3,000 teachers we hired transformed education in Taraba – Governor

Maryam Abeeb

Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State has said the 3,000 teachers he hired at the beginning of his administration transformed the education sector in the state.
Ishaku stated this in Yola against the background of the improvement in the performance of students sitting the West African Senior School Examination and the National Examination Council exams in the state.
The success rate of Taraba students in the two exams recently moved from 25 to 85 per cent.
The governor recalled that when he became governor, he was discouraged by the poor exam performance of students in the state.
He said he almost sacked over 20,000 teachers in an attempt to raise the standard of education in Taraba, adding that he later opted to train and retrain the teachers.
Ishaku said, “We used to be the last in the North East in terms of student performance for school leavers, but we are now the first. First of all, I saved a lot of money from ghost workers, which I used in employing the famous 3,000 teachers whom we deployed in various schools and within the space of two years, they brought changes in our educational feat.
“I would have sacked over 20,000 teachers, but I opted for training and retraining of those teachers as against easing them out from the state civil service because of the negative impact on families and dependent relatives living off their sweat. In Taraba, when you sack over 20,000 people, you will be throwing out over 200,000 people.”