NIGERIA'S NEWS UPDATE : Ekiti denies sacking principals for failing test

Ekiti denies sacking principals for failing test

Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi
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Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi said his administration did not

sack any principal based on the performance in a test organised for them by the government.

This was contained in a statement made available to our corresspondent in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Yinka Oyebode.

The governor, according to the statement, said this at the first edition of the 2012 Public Service Forum.

He said the rumours that the proposed Teachers’ Development Needs Assessment was aimed at retrenching teachers who failed the examination was not true.

The governor explained that the Principals’ examination was occasioned by the merger of Junior and Senior secondary schools which, inevitably, led to a reduction in the number of school principals. He maintained that those who failed the examination still maintained their grade level, but had change of status.

He said, rather than sack any of the principals, the state government elevated three of them who performed excellently as Tutors- General.

He added that the test was “neither malicious nor vindictive but had benefited the school system now with the schools performing better than before.”

The governor who stressed that the TDNA examination was a decision reached at the Education Summit held last year, added that it was aimed at repositioning the sector. He lamented that teachers themselves were aware of the challenges facing the sector, hence, they enrolled in their wards and children to private schools instead of public schools.

While re-assuring the teachers of job security, Fayemi pleaded with them to take the assessment examination. He said, “Teachers have a crucial role to play in repositioning the state education sector as the fountain of knowledge.”

On the delay in payment of new minimum wage to local government workers, the Governor assured that the workers in the third tier of government would enjoy the largesse as soon as the irregularities that characterised the payment of CONMESS and CONHESS, special salary packages for medical and health workers in the local government, were sorted out.

He added, “Many administrative staff in the local government areas also lay claim to being health workers and this has necessitated the step taken by government through the Primary Health Care Development Agency to review the list of authentic health and medical workers so that they too may enjoy the largesse in earnest.”