The Kaduna State Government has fired 233 teachers for allegedly presenting forged diplomas during their recruitment process.
During a news conference in Kaduna on Thursday, Tijjani Abdullahi, the Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board, revealed this.
The teachers were fired, he added, after enquiries from the universities they claimed to have attended revealed that they had given forged qualifications.
The board’s decision to investigate the teachers’ certifications began in April 2021, according to the SUBEB Chairman, as part of the board’s mission to guarantee that all teachers have the qualifications they claim.
According to him, the exercise’s main goal is to verify that all of our teachers have the required credentials, which are the minimum requirements for employment as teachers.
According to the Kaduna SUBEB Chairman, 451 certificates have been confirmed so far by contacting the institutions that issued them, with nine of the 13 universities contacted responding.
“The responses from the institutions show that 233 teachers presented fake certificates. This represents 51% of the 451 certificates on which responses have been received from the awarding institutions. One institution disowned 212 of these 233 fake certificates.
“The Board will dismiss the 233 teachers who presented these fake certificates, while their files will be forwarded to the Ministry of Justice to initiate prosecution for forgery. The Board will continue to check the integrity of the certificates presented by teachers to ensure that this critical profession is not devalued by impostors.
“As part of our duty of transparency, the names of the 233 teachers found to have presented fake certificates will be uploaded on the website of the Kaduna State Government today.”
The Board also announced that starting in January 2022, it will administer a new competency test for 12,254 instructors as part of its ongoing evaluation of teachers for both their own development and better learning delivery.
It will be remembered that the Kaduna State Government hired 25,000 new teachers in 2017 after dismissing over 22,000 unqualified teachers following a competency review.
