The Ondo State Universal Basic Education Board has stated the promotion of public primary school teachers would be based on performance rather than automatic from next year.
The board also warned instructors against absenteeism at work, adding that any teachers who left without proper authorization would face consequences.
Mr Victor Olabimtan, the Executive Chairman of the state SUBEB, disclosed this on Friday during an interactive session with education secretaries from the state’s 18 Local Government Areas at the board’s headquarters in Akure.
According to the chairman, the decision became essential in order to improve the performance of public school students in common entry tests into state public secondary institutions.
He said the decision to base teacher promotions on performance was made because the state government was dissatisfied with the level of achievement of the state’s elementary school students in examinations.
According to him:
“From next year, no teacher will be promoted to the next grade levels especially from level 13 and above without empirical evidence that the wards under them performed very well in their examinations.”
He pointed out that the state government had made significant investments in the field of basic education through the building and renovation of more than 900 schools and the provision of free educational materials to students, and as a result, the government anticipates better teaching from teachers and strong performance from students in all examinations.
The SUBEB chairman warned the education secretaries and head teachers to uphold standards and said that the government would not hesitate to deal with anybody, no matter how in authority, who attempted to undermine the established high-performance standard in education for which the state is renowned.
He stated:
“All promotions, especially from grade 13 and above will be subjected to performance evaluation by the Board and the Ministry of Education Science and Technology.
“As from the beginning of the new academic session the board is going to invigorate its monitoring and supervisory mechanism by paying unscheduled visits to all the schools in the state to ensure teachers are in classes doing what they were employed to do,” he stated.
The chairman warned teachers who are in the habit of absconding from duties or engaging in selling and buying during school hours to desist from such acts, saying anybody caught in the act will face the music.
“There is credible information that some teachers come to school at will while others do not come at all but employ someone else to do their jobs while engaging in other activities at the detriment of students under their care.
“Some even travelled abroad without appropriate approval. This not acceptable and anybody caught will face the penalties,” he warned.
cc: Punch Ng
