It is no longer news that Nigeria has a shortage of public school teachers and inadequate training to equip those manning the classrooms in 21st century skills. The two key challenges are mostly impacting the quality of education at the basic education level. Many public schools are understaffed with poorly trained teachers, resulting in poor pupils learning outcomes and high student-teacher ratios.
A 2024 survey by Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) found that there was a shortage of 194,876 teachers in public primary schools across the country. This is, however, a reflection of the global challenge facing the education sector. According to a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) statistics, the world urgently needs 44 million teachers by 2030 to make the Sustainable Development Goals a reality. The teacher shortage is impacting sub-Saharan Africa the most, where an estimated 15 million new teachers are needed by 2030.
The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) had revealed that 16 states failed to conduct recruitment between 2018 and 2022. The NUT, however, lauded the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos and Katsina states for recruiting teachers during the period under review.
The Registrar of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, flayed “the shortage of qualified teachers”, stressing that it was more pronounced in rural areas, further worsening educational inequality. He said: “The surge in the population of school children, and the increase in the number of schools in both government and private present a complex challenge for the education system. The availability and quality of qualified teachers are crucial in ensuring students receive quality education. However, the shortage of qualified teachers is a concerning issue in Nigeria for several reasons.”
The teacher-student ratios in Nigerian primary and post-primary schools are disproportionate. UBEC stated that 47 million pupils are enrolled in 171,027 private and public primary and junior secondary schools, comprising 79,775 students in public schools and 91,252 in private schools. It added that 354,651 are teaching in early childhood facilities, while 915,593 are employed in primary schools, and 416,291 in junior secondary schools.
The situation, experts said, is negatively impacting on learning in basic schools as several pupils consistently skip important subjects owing to lack of teachers in some subjects. It is also impeding proper intellectual growth of pupils and slows their performance, experts further said.
The National President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Mr. Titus Amba, expressed concern about the shortage of teachers, adding that many governors ignored the advice of the union, which pleaded that retired teachers should be replaced with new ones.
“Recruitment of teachers lies in the hands of the state governments. A significant number of teachers have left the service, and till now, there is no plan to replace them,” Amba said.
To achieve the necessary teacher-pupil ratio, the nation is short about 200,000 instructors, according to TRCN. “This scarcity exacerbates already-existing educational gaps by disproportionately affecting rural and underprivileged communities. Learning results are severely impacted by the teacher shortage.
However, in the first quarter of this year, some states are correcting the noticeable shortages in recruitment and capacity-building for educators. Some of the recruitment exercise extended from late last year to this year. Though the figures of teachers being recruited are abysmal, it is an indication for other states to embark on urgent recruitments drive to enhance quality of education and pupils’ learning outcomes.
Aside the Federal Government, below are some of the states that recruited teachers and those in the process of recruiting.
Fed Govt to recruit 74,000 teachers
The Federal Government late last year said it was considering the employment of 2,000 teachers per state yearly to address shortage of teachers in the country. The total figure from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will be 74,000.
According to the Ministry of Education, the government was considering December 2024 as deadline for the implementation of the policy.
This was disclosed in a roadmap of the ministry in Abuja. The roadmap state: “States to recruit minimum of 2,000 qualified teachers and certified by the TRCN annually; the Minister of State for Education to meet with the state governors and get their buy in.”
The ministry set December 2024 as the deadline for implementation of the first phase. The other phases are expected to continue this year.
