Kwara State State government has announced plans to float a housing scheme for teachers of basic and secondary education in the state.
The state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, announced this during a parley with school principals in Ilorin, the state capital.
This is just as the school principals hailed AbdulRazaq for turning around learning environment and improving welfare of teachers, describing the feat as unmatched in the recent history of the state.
The school heads also commended the introduction of KwaraLEARN which they say is truly impactful, adding that the administration’s interventions have also been spread across every part of the state.
Addressing the school heads, AbdulRazaq acknowledged all the issues raised by them and said the administration remains committed to total turnaround of the education sector so that Kwara can reclaim its place in the north and Nigeria as a whole.
“I have listened carefully to all the issues of promotions, leave bonuses, uniforms in schools, non-academic staff employment, textbooks, harmonisation between TESCOM and SUBEB salary, in-service trainings, seminars, security in schools, unity schools and exchange students within the state, equipping laboratories in our schools, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in schools, backlog of salaries, girl-child education, encroachment of school properties and building of shops in front schools. These were part of the issues raised today and we will dissect them and take them one after the other, the governor added.
Principals of Ilorin Grammar School, Hajia Muslimat Abdullahi, Community Junior Secondary School Ipetu-Igbomina in Irepodun local government, Mr. Babatunde Adegboyega, Queen Elizabeth Senior Secondary School Ilorin, Sidikat Lawal,Junior Secondary School Awonga, Shao in Moro local government, Mrs C.S Jimoh and Senior Secondary School Kanko, Shonga, in Edu local government, Umar Abubakar spoke on behalf of over 300 principals and stakeholders that attended the meeting.
All the speakers acknowledged the governor’s efforts in building and renovating schools and attending to teachers’ welfare, saying that the trajectory of basic education has changed for good since the governor came on board.
Chairman of the State Basic Education Board(SUBEB) , Prof Shehu Adaramaja blamed the longstanding disparity in pay between SUBEB and TESCOM teachers on four factors, out of which two have now been resolved.
