By ISA SAID, Dutse
Governor Umar Namadi of Jigawa state has emphasis that the state government’s investment in education must go beyond infrastructure and learning materials, stating that the importance of having sufficient numbers of qualified and motivated teachers in schools cannot be overemphasized.
According to Governor Namadi, “in a rapidly changing world powered by information and communication technology, people need the knowledge, skills, and tools that quality education provides to thrive the knowledge, skills, and tools that quality education provides. This enduring reality explains why we continue to commit a significant proportion of our annual budget to education. It also means our investments in classrooms, furniture, instructional materials, technology, and school governance must be matched by enough qualified, motivated, and properly supported teachers.”
Speaking at the Banquet Hall Govt House at the formal presentation of appointment letters to over 2,000 newly recruited secondary school teachers, adding to the thousands of teaching staff recruited over the past three years as part of its efforts to strengthen the education sector in the state.
He said the state government would continue to give attention to teacher development, including induction, continuous training and retraining, improved teaching methods, and professional development through the Teacher Development Agency.
“This intervention fulfils a commitment made at the inception of our administration: to improve unfavourable pupil–teacher and student–teacher ratios through the recruitment of qualified teachers, sustained training and retraining, and a more balanced deployment policy. The objective is not simply to increase staff numbers but to ensure that every school—particularly those in underserved rural communities—has the right mix of personnel to deliver effective teaching and meaningful learning.”
The governor said the latest appointments were part of a broader expansion of the teaching workforce since the beginning of his administration.
“Since 2023, the J-TEACH pathway has brought 7,500 personnel into basic education, with 3,000 subsequently converted to permanent and pensionable appointments after training and a competitive selection process. At the post-basic level, nearly 2,000 personnel entered through the same programme, and 1,000 later secured permanent status. These efforts were reinforced by deploying more than 2,100 graduate teachers and employing about 600 teaching and non-teaching staff for mega schools and other boarding senior secondary schools across the state.”
He assured the new appointees that the government would provide the necessary support while urging them to demonstrate professionalism, discipline, and commitment to the interests of learners.
“Government will support you with effective induction, mentoring, supervision, and fair performance assessment,” he said.
Also commended Guaranty Trust Bank for donating 450 bicycles to pupils and students who travel long distances to schools in hard-to-reach communities, saying the intervention would help ease the burden of daily travel and improve access, punctuality, attendance, and retention among affected learners