Jigawa State Government has expanded its teaching workforce with the recruitment of 2,020 new secondary school teachers as part of efforts to address manpower shortages and improve the quality of education across the state.
The new recruits comprise 1,100 teachers employed on permanent and pensionable terms and 920 others engaged through the J-Teach programme.
Presenting appointment letters to the beneficiaries on Friday at the Banquet Hall of the Government House, Dutse, Governor Umar Namadi said the recruitment was designed to improve pupil-teacher and student-teacher ratios, particularly in underserved rural communities.
He said the recruitment complemented recent investments in educational materials, including the distribution of school uniforms, school bags and writing materials to thousands of learners across the state.
The Governor said the government’s education policy was focused not only on providing infrastructure and learning materials but also on ensuring that schools had adequate numbers of qualified, motivated and properly supported teachers.
“Today, we complement that investment by expanding the teaching workforce and directing qualified teachers to schools where shortages are most acute, particularly in underserved rural communities,” the governor said.
According to him, the latest appointments represent another phase of his administration’s commitment to strengthening the teaching profession while creating employment opportunities for qualified young people.
Governor Namadi said the government would sustain investment in teacher development through induction, continuous training and retraining, improved teaching methods and professional development programmes implemented through the Teacher Development Agency.
He explained that the recruitment was also part of a commitment made at the beginning of his administration to address unfavourable pupil-teacher and student-teacher ratios through the recruitment, training and balanced deployment of qualified teachers.
“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,” he said.
Giving an account of the administration’s expansion of the teaching workforce since 2023, Namadi said 7,500 personnel had been engaged in basic education through the J-Teach pathway, with 3,000 subsequently converted to permanent and pensionable appointments after training and competitive selection.
At the post-basic education level, he said nearly 2,000 personnel had been engaged through the programme, while 1,000 were later offered permanent appointments.
He added that the government had also deployed more than 2,100 graduate teachers and recruited about 600 teaching and non-teaching staff for mega schools and other boarding senior secondary schools across the state.
The Governor assured the newly appointed teachers of government’s support, urging them to uphold professionalism, discipline and commitment to the academic and overall welfare of their students.
“Government will support you with effective induction, mentoring, supervision and fair performance assessment,” Namadi said.
He also commended Guaranty Trust Bank for donating 450 bicycles to pupils and students who travel long distances to schools in hard-to-reach communities.
According to the governor, the intervention would ease the daily transportation burden on the beneficiaries while improving punctuality, school attendance, access and retention among learners in remote communities.
Governor Namadi said the combined measures reflected his administration’s broader commitment to strengthening education and ensuring that children across Jigawa State have improved opportunities to learn and succeed.
