Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, on Thursday, said his administration plans recruitment of additional 2,000 teachers under the Ogun Teach initiative this year.
The governor said the move would increase the number of teachers in the initiative to 6,000.
Abiodun said the recruitment would help to close the gap in the student-to-teacher ratio in the state.
Speaking at his Oke-Mosan office when he received the management team of Teach For All and the Teach For Nigeria programme, Abiodun noted that his administration, in line with current realities, had increased the wages of the Ogun Teach interns in the state to N80,000.
“And we borrowed from the Teach For All and Teach For Nigeria schemes. Seeing the gap in the teacher-to-student ratio and how underserved our students were, we tried to plan how we could fast-track the employment or recruitment of teachers while also taking into account our budgetary allowance.
“We introduced the Ogun Teach programme, which has been extremely successful.
“Out of the 4,000 who were employed under Ogun Teach, 2,000 have been given permanent employment. This has allowed us to have teachers in our rural areas.
“To date, Ogun Teach has employed over 4,000 teachers. We are about to employ another batch now, which will make that 5,000. I have promised to raise that to 6,000,” he said.
The governor noted that he had to declare an emergency in the education sector because of what his administration met on the ground.
Abiodun said that his administration would continue to absorb fellows of the Teach For Nigeria programme who meet the requirements of the state government, as it was committed to becoming the reference point for the Teach For Nigeria programme in the country.
The Chief Executive Officer of Teach For Nigeria, Mrs Molade Adeniyi, commended the administration for creating an enabling environment for the Teach For Nigeria programme to thrive, saying that the state had been extremely supportive and open to dialogue.
Mrs Adeniyi said “Teach For Nigeria only recruits highly qualified, energetic, and disciplined young men and women who then go through a two-year fellowship as a deliberate effort to build leaders who are passionate about tackling inequality in education and, at the same time, passionate about providing quality education.
“When we think about our progress and achievements, we cannot help but talk about the Ogun State government. It provided an enabling environment for us to do our work.
“It’s extremely supportive; open to dialogue and discussion, so we can come to the table and talk about what the challenges are, what the problems are, and what the solutions are. The state government really gives us one hundred per cent backing.”
