It is lamentable that teacher shortage in the nation’s primary schools has now increased to 194,876. According to a new report by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), of the 694,078 teachers needed at the primary school level across the country, only 499,202 teachers are available. To fill the gap, Nigeria should recruit not less than 194,876 teachers without delay.
The report also stated that “there were 1,686,533 teachers at basic education sub-sector in 2022. Out of this, 354,651 were in Early Childhood Care Development Education (ECCDE), 915,596 in primary and 416,291 in junior secondary schools.” The report further indicated that the “ECCDE teachers increased by 123.5 per cent from 43,368 in 2018 to 96,956 in 2022, while the public primary and secondary schools decreased by 21.0 per cent in 2023.”
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has stated that over 60 per cent of schools in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states lack teachers with the minimum teaching qualifications. It also says that more than half of all displaced children in the North-East region are out-of-school. This report may as well pass as the reflection of the situation in other geo-political zones.
Although teacher shortage at the primary school level is a global problem, it appears that the issue is more acute in Africa. A new report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) stated that the world urgently needs 44 million teachers by 2030 in order to make the Sustainable Development Goals a reality. Not less than 9 per cent of primary school teachers left the profession in 2022. This is almost double the rate of 4.6 per cent in 2015.
UNESCO has also revealed that sub-Saharan Africa accounts for a third of the shortfall, but Europe and North America are lacking too. According to the United Nations (UN), the teacher shortage impacts sub-Saharan Africa the most, where an estimated 15 million new teachers are needed by 2030. Available figures show that financing additional teachers globally will cost $12.8 billion for universal primary education and $106.8 billion for universal secondary education. It has also been estimated that the annual additional financing needed to cover salaries at primary and secondary levels by 2030 is about $120 billion if Sustainable Development Goal 4 is to be reached.
The UN also warns that without additional measures, 84 million children will be out of school, 300 million students will lack basic numeracy and literacy skills and only one in six countries will achieve the target of universal secondary completion. The UN chief, Antonio Guterress has underscored the importance of quality education for learning society when he says, “now, more than ever, we need to move towards learning societies. People everywhere need high quality skills, knowledge and education. Above all, they need the best teachers possible.”
Without quality teachers at the basic education level, many countries in Africa, Nigeria inclusive, will not meet the UN Sustainable development Goal 4. With over 20 million out-of-school children, Nigeria cannot be said to be moving towards learning societies envisaged by the UN.
The 36 state governors should urgently address the teacher shortage at the primary and junior secondary school levels by embarking on massive recruitment of primary and secondary school teachers forthwith. They must treat the teacher shortage as a national emergency. The governors should stop paying lip service to education development, especially at the primary school level.
In most of the states, the state of many primary schools is nothing to write home about. Apart from being decrepit, some of them lack basic learning materials and teachers. In some, the pupils learn under the trees. The same goes for most junior and even senior secondary schools across the country. The governors have literally abandoned these secondary schools to the communities and the old students associations to maintain.
Despite the shortage of teachers at the basic education level in Nigeria, the UBEC disclosed that 29 states failed to access N68.73 billion matching grant to boost primary education in 2023. It is time to review the modalities for the disbursement of UBEC funds to the states. There is a lot politics in the disbursement of UBEC funds, which is detrimental to the development of basic education for which the agency was established. UBEC cannot be warehousing N68.73 billion meant to boost primary education when Nigeria is experiencing acute shortage of primary school teachers.
The teacher shortage is not good for the development of quality education at the primary school level in the country. Quality teachers are vital in the teaching/learning process. Unfortunately, teaching has seemingly lost prestige. It is one of the lowest paying jobs. People take to teaching only if they fail to get their dream jobs. University graduates are no longer interested in teaching. Beyond bridging the teacher gap in primary school level, teachers should be adequately remunerated. Their rewards must be on earth and not in heaven.