Akwa Ibom state Government has stated its determination and readiness to henceforth disengage any teacher under its employ displaying acts of truancy and academic laxity.
Chairman of the State Secondary Education Board (SSEB), Dr Ekaette Ebong Okon, who made this known weekend while interacting with newsmen in Uyo, said government has discovered that secondary school teachers posted to rural areas always abandon their work for farming and trading activities.
Dr. Ebong who did not particularly mention the schools involved, described the development where some teachers do not work for and still receive monthly salaries as unfortunate.
Her words, “We have to persuade teachers in our schools to do their work. I am not afraid to tell you that most people who take up government jobs as teachers refuse to do their work.
”They don’t go to school, they prefer to be posted to rural areas and hide there.
“They become traders in the markets. Some of them don’t go to school yet they are receiving monthly salaries. Having gone round schools in the state for inspection, we discovered teachers who have not gone to school for year.
“Therefore , it is not going to be business as usual. We have improved on school monitoring. In the State Secondary Education Board, all members have been divided into groups for supervision and monitoring of schools across the three zones in the State to check teachers and students excesses”
Ebong stressed that the board would continue to pay unscheduled visits to schools henceforth and teachers found wanting would be sacked.
She added that government would also demote School Heads found wanting in their responsibility stressing, “when we discover that a principal is not competent to control teachers under him, nothing will stop us from demoting you. If the job is not good for you simply quit.”
