The National Union of Teachers has disclosed that only 12 out of the country’s 36 states employed teachers in state-owned primary and secondary schools in 2023.
The figure was contained in a document prepared by the union and obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday.
Analysis of the data revealed that 23,092 teachers were employed during the period.
The data listed the states that recruited teachers in 2023 as Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ekiti, Kano, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger and Ogun.
The states with the highest number of recruited teachers during that period are Anambra with 5,000; Borno with 4,000; and Adamawa with 3,020.
Others are,Akwa-Ibom with 1,000; Delta, with 2,000; Ekiti with 2,000 recruits; Kano with 1,750 newly recruited teachers; and Lagos with 1,340 teachers among others.
The National President of the NUT, Titus Amba, had earlier expressed concerns about the shortage of teachers, adding that many governors ignored the advice of the union that retired teachers should be replaced with new ones.
Recently, the Universal Basic Education Commission lamented the shortage of teachers in public schools.
PUNCH reports that over 47 million pupils are currently enrolled in 171,027 private and public primary and junior secondary schools in the country. UBEC puts the total number of public schools at 79,775, while private schools currently stand at 91,252.
Regarding teachers, the commission stated that 354,651 teachers were currently teaching in early childhood facilities, while 915,593 were employed in primary schools, and 416,291 working in junior secondary schools.
Similarly, the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria recently raised concerns over what it described as the shortage of qualified teachers in the country. It said the shortage was more pronounced in rural areas, exacerbating educational inequality.
The Registrar of TRCN, Prof Josiah Ajiboye, disclosed this in an earlier interview with The PUNCH.
Ajiboye said, “The surge in the population of school children, and the increase in the number of schools in Nigeria, both government and private, present a complex challenge for the education system.
“The availability and quality of qualified teachers are crucial factors in ensuring students receive quality education. However, the shortage of qualified teachers is a concerning issue in Nigeria for several reasons.”
He explained that with a growing population of school children and insufficient recruitment of new teachers, the teacher-pupil ratio in many schools had become unfavourable.
