The Jigawa House of Assembly has approved the State’s Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to conduct a Computer-Based Assessment Test (CBT) for 10,000 primary and junior secondary school teachers in the state. This was disclosed by the Executive Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Professor Haruna Musa, while speaking to newsmen on the board’s preparation for the exercise in Dutse. He said this is an effort to assess teachers’ competence and enhance the quality of education.
Professor Haruna Musa explained that the Computer-Based Assessment Test (CBT) is in line with the Jigawa State Governor, Malam Umar Namadi’s vision to curb challenges related to teaching and learning poverty and to improve the overall quality of education in the state. According to him, “the measures became necessary considering the investment of Malam Umar Namadi’s administration in the education sector, the importance of basic education, and the numerous crises facing teaching in the state.”
The Executive Chairman noted that, “We have employed several initiatives to address learning poverty in the state. While the state is making efforts to ensure that teachers who are not attending classes return to the classroom, we are also working to improve the quality of teachers. The board plans to conduct training for all 10,000 teachers, and to avoid duplication, a CBT will be conducted to assess the level of each teacher in terms of content and teaching skills, identifying areas where improvement is needed.” He noted that the exercise is not aimed at punishing, sacking, or creating inconvenience for teachers but rather at improving their quality and skills. I am happy to inform you that the board has briefed the State House of Assembly through the House Committee on Universal Basic Education. They welcomed the idea, gave us their approval, and allowed us to go ahead. We also informed the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT); they were satisfied with the idea and endorsed it.”
Prof. Musa maintained that “we categorised the teachers into three groups: the competent — those with both content knowledge and teaching skills; the semi-competent — teachers with content knowledge but lacking the skills to teach; and those who lack both content and skills. These categories will be identified through the test. This categorisation is due to the inadequate funds available to train all the teachers at once. That is why we divided it into categories and phases. We will use the resources at hand to see how best we can train them to improve their skills.”
The SUBEB boss noted that the government has no intention of sacking underperforming teachers; instead, it will equip them with basic knowledge to enhance their performance and provide necessary support.
