The Plateau chapter of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), has urged the state government to convert temporary teachers engaged by the association, to permanent staff.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the PTA-teachers were engaged by the association following the acute shortage of teaching staff in public primary and secondary schools.

Statistics from the Ministry of Education and the State Universal Basic Education Board indicate that the teachers, who are engaged on temporary basis and paid N10,000 per month, constitute 80 per cent of the teaching staff in Plateau.

Mr Sylvester Yakubu, the PTA chairman, told NAN on Thursday in Jos that the PTA-teachers had served the state and should be considered for permanent places in its service.

“The Plateau government is about to employ new teachers. We see that as a good move because the schools have been without sufficient teachers for long, but we want government to give special consideration to PTA-teachers already in the system.

“We are not opposed to engaging fresh hands, but we want government to reward those that have sacrificed for the state over time.

“Most of the PTA-teachers are graduates of education. Some hold NCE certificates while others have first and second degrees. We believe the system will be the better for it if they are given permanent employment,” he said.

He said that government had requested the association to submit names of 10 PTA-teachers from each of the 17 local governments, to be considered for employment.

“We have been asked to submit 10 names from each local government, but we are are pleading for at least 20 names from each local government; we want many PTA-teachers absorbed to encourage others to be diligent with the hope of being absorbed.

He said that the PTA was moved to engage the temporary teachers after observing that many schools had very few hands.

“The major complaint at PTA meetings was the dearth of teachers, with core subjects like English and Mathematics worst hit. That prompted us to engage the new hands on temporary basis, pending when government will employ permanent hands,” he said.

Yakubu cautioned the nation’s leaders against politicising education, saying that the sector was too important to be toyed with.

He said that the association had also engaged non-academic staff like cooks, cleaners and security personnel in secondary schools, and also provided laboratory equipment to encourage more students to study science courses.

“We have also distributed computers to many schools and shall donate more items in the next few weeks,” he said.

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PLSG urged to convert PTA teachers to permanent staff