ASABA/Nigeria: The Delta State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has voiced serious concerns over reports that a significant number of newly recruited primary school teachers, assigned to riverine communities, have absconded after completing initial resumption formalities.
Chief Samuel Mariere, Executive Chairman of SUBEB, made this disclosure in Koko, the headquarters of Warri North Local Government Council, during a strategic meeting with primary education stakeholders across the state. Mariere vowed to thoroughly investigate the matter following alarming reports from community leaders.
According to these leaders, teachers posted to schools in the riverine areas of Warri North vanished just days after their initial resumption. “The newly recruited teachers only resumed once and never returned, leaving the pupils without proper instruction. Some of them even hired secondary school students from the communities to teach the pupils, paying them small stipends while they left,” the leaders alleged.
Visibly angered by these revelations, Chief Mariere expressed profound disappointment and issued a stern warning to the teachers involved: return to your posts immediately or face resignation. He emphasized that if the teachers fail to comply, the state government will have no choice but to terminate their appointments and initiate a new recruitment process for committed educators.
Mariere highlighted that the employment letters for the newly recruited teachers clearly stipulated a mandatory service period of at least three years in their assigned schools before they could seek transfers. He demanded that the Education Secretary in Warri North and members of the School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) provide a list of the absentee teachers.
The SUBEB chairman disclosed that over three thousand teaching and non-teaching staff were recently recruited by the state government, with fifty assigned to Warri North. He praised Warri North Chairman Hon. Festus Ashima and High Chief Matthew Tiemu, a representative of the Egbema kingdom, for their dedication to education, as they had previously engaged private teachers for primary schools in their communities before the state’s recent recruitment drive.
Flanked by board members Chukwuemeka Uwadia, Onome Akpogherhe, and Josephine Ejheren, as well as Permanent Secretary Bryan Unini, Mariere assured the communities of the government’s commitment to repairing dilapidated school infrastructure and constructing additional classroom blocks to enhance the teaching and learning environment.
He appealed to headteachers, traditional rulers, and community leaders, including women and youth leaders, to support the government’s reform agenda for public primary education in Delta State. Mariere, a two-term member of the Delta State Assembly and former Commissioner for Water Resources Development, stressed the importance of restoring morals, discipline, quality education, and standards in public schools.
He urged various stakeholders to collaborate with headteachers in encouraging parents to enroll their children in public schools for the upcoming academic session starting in September.
Hon. Festus Ashima, Chairman of Warri North, assured the SUBEB management that the council would join forces with the board in implementing government reforms in public primary education. He revealed plans to establish an education committee to inspect the state of primary education within the local government area, reaffirming that education remains a top priority for the people of Warri North.
High Chief Matthew Tiemu commended the state government and SUBEB for their efforts to revitalize public primary education. He emphasized that for education to achieve its rightful place in society, parents, pupils, students, the government, and all stakeholders must be committed to their roles.
SUBEB’s engagements with stakeholders are set to continue as they work to address these pressing issues and improve the education system.
