Kaduna State Government is to dismiss 233 teachers for presenting fake certificates.
The Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alhaji Tijjani Abdullahi announced at a news briefing in Kaduna.
Alhaji Abdullahi said their files would be forwarded to the State Ministry of Justice to initiate prosecution for forgery.
He said the Board would also continue to check the integrity of the certificates presented by teachers to ensure that the critical profession is not devalued by impostors.
He also disclosed that, as part of their duty to ensure transparency, the names of the teachers with the fake certificates would be uploaded on the website of the Kaduna State Government today.
The Chairman revealed that, the Board has launched a certificate verification exercise in April 2021 to ensure that all teachers have the requisite credentials that constitute the basic qualifications for employment as teachers.
Alhaji Tijjani Abdullahi noted that, so far, the Board has verified 451 certificates by contacting the institutions that awarded the certificates, stressing that, nine of the 13 institutions contacted responded,
He pointed out that, the responses from the institutions shows that, 233 teachers had presented fake certificates, representing 51% of the 451 certificates on which responses have been received from the awarding institutions.
According to him, one institution disowned 212 of the 233 fake certificates.
“The Board also wishes to inform the people of Kaduna State that it will shortly be conducting the competency test for teachers. When the Kaduna State Government recruited 25,000 new teachers after the 2017 competency test, it made clear that it will continue to assess its teachers both for their own improvement and for better delivery of learning outcomes for pupils”
He also stressed that, Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board will follow up the competency test with series of training programmes, organised in batches for teachers, adding that, i will begin in January 2022 for 12,254 teachers.
The Chairman of the Board further stated that, the Board has signed MoUs with the National Teachers Institute, the College of Education, Gidan Waya, and the Federal College of Education, Zaria, to conduct the training exercise.
AMINU DALHATU