Parents, teachers and other stakeholders in the education sector have described the shortage of public primary school teachers in Oyo State as worrisome and inimical to the sector’s development.

The stakeholders, in separate interviews with journalists in Ibadan on Wednesday, pleaded with the state government for quick intervention to save the children who are at the receiving end.

In July 2022, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) called on the state government to recruit more teachers into its primary schools across the state.

The UBEC executive secretary, Hamid Bobboyi, had said the need to recruit more teachers became manifest during the 2022 National Personnel Audit Exercise in the state, which indicated that there were inadequate teachers in the primary schools.

At St. David’s Anglican School, Abidiodan, in Lagelu Local Government Area of the state, a teacher, who preferred anonymity, said only nine teachers were handling duties meant for 14.

A teacher at Community Primary School, Olorunsogo-Garage, in Ona-Ara Local Government Area, also lamented the shortage of teachers in the school, saying it was a serious matter.

He said out of 14 teachers that used to be in the school, only eight remained, with the head teacher already preparing for retirement in September.

The head teacher of Methodist Primary School II, Aresa, Oke-Ado in Ibadan South-West Local Government Area, Bukola Olasupo, also confirmed the shortage of teachers.

According to her, the school only has one teacher, with the rest as senior staff members. “All of us now teach to fill the vacuum. With that, we can say we have four teachers in the school,” she said.

At St. Stephen’s Primary School, Salvation Army, Ibadan, a teacher, who craved anonymity, said the school had two arms – School I and School II.

According to the respondent, the school I has three teachers, one head teacher and one assistant head teacher instead of the usual seven teachers and two heads.

“In school II, we have five teachers and two heads,” the teacher said.

Another teacher in one of the schools visited said the workload on her was due to the shortage of teachers that had affected her health, causing her to visit the clinic more often in recent times than before.

“We urge the government to take urgent steps to address this because many of the teachers around now will soon retire from service,” she said.

Kunle Adedeji, chairman of the state branch of the Association of Primary School Head Teachers of Nigeria (AOPSHON), said the state had about 22,000 primary school teachers before they came down to less than 10,000.

Also, Raji Oladimeji, chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in the state, said the state government did well in recruiting and moving some qualified teachers working elsewhere to secondary schools.

“But, where there is an issue is the primary schools where teachers are retiring on a daily basis due to age, years of appointment and so on,” he said.

Another anonymous teacher, who claimed to be a stakeholder in the state school management, said that the state government recently adopted some teachers under the Federal Teachers Scheme (FTS) to state primary schools.

The respondent said the adoption was to reduce the effects of the shortage of teachers on the pupils.

He disclosed that the government would soon recruit teachers for primary schools before the commencement of the next academic session in September.

A parent, Faridat Adekunle, said she noticed that her children’s teachers always failed to mark their homework because of the huge workload on them.

Ms Adekunle called for a prompt intervention by the state government, stressing that public schools remained the last hope for average Nigerians who could not afford to send their wards to private schools.

The state House of Assembly, on Tuesday, urged the executive arm of government to, as a matter of urgency, take necessary steps to employ qualified teachers for primary schools across the state.

The lawmakers, at the plenary, presided over by the speaker, Adebo Ogundoyin, urged the government, through the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), to rescue primary education from total collapse through prompt intervention.

According to the lawmakers, 4,994 teachers retired from service between 2019 and June 2023, even as more teachers are set to retire.

Meanwhile, a senior officer in SUBEB, Raimi Ayodeji, admitting the challenge, said the state government was making efforts to ensure fresh recruitment of new teachers and replacement of the seconded teachers.

According to him, the recruitment process for primary school teachers began early this year but was put on hold due to some hitches.

(NAN)