Private primary and secondary schools in Oyo State, South-West Nigeria, have been hit with shortage of teachers,.
A source hinted that the development is visible in major cities and towns such as Ogbomoso, Oyo, Saki, Iseyin, Eruwa and other locations in the state.
Findings by Journalists revealed that this was noticed at the beginning of the second term of the 2024/2025 academic session on Monday, 6th January, 2025.
It was observed that hundreds of teachers in both private primary and secondary schools across the state failed to resume when the new term began.
This is said to be due to the employment of some teachers by the Oyo State government and the implementation of the new minimum wage.
It could be recalled that the state government under the leadership of Engineer Seyi Makinde recently employed no fewer than 5,600 teachers across the state, in order to fill the vacant positions in public schools across the state.
Investigation by Journalists at the weekend revealed that the state government had on Monday, 6th January 2025 began the distribution of letters of appointment to the newly recruited basic school teachers in the state.
The distribution took place at Local Government Universal Basic Education Authorities, LGUBEAs, situated in all local government areas across the state.
Chairman, Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board, Dr. Nureni Aderemi Adeniran, who spoke on the development recently, charged the new teachers to be innovative and embrace modern techniques and approach in imparting knowledge.
Adeniran, who restated the Board’s zero tolerance for examination malpractices, said the new teachers’ appointments take effect from January 1st, 2025.
He, however, noted that about 12 local governments are over-bloated with teachers, while some local governments are under-staffed, saying a redistribution would be done to ensure equity and justice.
Adeniran urged the newly recruited teachers to display patriotic commitment, high level of integrity, and professional diligence to their duties.
As young teachers, you are expected to be creative, adaptive, talented, and progressive. We urge you to be innovative, I therefore urge you to be the teacher for this age and the game-changing teacher for the future.
“You will be expected to be part of our dream to revolutionalize the basic education sub-sector,” he said.
Our correspondent learnt that the majority of those who were employed by the state government are teachers who were teaching in private primary and secondary schools in the state.
DAILY POST also gathered that the state government in November approved N80,000 as minimum wage for workers in the state.
Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Dotun Oyelade, made this declaration in a statement made available to journalists.
Oyelade said that the Technical Committee set up by the state government recommended the amount.
He said: “This new scale will be implemented as soon as the consequential adjustments process is completed by the committee which comprises Government and Labour top officials.”
Following these developments, private schools are now faced with an acute shortage of teachers.
From Ido, to Akinyele, Lagelu to Egbeda, Ona Ara to Oluyole, Ibadan North to Ibadan North West, Ibadan North East to Ibadan South West and Ibadan North, our correspondent reports that the situation remains the same.
- A similar thing is currently happening in other cities and towns in the state such as Ogbomoso, Oyo, Saki, Iseyin and Eruwa.
