The Lagos State Government on Wednesday announced plans to begin an assessment of teachers in all the state government-owned primary and secondary schools.
The competency test is to assess the skills, competence and capabilities of the teachers in the state, according to the state Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, who was speaking during a sensitisation programme to prepare the teachers for the exercise.
Though Oladunjoye maintained that the test is not to witch-hunt or sack any teacher, he said it would be conducted within the state Teachers’ Competency Framework with the objective to ensure teachers are truly competent for the job. However, many teachers are currently showing some apprehension that the commissioner may just have been making a political statement.
She stressed that competency test will be a major component of the Teachers` Competency Framework, which is designed to enhance professionalism of teachers, adding that the state government is particular about the academic improvement of students in the state.
“The state is carrying out a competency assessment of our teachers to ascertain their skills and competencies and to see if such matches their job responsibilities”, she said.
“You see, the skills required to teach in a primary school are not the same skills required to teach in a secondary school, so we want our teachers to have the right skills, especially ICT skills. We want to ensure that the right people have the right responsibilities”.
In his speech, Governor of the state, Mr. Babatunde Fashola noted that students would not do well without competent teachers, saying this is why government has remained committed to the training of teachers in the state.
The governor explained that the competency test is coming at the right time, since government has committed enormous resources to improving learning and teaching infrastructure, and is presently devoting more attention to building the capacities of teachers.
“We are doing a lot to fix the schools, the classrooms, the staff rooms and make the learning environment more conducive; work has not finished but things are improving. But beautiful schools and classrooms do not teach, it is the teachers with the right professionalism and competence that teach”, Fashola said.
“In recognition of this fact, we have committed a lot to the training and retraining of teachers and we are doing more. In fact, if anybody wants to help us now, we will tell them to help in training our teachers”.
While charging the teachers to make professionalism their watchword, he assured that government would continue encouraging teachers who show exemplary qualities.
A similar competency test is the source of acrimony between the Edo State government and its teachers.
The crisis in the state deepened last week when the teachers filed a suit in court seeking to stop the state government from proceeding with the exercise. But in an alleged defiance, Governor Adams Oshiomhole ordered the conduct of the test even though many of the teachers stayed away.
