Basic students learning behind on 194,000 teacher shortage

…Over 16 states haven’t recruited teachers in five years

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC)’s 2022/2023 National Personnel Audit Report says that teacher shortage in public primary schools across the country stands at 194,876.

According to UBEC report, out of the 694,078 teachers needed at the primary school level across the country, only 499,202 are available.

More disturbing is that over 16 state governments did not conduct teacher recruitment in basic schools for five years, according to findings.

The situation is stifling learning in basic schools as several pupils consistently skip important subjects owing to lack of teachers in some subjects, experts say.

It is also impeding proper intellectual growth of pupils and slows their performance, experts further said.

Nigeria has a total of 79,775 public schools while private schools currently stand at 91,252.

Read also: Overworked, poorly-equipped teachers drown in overcrowded classrooms

According to the UBEC report, Nigeria had 1,686,533 teachers at basic education sub-cadre in 2022. The Early Childhood Care Development Education (ECCDE) had 354,651 of the number, while 915,596 teachers were in primary schools (public and private schools). Also, junior secondary school had 416,291 teachers in 2022.

In the same year, recruitment of teachers in early childhood unit rose by 124 percent (from 43,368 in 2018 to 96,956), while public primary and secondary schools’ decreased by 21.0 percent in 2023.

The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has decried the shortage of teachers which it says is eroding the basic school cadre, stating that it is more noticeable in rural areas.

Also, Temitope Obisesan, a senior secondary school teacher, said one of the reasons for the shortage of teachers is that many teachers who have retired are not being replaced on time.

“Over the years, many teachers have retired and are still retiring, but there will never be replacements. So, the number of teachers in schools has kept reducing and the available teachers are made to take over those subjects sometimes.

“Imagine where arts students do not take literature because there was no teacher,” she said.

Obisesan reiterated that this has implications on the quality teaching and learning outputs.

“This affects the learning output of the students because they will not be well-equipped. When students see one teacher too many times in the class, they lose their interest in the subject,” she said.

Boye Ogundele, an educationist, said teacher shortage is not only in the primary and secondary schools but also at federal universities.

“There has been no recruitment of teachers in the last five years. The problem is that the government doesn’t have much interest in education which is showing on the budget allocation,” he said.

Oyebola Ajiteru, a teacher, described the development as a disservice to the students and the nation at large, noting that teacher shortage erodes the quality learning outcomes.

“The effect of teacher shortage in basic schools is a major issue, as the students or pupils suffer the negative effects.

“Teacher scarcity leaves children with insufficient learning experience, which sometimes fuels loss of morals among the youngsters. Most times the students are left on their own when they are supposed to be learning,” she said.

Amid the shortage of teachers, about 50 percent of the states in Nigeria did not recruit teachers in the past five years.

According to a NUT report, states such as Abia, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Kogi, Ogun, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba and Zamfara, among others, have failed to conduct recruitment for teachers from 2018 and 2022.

In the face of teacher shortage, stakeholders have expressed worry over the quality of teachers employed, especially in public schools.

Kingsley Moghalu, president of the Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation, said teacher certification and qualification standard cannot be too stressed in Nigeria’s education transformation.

“Setting requirements for teacher education and professional development in ensuring quality teaching emphasises the need for qualified and well-trained teachers and outlines requirements for teacher certification and licensure,” he noted.

Human capital implications in Nigeria’s public basic schools are mirrored in the number of qualified teachers in each cadre.

In the ECCDE cadre, the number of untrained teachers is 15,782, which represents 24.7 percent of the total. Teachers with certificates are 41,546, representing 65.1 percent. First degree holders are 5,884 (9.2 percent), while postgraduate diploma holders are 579 (0.9 percent).

In the primary school cadre, untrained teachers are 138,984 (24.2 percent); certificate holders, 339,432 (59.1 percent); while first degree and postgraduate diploma holders are 86,412 (15.1 percent) and 9,256 (1.6 percent) respectively.

For the junior secondary school level, untrained teachers are 47,704 (19.7 percent); certificate holders, 83,745 (34.5 percent); first degree holders, 91,175 (37.6 percent); and postgraduate diploma in education holders, 20,114 (8.3 percent).

Moghalu explained that these challenges contribute to a myriad of other interconnected problems within the education system, leading to the disconnect between academia and industry.