El-Rufai has no right to set competency tests for Kaduna teachers: NUT

Alex Friday, 29 September 2023, 9:55 am

NUT said the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) remains the only regulatory body that can set competency tests for teachers.

The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) have asked the Kaduna government to reverse its decision on retrenchment of teachers, saying that the state has no right to regulate the performance of its members.

Vice-chairman of NUT Sokoto chapter, Babangida Sa’idu, made the call on behalf of NUT North-West states executive members at the end of their zonal workshop on career path policy and the 2020 presidential approvals on Saturday in Sokoto.

Mr Sa’idu said they were not happy with the development, stressing that regulating teachers’ performance was the absolute mandate of regulatory agencies established by the federal government.

He said that the agency in charge of such a function is the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), which is the only regulatory body that can set competency tests for teachers.

He explained that Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s attitude was capable of destroying the education sector because qualified teachers were allegedly being witch-hunted and retrenched without recourse to law.

According to him, the tests must reflect three domains to be reliable and valid. “How valid or reliable is the Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) test?” he asked.

Mr Sa’idu added that the NUT officials were deliberating on ways to handle the situation, noting that democracy allowed persons to express their views on actions, especially concerning executives and the people’s interests.

(NAN)