Abia State governor Alex Otti has said he and stakeholders in the education sector will work out modalities on how to recruit 5,000 new teachers for both the primary and secondary schools in the next one month.
Otti stated this after his inauguration at Umuahia Township Stadium in the state capital, saying the move is aimed at addressing perennial crisis of paucity and poor quality of teaching personnel in the sector.
“Priority shall be given to young graduates with requisite qualifications in education, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subject areas and to those who are also willing to serve in rural communities,” he said.
He noted that the state’s educational system used to be the cutting edge of its growth and development but now is in shambles indicating that the sector had for decades not received the kind of quality attention it deserves.
“We will rebuild our education system by making it produce better quality students that will be relevant to the needs of modern society,” maintained the fifth civilian governor of the state.
“I promise that in the emerging dispensation, every child of Abia State must have equal opportunity to good education. Merit will be the watchword in recruitment and award of jobs,” he added.
Otti said the administration is committed to see that children in the state are given the opportunity to tap into the great systems of advantage and opportunities that come from education, no matter where they live.
“We shall see to it that our teachers undergo regular refresher courses to update their knowledge and teaching skills so that they will stay relevant in their chosen fields,” he said.
The governor further explained that under the Labour Party administration, teachers would never again be shabbily treated as had been the custom in the past.
Assuring that infrastructure paucity in the sector will be addressed stridently, he added that the children wherever they reside will henceforth learn under very conducive and empowering environments.
“We will also support meritocracy in our educational system and ensure that special incentives are given to institutions across the state that promote excellence and have a history of producing high calibre students,” he said.