Governor to test secondary school teachers in Kaduna

Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has disclosed that secondary school teachers across the state will be subjected to a competency test like the one primary school teachers did last year.

The governor made this disclosure on the state's official Twitter account on Sunday, March 18, 2018, explaining that his administration will not relent in its bid to bring quality education to the state.

He said, "We are doing our best to restore the integrity of the teaching profession. We have finished tests for primary school teachers and we are going to administer competency tests for secondary school teachers."

The governor also revealed that urban teachers will be paid 27.5% higher than average civil servants while rural teachers will be paid 32.5% higher to attract the best to the sector.

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Kaduna's controversial competency test

El-Rufai has been involved in a bitter clash with the National Union of Teachers (NUT) in Kaduna after he controversially sacked 21,780 primary school teachers who failed a competency test organised by the state government

Of the 33,000 primary school teachers who sat for the examination conducted by the state's Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), only 11,220 passed the exercise.

After issuing a one-month notice to the failed teachers to prepare for disengagement from service, the Kaduna State Executive Council approved the immediate commencement of the process of recruiting 25,000 new primary school teachers.

In reaction to the dismissal, several protests sprung up across the state resulting in a violent attack on lawmakers and vandalisation of properties worth millions at the state's House of Assembly complex.