A total of 207 absentee teachers who were discovered by the Zamfara State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and stopped their salaries for three months over their truancy, have written to the government apologising for their respective offences.
Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Malam Wadatau Madawaki, told journalists in his office that the ministry had discovered the 207 truant teachers after verification committee was set up to ascertain genuine teachers in secondary schools for government to improve their welfare and condition of service.
Madawaki explained that it was based on that the state directed the state Ministry of Finance to suspend their salaries for three months pending investigation.
“At the end of the committee exercise, they discovered some of the teachers absconding their classes of teaching at different stages, while some are attending classroom for only few days in a week, others are found to be working in two places receiving salaries every month,” he said.
The Commissioner further explained that those teachers found guilty as a result of truancy, go round trending in social media accusing government of stopping their salaries unnecessarily.
He said it was later those teachers after realising their mistakes, mobilised themselves and decided to apologise for their offences to the education ministry and to Governor Dauda Lawal.
“The teachers on their own decided after realising their mistakes, gathered today at the Ministry of Education where they respectively apologised in writing, seeking favour of the state Governor Dauda Lawal and the Education ministry over their offences,” the Commissioner said.
Receiving the letters, Madawaki said he would forward the apology letters to the state Governor and appealed to him as demanded to end the situation.
While presenting their apology letters to the Commissioner, the suspended teachers who confessed of absconding to classroom said they accepted their guilty and promised never to allow it to happen again.
Speaking on behalf of other teachers, Nafisa Isah and Malam Abubakar, sought the forgiveness of the state government for what they had done.
“We believe that the present administration of Governor Dauda Lawal, Commissioner for Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Malam Wadatau Madawaki have the feelings of Zamfara people, and we are sorry for our wrong doing,” the teachers said.
