Jigawa State Government has directed 244 teachers whose salaries were stopped for abandoning their duties to refund all salaries received during their period of absence.
Professor Haruna Musa, the Executive Secretary of the Jigawa State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), disclosed this while addressing the press on the recent disciplinary actions taken by the Board.
He revealed that four education secretaries were suspended and the salaries of the affected teachers halted due to persistent neglect of duty.
“It’s quite unfortunate that these teachers are sabotaging government efforts in fighting the out-of-school-children syndrome, which the state government will not tolerate,” Prof. Musa said.
He lamented that those who should support the education system are failing to do so, resulting in many children staying out of school.
“So long as our teachers are not in schools and are not ready to go to the classroom, we will continue to have these kinds of problems. The learning crisis will persist, despite the governor’s efforts to improve the system,” he added.
Musa urged the affected teachers to either return to their duty posts and teach for the months they were paid without working, or refund the money to the government in cash before they can resume receiving salaries.
“All we are asking is for them to go back to their various schools and teach for the months they collected salaries without working, or come and pay back the government in cash,” he said.
He noted that investigations revealed that some teachers had abandoned their schools for several months but continued collecting salaries. Worse still, some allegedly hired unqualified individuals to stand in for them, paying them as little as ₦5,000 to ₦20,000 from their monthly salaries.
The Executive Secretary warned that failure to comply with the directive could lead to termination of appointments or other severe penalties.
