By Cynthia Eruotor
Against the background of Delta State government recruitment of primary teachers into its civil service, the Committee For the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Delta State branch has cautioned against favoritism and sentimentality in the recruitment of the teachers in the system as that would not give room for qualified hands to teach the learners in the school system.
The body made this known on Wednesday through its State Chairman, Comrade Jonathan Giama when he along with his team members visited Warri South and Uvwie Local Government Local Education Authority to find out the due process of the exercise.
According to him, the body officials had to visit the different Local Education Authority of the different councils to find out the rumour making the round that the forms are not available and being hoarded by Councilors to be given out for prospective applicants for money making. He said, they have however found out that ,there are no forms available but the applicants are asked to submit hand- written or typed letters along with their certificates attached to the Local Education Authority Office for onward transmission to Asaba, the state capital.
He said:” We have found out that the applicants are asked to apply with their handwritten or typed letter along with their credentials and submit same to Local Education Authority office for onward tranmision to Asaba”.
According to him, what the organization stands for is that recruitment should be free and based on merit to give room for qualified hands to teach in our primary school to enable the learners get the best from the school system. He said, it should not be the case of collecting money from unqualified hands and employing them leaving behind those that supposed to be employed as that is not good for the system.
He said:” We need qualified teachers in our school, people that are not qualified should not be employed because they have paid money, this is what we frown against”
According to CDHR State Chairman, Comrade Jonathan Giama who was accompanied by Comrade Frankson Imene, and Comrade Kelvin Ebor, the Public Relations Officer and Secretary of Uvwie Unit of CDHR respectively said they would continue to monitor this exercise to the later as they would know the total number of persons that applied, the ones that actually qualified that were employed in order to avoid the employment of people that never applied nor qualified into the system as usually the case in the past saying, the education system is being jeopardized by unqualified hands in the system.
According to him, their findings show that the application of prospective applicants for the recruitment exercise expires on the 25th to 30th of this month of August, 2023. The body therefore commended the Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori for deeming it wise to recruit teachers in his early part of his administration as that would help to reduce unemployment among the people in the state
His words:” We commend the state Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori for this recruitment in his early part of his administration, it would reduce to a large extent, the level of unemployment among our people in the state and we urge him to continue with his good deeds in this direction”.
Recall that recently, the Delta State Government advertised for primary school teachers ’ recruitment into its civil service to mitigate the shortage of teachers in the primary schools in the state in order to give room for quality education.