The Edo State Government has resolved to go ahead with the teachers’ assessment following a town hall meeting held to discuss the controversy surrounding the idea.
Among issues for determination were those of teachers who are unable to read, those who have exceeded the required number of years of service and are fraudulently keeping themselves there and those who are past the age of retirement.
Governor Oshiomhole, said that he was changing the exercise from competency test to assessment test, as this would enable them determine those who need training, and the type they would require; those that are qualified and those that cannot be remedied.
While they accept the option of training and retraining of teachers as a possible remedy, the Governor noted that it would be fool hardy to train unqualified teachers, knowing that they do not possess the capacity to receive and reproduce the knowledge.
Participants at the town hall meeting, in their response, threw their weight behind the assessment test, and the Governor right there appointed a former Vice Chancellor of Ambrose Alli University, Professor Dennis Agbonlahor, to chair the exercise, which he said would be conducted by non-state officials.
The teachers unions however boycotted the town hall meeting.
