Government Secondary schools Students protest over lack of Teachers in Port Harcourt

 * They also demand from Governor Wike about unfulfilled Promises to employ Teachers since August 29, 2019.

BY DANIEL EFE

 Secondary School Students of Olanada Secondary School, located  Opposite Elechi Amadi  Polytechnic, Rumuola road, Port Harcourt, trooped to Streets on Monday, February 15 to protest the insufficient teachers in their School. 

They demanded that Governor Nyesom Wike should fullfil the promises made to recruit more Teachers to fill the vacancies of those who retired from teaching.

Students of Olanada Secondary School, in peaceful protest causing brief traffic gridlock along Rumuola road. 

The students complained that no new Teacher has been employed into the School even for the past Six years even when  Teachers have been retiring without replacement.
The students with various placards written “No employment of Teachers for the past six years”, “All our Teachers have been Retired no replacement”, wondered how they would write their serious exams without core subject Teachers like; Mathematics, English, Biology and others.

Governor Wike

Some students who volunteered to speak on condition of anonymity said that many teachers have retired since, either because of age or service years.

“We are just coming to School without being thought many subjects. When we ask why, we were told that the state government have not employed to fill the vacancies of those who retired. We can’t continue like this”.

Our Correspondent who visited some other State Schools in the metropolis reports that  Teachers have been employed to teach both Primary and Secondary Schools in the State as announced by the Governor Wike on Thursday, August 29,2019 that he had approved the employment of 10,000 teachers to boost the quality of education in the state.

There are obvious scarcity of Teachers in almost all the schools visited. 

While announcing the recruitment of Teachers, Wike had declared that his administration was committed to creating access to basic education for rural and Oceanic communities of the state.

He announced this during a courtesy visit by a delegation from the World Bank Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) to him in Government House Port Harcourt.

Wike said, that the State government embarked on the reconstruction and furnishing of rural schools to encourage parents to send their children to school.

He also announced  that: “In the last four years, we have reconstructed and furnished 253 Basic Schools in the state. These schools are located mainly in the rural and oceanic areas. We reconstructed and furnished these schools to give our children access to quality education”.

Wike explained also that his administration abolished every form of fees in primary, junior and senior secondary schools to encourage parents to educate their children.

“I have abolished every form of payment in primary, junior and senior Secondary Schools because many parents are poor and they cannot afford these payments.

“We have taken the burden away from them so that poor parents can conveniently send their children to school,” he said.

He added that the State Government 10,000 Teachers were not  employed as promised. On August 29, 2019, again on Wednesday  October 28, 2020, Rivers State Executive Council presided over by Governor Wike, approved the employment of 5,000 youths into the State Civil Service, but was silent on earlier approval for the recruitment of 10,000 Teachers .

More four months  after the promise to employ 5,000 youths into the state Civil Service, and the announcement to recruit 10,000 Teachers in 2019, none had been fulfilled. The obvious  shortfall in manpower in all sectors in the state, especially,  the Teaching profession is perhaps the hardest hit  in government schools.

The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim, had explained then that the recruitment drive undertaken by the Wike administration will cushion the employment gap in the state.

Parents and Students spoken are pleading with the government to expedite action to employ Teachers to teaching the  future Leaders.

During the investigation, a former beneficiary of the federal government Npower programme lamented that in some schools in the rural areas wholly depend on either  Npower who come to some specific days in a week and National Youth Service Corps NYSC members.

“Some are in terrible conditions not fit for teaching and learning. Few Teachers in those schools are suffering. The government should rescue education at Primary and Secondary Schools owned”, She said.