Teachers in Anambra State have rejected the Federal Government’s exemption of candidates seeking admissions into Colleges of Education from writing the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) being organised annually by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in the state, Comrade Chika Chukwudozie, in a statement, said that the step by the federal government would be counterproductive as it would open doors for incompetent persons to join the teaching profession.
They warned that the standard of admission into Colleges of Education should not be cheapened in order to attract candidates into it.
“This policy is not reformatory, but rather dangerous and detrimental to the expected high standard in education”, Chukwudozie warned.
The teachers argued that there were proactive measures to be taken to make admission into Colleges of Education attractive and competitive, which the government has refused to address.
“These measures include attending to the welfare of teachers, including improvement on salaries and remunerations; keeping the school environment safe and conducive for learning.
“Others are creating a functional career path and growth for teachers; implementing the regulatory policies of the teaching profession and provision of adequate infrastructure in the schools.
“There is also the need to improve on education funding, create functional and accessible scholarship schemes for students in Colleges of Education, and enhance professional dignity of the teachers through provision of basic needs – housing, means of transportation, soft loans etc”, she said.
The Anambra NUT boss argued that when all these are put in place, candidates would naturally scramble to seek admission into these education colleges with the aim of becoming proud professional teachers.
She said that globally, education is acknowledged as the bedrock of all developments and the foundation from where all other professions take their bearing from.
“Most importantly, it is a sector responsible for producing the teachers who will shape the minds, values, competency, and morality of people who are scattered in all other professions. Why then is it to be made all comers affair.”
The NUT chairman called on the government to reconsider this policy and immediately engage relevant stakeholders to formulate education policies that would be inparting and impactful.
“The future of this country is too important to be sacrificed on the altar of administrative convenience and weak policy. Once a nation weakens the quality of those who educate her children, the nation is systematically endangering its future.
“It is on the above premise that NUT asserts that the policy of giving waivers to candidates seeking admission into Colleges of Education by JAMB is wrong and will be counterproductive to the Nation’s education system and development”, she said.
