We need special training schools for teachers

When I read the report that 21, 780 teachers in Kaduna State failed Primary Four examination I became really worried about our education system. If the teachers could not pass the examination, then what have they been teaching their pupils? This development again brings to the fore the kind of training teachers in the country […]

When I read the report that 21, 780 teachers in Kaduna State failed Primary Four examination I became really worried about our education system. If the teachers could not pass the examination, then what have they been teaching their pupils? This development again brings to the fore the kind of training teachers in the country undergo. 

In the past, we had Training Colleges, which prepared teachers for the task, but today, the profession, sadly, has become an all comers affair. People who cannot find jobs in other sectors now go into teaching while hoping that their dream jobs would come their way. It takes a lot to be a teacher and that is why we need special schools to train them. Also, not everyone should be given the job of a teacher; only those who are trained for it. 

The future of Nigeria depends on that. We keep talking about the falling standard of education, one way to address that is to have qualified teachers in schools across the country. I am sure that it is not only in Kaduna that we have such teachers; all over the country, we have them. It is a problem that needs urgent attention. Teachers across the country should be made to undergo test and anyone who fails should be shown the way out and competent people should be taken to replace them. Education should not be toyed with.

Toyosi Ademola wrote from Ikeja, Lagos State