The Niger State government is to employ 6,000 National Certificate in Education (NCE)and Diploma certificate holders into its schools as a way of improving the standard of teaching and learning in the schools.
As a result, the government has established a Voluntary Teachers Scheme through which the graduates will be engaged and sent on a six months training on modern methods of teaching after which they will be posted to schools.
The State Head of Service, Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmed Matane who disclosed this to newsmen in Minna at the weekend lamented that the state was in deficit of teachers which the Voluntary Teachers Scheme would help? to solve.
Alhaji Ahmed said that atane, a census of unemployed graduates in the state revealed that 9,000 diploma holders, 4,305 NCE holders, 1,245 Higher National Diploma holders and 2,725 university graduates as well as 31 Masters degree graduates and 1 PHD holder are yet to get jobs after they graduated.
The Head of Service who said that the Talba graduate employment scheme introduced by the Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu administration in 2007 had employed 6,000 graduates and added that the remaining unemployed graduates would be encouraged to take advantage of the government’s back to land scheme which would make them self employed.
Speaking at the same news conference, the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Susan Gana disclosed that the government would not go back on its free education policy but said parents and guardians must complement the effort of the administration.
According to Mrs Gana who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Mohammed Mahmud, government had so far spent N1.4 bn on the payment of examination fees for students in public schools who sat for public examinations.