Teachers Queried In Akwa Ibom Over Negligence
As one of the measures to maintain standard and discipline in public schools across the state, teachers in Akwa Ibom State have been queried over irregularities in the discharge of their official duties.
Speaking to newsmen in Uyo on Thursday after routine inspection of schools, the state Commissioner for Education, Mrs Idongesit Etiebet, noted that school inspection was designed by the ministry to check attitude of teachers towards their assigned duties in public schools.
Etiebet, in company of the Permanent Secretary and Directors in the ministry, explained that education remains one of the key sectors in the ‘Completion Agenda’ of Governor Udom Emmanuel in the state.
She listed offences of the affected teachers to include poor handling of notes of lessons, improper lesson deliveries, lack of proper keeping of scheme of work and lack of attention to students’ notes.
Others were inability to keep movement register, and statutory records, dirty school environment, mode of dressing, as well as lack of compliance to COVID-19 safety protocols in public schools.
“All stakeholders in education sector must assist the government to achieve the objective of free and compulsory education of the state government.
“Teachers are the players to drive the process and we cannot sit down to watch how they handle sensitive education matters with levity.
“It was discovered that some teachers used outdated note books, while others boycott classes and left the school without permission,” she said.
Mrs Etiebet observed that there was no effective academic work in some schools and ordered teachers in such schools to be queried, adding that government would not hesitate to sanction teachers that take their jobs for granted.
The education commissioner restated the readiness of Governor Emmanuel to transform the education sector in the state and admonished that all hands should be on deck for the sector to achieve result.
She said teachers are supposed to be role models and disciplined, adding that their refusal to engage students in teaching is destroying their destinies which she said is indirectly destroying the future of Akwa Ibom state, “as the children are our future leaders.”
Mrs Etiebet urged the teachers to deliver lessons at the appropriate time and allow their consciences to guide them, adding: “This is not witch-hunt as some may think but rather it is insisting on the right thing to be done to justify the huge investment made by government in the sector.
