From Uche Nnorom Benue
Executive Secretary of Benue State Teaching Service Board, TSB Dr. Wilfred Terlumun Uji has stressed that in spite of the over bloated number of teachers in the state, there is no plan to sack any teacher.
There are over 5,000 teachers in more than 300 secondary schools in the state.
Dr. Uji disclosed during an interview with newsmen in his office yesterday that since assumption of office in 2016, he has signed over 500 letters of retirees including deceased staff but frowned that over 600 million naira he inherited as wage bill, which has remained constant.
“I say this with some scientific facts. It is expected that the wage bill should drop if this number of staff have retired. And these are staff within grade levels 13,15 and above.
“I believe that the wage bill which is giving Governor Samuel Ortom sleepless nights is a conspiracy. There is a lot of politics going on with the wage bill. I promise that in 2018, the number of teachers will drop to at least 4000”, he said.
The TSB boss also lamented that most of the teachers are outdated, intimating that plans are on to train and retrain them to conform with new trends in teaching.
While decrying poor funding and infrastructural decay as factors militating against the agency, he appealed for improved funding as well as transformation of the board to a commission as is the case in other states of the federation.
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