The Kaduna State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Ibrahim Dalhatu, has described the competency test conducted by the state government as well as the sack of 2,357 teachers as illegal.
The state government, through the State Universal Basic Education Board had announced the sack of 2,357 teachers, including the National President of NUT, Audu Amba, over the competency test.
However on Sunday, the NUT chairman disclosed to journalists that the competency test and the sacking of the teachers were illegal.
He said the teachers’ body in the state had earlier secured a court order restraining the board from conducting the test but it ignored the order.
According to him, the NUT in the state asked the teachers not to write the examination after learning that the intent was to sack them.
He said, “We have secured a court order restraining the board from conducting the competency test, it conducted the test without recourse to the rule of law.
“We asked the teachers not to sit for the examination after learning that the intent was to sack them.
“We warned that any teacher who participates in the illegal examination would not be protected by the union if victimised but some of the teachers went ahead to write the examination out of fear.
“We are not against the conduct of the competency test if due process is followed, but it should not be used as a basis for sacking teachers. The competency test should be used to determine teachers’ capacity gap and tailored specific training programmes to improve their capacities.”
