The move made by the Lagos State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), to convert some non-teaching staff to classroom teachers has been opposed by Prof. Peter Okebukola.
Okebukola, a former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), disclosed his opposition in Lagos on Thursday 12th September, 2019.
The Lagos State chapter of NUT had demanded that the state government train and convert some non-teaching staff who were already used to classroom work to teachers.
The body stated that the step would cushion the effect of shortage of teachers in the state public primary schools since the workers were already on the government’s payroll.
“I am 100 per cent opposed to a situation where you get non–teaching staff and then bundle them to class to go and teach,” Okebukola said.
“A teacher needs three major skills: adequate knowledge of his or her subject, pedagogy knowledge, which is the knowledge of how to teach and also pedagogy content knowledge, which is the combination of the initial two.“
The former NUC boss said that anybody in the world that had not got these skills has no business in the classroom. “To worsen the situation, as 10 years down the line, the educational system will collapse and even enter the Atlantic Ocean.”
Suggesting the best solution to the problem, he said the government should recruit people and train them before allowing them to go teach in the classroom.
