How a PhD student struggled to write his name properly – NTI DG

Professor Garba Maitafsir, the Director General of the National Teachers Institute (NTI), has raised serious concerns about the quality of teachers in Nigeria, highlighting the impact on the nation’s education system.

During a workshop focused on teacher issues in conflict and crisis settings, he revealed a shocking experience as a university lecturer when he encountered a PhD student who struggled to write his own name properly.

Maitafsir emphasized that the falling standard of education in Nigeria is not primarily due to systemic failures but rather the lack of teacher quality. He insisted that rigorous assessment and monitoring of teachers’ competence are critical to improving the country’s education system.

Supporting this view, Adamu Makadi, Chairman of the Teachers Service Board (TSB) in Kaduna State, noted that teachers in Kaduna earn about 27% more than their counterparts in other sectors of the state government civil service. He explained that, prior to recent education reforms, the underlying issue was not with the educational framework but with the teachers themselves. The reforms were therefore aimed at improving teacher recruitment, deployment, and retention.

“There is nothing wrong with our system of education, the problem is the quality of teachers, so Kaduna State Government took the bull by the horns by initiating a reform in the educational sector, particularly in the areas of recruitment, deployment and retention of teachers.”

“The recruitment exercise has been digitalised and adverts are open to all able and qualified candidates to apply, which has been working for us perfectly. The reform has enabled us to recruit and deploy based on their qualifications and competencies to see where they can best fit in. We also deploy teachers based on proximity to their places of residence.”

“The State Government under Senator Uba Sani has done a lot towards ensuring that competent and qualified teachers are retained in Kaduna State through provision of incentives including special allowances over other civil servants. For instance, if you are a teacher on a particular salary grade level and step, compared to your colleague who is not a teacher but in the same grade level and step, you will discover that teachers earn about 27% higher than other civil servants,” he said.

Professor Oladele Akogun, a University Don and Regional Research Director, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Nigeria & South Sudan, said Teachers should be treated better than Medical Doctors to get the education system right.

He said, that apart from the challenge with the educators (teachers), Nigeria also needs to check its education policies, as the country cannot achieve its desired education standards if policies and practices are at variance.