Edo State Chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) will not write any competency test conducted by the state government, the union has said.The position was restated on Thursday while Chairman of the chapter, Mr. Mike Uhunmwangho talked with newsmen in Benin.
Uhunmwangho explained his union’s stand as being in accordance with a court order restraining the Edo state government from conducting any such tests. He told news men that the case is still in court and that the next court sitting on the case would come up on 12th April in Akure the capital of Ondo State.
Uhunmwangho clarified that the recently-conducted assessment test in the state was attended by government officials only and not teachers.
“Those of them who went for the test are commissioners, including other government officials”, he said. “We are not going to write any test, even if given a second chance”.
Governor of the state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, had declared the test compulsory when he received reports of the Teachers Assessment Committee on 2nd April.
Oshiomole had issued a two-week ultimatum to the teachers, threatening that any public school teacher, who refuses to take the test would cease being on the government’s payroll.
But Uhunmwangho said his union was waiting for the government to sack those who did not take the test.
“It will be a world headline that Edo State Government sacked about 17,000 teachers in the state pubic primary and secondary schools because of their refusal to write an assessment test; he has sacked 925 teachers already”, the union leader said.
He questioned the reason why the governor must treat his union differently than others on the government employ.
“Why are Nigerians not asking that the same measure be used for other workers on the state’s payroll? Why is it that it is only teachers that are affected, because it was all the workers in Edo state that participated in the state organised biometrics?” he questioned.
“If he believes that he cannot follow the law that brought him into power, we leave the issue to the people who know the law better”.
He urged the government to take care of the infrastructural needs of the schools such as chairs, tables and laboratories that are lacking in most of the renovated schools in the state first, saying those are the pressing needs at the moment.
