The Nigeria Union of Teachers NUT, has directed its members in Kaduna state to boycott the competency test being organised by the state government.
The union gave the directive at the end of its congress held at the Teachers House, Kabala Constantine, Kaduna on Wednesday.
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The directive follows plans by the Kaduna state government to conduct competency tests for public primary school teachers in December.
According to the teachers, the motive behind the test is to downsize the workforce the same way it did three years ago.
The Kaduna state government had in January 2018 sacked 21,780 primary school teachers who failed a competency test conducted in 2017.
Speaking during the congress, which was attended by some national officers, the state chairman, Comrade Ibrahim Dalhatu, said the meeting was to brief teachers on steps taken so far by the NUT leadership.
He said: “The national leadership has set up a five-man committee to advice accordingly and after the submission of their report.
“We all agreed that our teachers will not write any competency test because the Kaduna state government has no legal ground to conduct such assessment as it is only the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) that has the legal backing to conduct such exercise.
The NUT national president, Comrade Nasir Idris, said the move is another deliberate attempt to intimidate teachers in the state. Therefore, the union will not be so foolish to submit herself to fall victim again.
Comrade Idris, who was represented by the deputy national vice president, Comrade Nwankwo Kelvin, further explained that it is absurd for the Kaduna state government to announce a competency test for teachers it claimed three years ago were competent; a crime not only against humanity but also against God.
“The NEC had unequivocally resolved that no teacher should be subjected to any form of competency test under any guise or colouration but advised that issues of quality education should be pursued vigorously by the state government and teachers at all levels and at all times”, he said.
Nwankwo advised state governments to embark on a mandatory continuous training programme in line with the practice in all professions.
The Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board had in July announced plans to conduct a competency test for primary school teachers to ensure quality teaching.
Permanent Member, Human Resource Management, Kaduna SUBEB, Dr Christy Alademerin, had disclosed that the competency test is to ensure that the state has “the best of the best”.
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“We are going to conduct the competency test to either weed out incompetent ones or whatever the outcome will look like, just to maintain the standards,” she said.
