to public primary and junior secondary schools, using data from the Annual School Census, 2015 to 2021 and key informant interviews.

He said findings conducted in 2022 showed that of the 33,419 teachers in public primary schools, 31,033 or 92.9 per cent were qualified, while out of the 4,678 teachers in junior secondary schools, 73.8 per cent were qualified.

The consultant noted that while the policy on education recommended a 1:45 qualified teacher-pupil ratio in primary schools, Kaduna State’s primary schools had 1:59 qualified teacher-pupil ratio.

“This shows a gap of 9,365 teachers, representing 30.2 per cent required to attain a ratio of a qualified teacher to 45 pupils per class in primary schools.

“The situation is disturbing in junior secondary schools, where the ratio is 88 pupils to qualified teachers, leaving a gap of 3,274 teachers representing 94.8 per cent.

“There is, therefore, the need to intensify efforts to improve qualified teacher recruitment in junior secondary schools,’’ he said.

Mr Kulutuye added that the state would require a minimum of 40,707 qualified teachers in primary schools and 8,507 teachers in junior secondary schools by 2025, amounting to 49,214 teachers.

He also said that by 2030, the number of teachers needed in primary schools would increase to 44,638 and 9,456 in junior secondary schools, amounting to 54,094 teachers.

The assessment also showed an improvement in pupils to qualified-teacher ratio, gender parity in the teaching profession, removal of unqualified teachers, and improved recruitment procedures, he noted.

“One of the identified gaps is the weaknesses in teacher deployment with disparity across local government areas, showing the need to strengthen replacement policies.

“There are also inadequate measures to ensure safer recruitment and background checks, lack of data on special needs teaching and teachers with disabilities, lack of gender policy and implementation and data on auxiliary teachers.

“Another gap is that there are more teachers in urban schools when compared with the number in rural schools,’’ he said.

Earlier, Mubarak Siraj, state reform facilitator, PLANE, said one of the objectives of the dissemination was to share the outcomes of the assessment, especially the identified gaps.

(NAN)