TheCable

The Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (KADSUBEB) says it will dismiss 233 teachers with fake certificates.

Tijjani Abdullahi, chairman of the board, who disclosed this at a news briefing on Thursday, said the culprits will be prosecuted for forgery.

Abdullahi explained that the state had, on April 2021, embarked on a verification exercise to ascertain if all teachers recruited have the requisite qualifications for employment.

“So far, the board has verified 451 certificates by contacting the institutions that awarded the certificates,” he said.

“Nine of the 13 institutions contacted have responded, as at today.

“The responses from the institutions show that 233 teachers presented fake certificates.

“This represents 51% of the 451 certificates on which responses have been received from the awarding institutions.

“One institution disowned 212 of these 233 fake certificates. The board will dismiss the 233 teachers who presented these fake certificates, while their files will be forwarded to the Ministry of Justice to initiate prosecution for forgery.”

Abdullahi said teachers in the state will undergo another competency test.

Nasir el-Rufai, governor of the state, had sacked 21,780 teachers in October 2017, after they reportedly failed a competency test. He subsequently employed new teachers to replace the sacked ones.

The move was trailed by controversies, with the teachers’ union going on strike, and filing a case in court challenging the action.

Abdullahi said KADSUBEB will continue to check the integrity of certificates presented by teachers to ensure that the teaching profession is not devalued by impostors.

“When the Kaduna state government recruited 25,000 new teachers after the 2017 competency test, it made clear that it will continue to assess its teachers both for their own improvement and for better delivery of learning outcomes for pupils,” he said.

“The board will follow up the competency test with series of training programmes, organised in batches for teachers.

“This will begin in January 2022 for 12,254 teachers. The board has signed MoUs with the National Teachers Institute (NTI), the College of Education, Gidan Waya, and the Federal College of Education, Zaria, to conduct the training exercise.”