Kaduna State's Nigeria Union of Teachers has rejected the Federal Government's plan to exempt college of education candidates from JAMB exams.
The union's national leadership called the exemption counterproductive and harmful to teacher training quality. State officials Ibrahim Dalhatu and Adamu Ayuba Kaltungo made their position clear in a joint statement.
Removing JAMB requirements would damage Nigeria's education system, they warned. Teaching must remain competitive and intellectually rigorous, the leaders insisted.
"Exempting candidates implies the profession suits only weak students," the statement read. Such a move contradicts what world-class education systems actually do.
Countries with excellent schools recruit teachers from their brightest students. Nigeria would be moving backward, not forward, the union argued.
Kaltungo and Dalhatu noted teaching already suffers from a poor reputation. Dropping JAMB requirements would reinforce the false idea that teaching is a last-resort career.
It would undermine efforts by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria to elevate the profession's status. Quality standards matter far more than making entry easier, they stressed.
Rather than exempting candidates, government should boost teacher compensation packages. Better pay would naturally attract Nigeria's brightest young people to teaching.
Scholarships and bursaries could also help, the union suggested. Special incentives must come without compromising academic standards, officials noted.
Kaduna NUT wants government to fully implement a law signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on April 9, 2022. This legislation actually addresses the real problems the exemption policy attempts to solve.
The union's position aligns with global evidence about teacher quality. High-performing nations never lower entry standards for their teaching profession.
Nigeria faces persistent challenges in educational outcomes across states. Weakening teacher selection criteria would worsen these problems, the union warned.
Government officials haven't yet responded to the union's latest objections. Education ministry officials were unavailable for comment as of press time.
Parents and educators remain divided on the exemption policy. Many share NUT's concerns about compromising educational standards nationwide.
Advocacy groups supporting the exemption argue it would boost NCE enrollment. They claim higher teacher numbers would eventually improve classroom availability in schools.
But union leaders maintain quantity cannot replace quality in education. Nigeria's children deserve teachers who've passed rigorous admission standards, they concluded.
