Bauchi Teacher only attended school seven times in 11 years

The Commissioner for Education in Bauchi State, Mr. Aliyu Tilde, has disclosed a teacher in the state only attended school seven times for a period of 11 years.

The Commissioner, who refused to divulge details of the said teacher, gave the revelation while speaking on how absenteeism among teachers has impaired educational development in the state.

According to him, about 53.5 per cent of workers in the state refused to visit their places of work.

The commissioner, however, stated measures were being trawled by the state government to find a lasting solution to the problem.

He disclosed that already, the state government has introduced a digital attendance system in primary and secondary schools, to help monitor attendance in schools and help checkmate menace of ghost workers.

He said: “We now have the device in all the 219 secondary schools under the ministry. We have had a case of a teacher who only came to school seven times in eleven years.

“When I came in, I requested for attendance register of various schools and the statistics there was not encouraging at all; 53.5 per cent of them (teachers) do not go their work place at all.

“People are now less honest than before and given their large number, many of them can hide, a lot of them are in the rural areas where it is difficult to reach them for monitoring and evaluation.

“You find out that by the time you take up their attendance book, everyone is present and resumed work before 8.a.m even if he or she wasn’t there.

“It is very difficult to monitor this large number of workers, the best thing is to introduce technology. With this, you will be able to capture all the teachers within your purview; if anyone goes in, delivers a lesson or checks out, it will be recorded in the device.”