Connect with us

Politics

Soludo justifies dismissal of 1,000 teachers, as protests rock administration

Published

on

Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State, on Thursday, justified the dismissal of no fewer than 1,000 teachers in the state from their appointments with the state government.

According to him, this was because they were employed in a hazy manner.

Soludo, who made the clarification in a statement signed by Chris Aburime, his Press Secretary, on Thursday, said that no qualified teacher was sacked by the government.

The governor stated that the affected persons thereby remained unqualified for the job.

According to the governor, the termination of the appointments was in line with his administration’s effort at repositioning the education sector according to standard practice.

The statement said: “the attention of the Governor has been drawn to publications on protest by Parents/Teachers Association (PTA) teachers, purportedly converted to permanent staff in Anambra schools.

“The protesters, who barricaded the entrance of the state House of Assembly, displayed placards with various inscriptions, claiming to have been engaged by the state government before the termination of their jobs.

“For the avoidance of doubt, no qualified teacher in the state’s school system has been relieved of his/her appointment.

Read also: Soludo declares curfew in 7 Anambra LGAs over IPOB atrocities

“The affected PTA teachers who were “converted” to the school system in the last days of the last administration in irregular, hazy circumstances.

“They were only asked to regularise their employment with the government by taking part in the online teachers’ recruitment test.

“The idea is to ensure that only those with requisite qualifications, proven capacity, and commensurate experiences are recruited into the system.

“At all times, Prof. Soludo means well for the good people of Anambra State and will stop at nothing in giving them the best, education inclusive.”

Some of the affected teachers said they were duly employed and issued appointment letters by the last administration in November 2021 but were sacked in April 2022.

According to them, they had served the Anambra education school system for between two and seven years as Parents/Teachers’ Association (PTA) teachers.

They also argued that if they could be engaged in that capacity, they should also be worthy of regularised employment.

The sacked teachers said it was unfair to lay them off unceremoniously after working for about seven months without pay and called on the governor to kindly reinstate them.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now