Governor Umar Namadi of Jigawa State has approved the employment of 1,100 senior secondary school teachers on permanent and pensionable terms, alongside the deployment of academic staff to tertiary institutions, in a move aimed at strengthening the state’s education sector.

The State Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Isah Yusuf, disclosed this in Dutse, stating that 200 lecturers would be posted to the state polytechnic, while 100 others would be deployed to Sule Lamido University.

Yusuf also announced the recruitment of 810 additional temporary teachers under the J-Teach scheme to address manpower gaps in schools across the state.

He said the development had effectively bridged the deficit of 930 teachers required across more than 300 senior secondary schools in the state.

According to the commissioner, the move will increase the state’s wage bill by over N1.2 billion, covering salaries of the newly confirmed teachers and allowances for incoming J-Teach personnel.

He explained that the 1,100 teachers were initially engaged as temporary staff under the J-Teach scheme over the past two years and are now being absorbed into permanent and pensionable positions. He added that issuance of appointment letters would commence shortly.

“In addition to the confirmation of the 1,100 teachers, His Excellency has approved the recruitment of about 810 new J-Teach staff to fill existing vacancies,” he said.

Yusuf further revealed that the governor approved the engagement of 210 academic staff with Master’s and PhD qualifications across tertiary institutions, as well as the recruitment of 2,177 teachers spanning basic to senior secondary school levels.

He noted that the administration had, in the last three years, recruited a total of 2,853 education personnel, with over 2,000 already on permanent and pensionable appointments.

The commissioner added that the confirmed teachers underwent rigorous screening, training and performance evaluation to ensure that only qualified and competent personnel were retained.

“We conducted thorough monitoring in schools, screened out absentee staff and those with conflicting engagements, and ensured that only capable hands are absorbed into the system,” he stated.

The commissioner noted that Jigawa currently has 314 senior secondary schools, with a needs assessment earlier identifying a shortfall of over 1,100 teachers now being addressed through the ongoing exercise.

To tackle the challenge of absenteeism in rural areas, he said a special committee involving education stakeholders, including School-Based Management Committees (SBMCs) and civil society organisations, was constituted to ensure that newly recruited teachers are drawn from their local communities.

“This approach will curb absenteeism often associated with teachers posted to rural areas,” he added.

Yusuf also disclosed that more than 300 teachers with higher academic qualifications had been redeployed to tertiary institutions, with Sule Lamido University alone benefiting from about 100 of such staff.

He said the initiative underscores the Namadi administration’s commitment to improving education quality across all levels in the state. (The Nation)