Nigeria is currently putting a lot of money into providing infrastructure across the nation’s educational institution, but Education Tribune’s investigations reveal that unless the growing dearth of teachers is urgently addressed, the money may not give much in terms of good dividends. Our report.

The nation is presently battling to overcome her educational challenges and many have hailed the huge financial commitment in the 2013 budget to the education sector.However, a cusory look at the nation’s secondary schools run by the government will reveal the dearth of trained teachers across the nation and irrespective of the political party in control at the states. The recruitment and salaries of teachers in secondary schools are entirely the business of the state governments. Most schools lack teachers in the two core subjects of English Language and Mathematics. The dream of the nation to also produce more doctors, engineers and scientists may however remain a mirage if urgent steps are not taken to address the failing number of especially physics teachers.

A senior tutor in a secondary school in Ayetoro, Ogun State, revealed that there are three mathematics teachers in his school with the school principal being the fourth in addition to his administrative assignments. There are however just two English Language teachers while corp members make up the bulk of teaching staff as common in most schools now.

At Estate High School, Ibadan, Oyo State,they have two teachers each in Mathematics and English Language. There are six Corp Members teaching at Urban Day Secondary School while they have three Mathematics and three English Language teachers with the youth corp members filling in the gap. At Molete High school, the junior arm has only two English language teachers and another two to teach Mathematics to her teeming number of students.Also, most schools in Osun State are also said to lack Mathematics and English language teachers. At Ansar ul deen Islamic High School, Erin Osun, there are only five teachers who do their bit while none of them trained as either English or Mathematics teachers. Ilare Community High School with six teachers paid by the community lack both English and Mathematics teachers but the parents make do with special arrangments. Methodist Grammar School, Aagba has eight teachers while Akinrere High School, Ikire has one Mathematics teacher among its crop of eight teachers.

In just four government secondary schools in different parts of Ekiti State, investigations revealed that there are no fewer than 123 corps members teaching in the schools as their places of primary assignment. At Ayo Daramola Memorial Grammar School, Ijan-Ekiti in Gboyin Local Government Area of the state, there are 25 corps members serving as teachers in the school. According to sources, they teach Mathematics, Physics, Biology English, Basic Science, Commerce, Insurance and Chemistry.

Education Tribune’s source in the school hinted that 19 of the Batch ‘A’ corps members would be completing their service year in June, but the corps members who left the orientation camp on Tuesday, March 26, 2013 would be joining their colleagues to even add to the number.

Sources at Omoeleye Comprehensive High School, Igbara-Odo in Ekiti South-West Local Government Area of the state, informed that the corps members are currently 10 in all, and that they are teaching subjects such as Economics, Accounting, Geography and Mathematics. In Ado Ekiti Local Government Area, corps members serving at Muslim College, Ado Ekiti, are said to be 20 in number and they are said to be teaching various subjects including Mathematics, Social Studies, Integrated Science, English Language, Christian Religious Knowledge, Economics, Commerce, Chemistry and Physics.

In Ado Ekiti, All Souls Anglican Junior Grammar has the highest number of corps members among the schools in the random survey. According to a source in the school, there are 48 corps members teaching in the school. The source added that 15 of the corps members are left at the moment following the passing out of 33 of them. “We are expecting that the number would be replaced with the completion of orientation of the Batch ‘C’ corps members last Tuesday,” the source explained.

On what subjects they teach in the school, the source explained that “they teach virtually all the subjects.” According to our source, “we have a new subject, Entrepreneurship, and it is taught by a corps member. They also teach Economics, Commerce, Accounting, Civic Education, Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Literature in English”. There are also about 20 corps members at Saliu Adeoti Memorial High School in Otun, headquarters of Moba Local Government Area of Ekiti State.

The corps members, according to sources in the school, are also engaged in the teaching of various subjects just like their colleagues in the other schools.They are said to teach Biology, Physics Chemistry, Social Studies, and Integrated Science while those in the Arts teach Christian Religious Knowledge and Literature in English.

It was even gathered that some of the teachers are showing signs of relief because the presence of the corps members, who aid them in taking some of the classes ease their workload and relieve them of the burden of “biting more than they can chew” in terms of the number of classes and sundry work.

The situation is no different in the Sunshine State as Education Tribune’s investigations revealed that at CAC Comprehensive High School, Ijare in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State, there are just seven English language teachers, Mathematics, seven, Chemistry one, Physics one while ten Corp members teach in the school. Meanwhile, at AUD Grammar School, Ondo, there are four Mathematics teachers, four English Language teachers manning the whole school, physics is taught by just two while they have a complement of three Corp members who teach. There are more English Language teachers in Methodist High School, Okitipupa than most other schools visited. The school boasts of six English Language teachers, six Mathematics teachers, one Physics teacher but there cannot be a graduate of the school who will be a medical doctor or engineer as they have no one to teach them physics and chemstry, two of the key science subjects. They, however, have 15 corp members who teach in the school.

Following the recent recruitment of teachers by the Jigawa State Ministry of Education, reports indicate that teachers’ quality and quantity had been improved in the government senior secondry schools in the state but it is not yet uhuru in the state government by the apostle of the friend of the Talakawas, late Malam Aminu Kano, Alhaji Sule Lamido.

Investigations conducted by Education Tribune in the state revealed that at the inception of the present administration in 2007, the state recruited over 1,000 teachers and posted them to 99 senior secondary  schools across the state.

The state’s Education ministry spoke person, Malam Ismaila Ibrahim said “the state is bent on achieving the UNESCO target of 26 per cent annual state’s budget being allocated to education. This is why, he said, yearly, 200 teachers are being recruited with 70 per cent being English, Mathematics, and Science subjects teachers.

Findings by Education Tribune revealed that Government Secondary School, Gadadin has four Mathematics teachers, five English teachers while there are seven teachers in the sciences and 11 corps members. Government Commercial Secondary School, Takur has  seven Mathematics teachers, five English Language and three Biology teachers. Biology is the only science subject offered in the school which has 2,500 students meaning the future of these number of Nigerians are already determined as far as the science courses are concerned. Even the 24 corps members teaching in the school do not teach science subjects. Government Senior Secondary School, Shuwari has  three Mathematics teachers, three English Language teachers while three staff teach the sciences. The school has nine corps members.

Government Capital Secondary School, Dutse, investigations revealed has four Mathematics teachers, three English Language teachers while in the sciences, they have a teacher each for Biology and Agriculture and 12 corps members.

Although the Kwara State government is trying to close up the educational gap between the state and others, it may still need to do a lot more.

In Government Day Secondary School, Tanke, Ilorin, the situation is better off as it has staff teachers taking English and Mathematics, but 10 corps members teach subjects like Literature, Government, Civic Education while the school has only one Fine Art teacher.

The situation is quite pathetic at Queen Elizabeth School, Up Taiwo Road, Ilorin as corps members take both Art and Science classes, particularly, the junior classes. The school has staff teachers taking students in English Language and Mathematics and about 12 corps members. In Government Day Secondary School, Shaaba, Gaa Akanbi, Ilorin, the school has about 15 teachers for all subjects.

In Patigi Local Government, Lade Government Day Secondary School, Lade a rural community of the state, about 15 corps members complement  teaching staff in the school. The school has only three teachers taking English, Mathematics and Science subjects.

The situation in Lade Government Day Secondary School is replicated in most parts of rural areas of tthe state as schools there lack adequate number of teachers to take core subjects like English, Mathematics and Science subjects. In Obo-Ile Comprehensive High School, Obo-Ile, near Offa, there are six corps members complementing the few teaching staff.

The scarcity of teachers in key subjects have been blamed on a sundry of issues. An experience teacher laid the blame at the doorsteps by tertiary institutions who, he claims are not producing sufficient number of teaching personnel commesureate withthe ever growing education sector. The students are increasing daily with greater consequent greater demands on not just infrastructure but also personnel.

Unfortunately, because of the unattractive conditions of service, qualified potential teachers would rather go intot he industries, or in some cases, travel abroad where the grass is lush. The universities are themselves complaining of not just lack of qualified candidates to study in the education faculties littering the nation’s educational landscape but also to teach at the university levels. If the universities are not being fed by the secondary with competent potential teachers, one wonders who will graduate and return to our secondary schools to teach.

Its has become a case of a vicious cycle. Who will break this stranglehold?