About 21,780 out of 33,000 teachers have failed the primary four examination administered to test their competence by the Kaduna State government.Owing to the mass failure, the state is now shopping for 25,000 new teachers as one of the plans to restore quality to education.

Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State unveiled the planned recruitment when he received a World Bank delegation in Kaduna on Monday, reported the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

“We tested our 33,000 primary school teachers, we gave them primary four examinations and required they must get at least 75 per cent but I am sad to announce that 66 per cent of them failed to get the requirements.

“The hiring of teachers in the past was politicised and we intend to change that by bringing in young and qualified primary school teachers to restore the dignity of education in the state,” the governor said.

He stressed that teachers would be redeployed across the state to balance the teacher-pupil ratio.

“We have a challenge with the teacher-pupil ratio in the urban schools; there is a concentration of teachers that are not needed.

“In some local government areas, it’s a teacher-pupil ratio of 1-9 while in some places it’s 1-100,” he said.

The governor said in a bid to improve the education sector, the school directors decided to enrol their children in public schools starting from this academic session.

The World Bank representative, Dr. Kunle Adekola, expressed appreciation to the state for investing in education and for the priority given to the girl child.

“This state has demonstrated and supported us to achieve our goals,” he said.

Adekola said the World Bank would invest N30 million in Rigasa Primary School, which has a population of about 22,000 pupils, as part of its support for the state.

The Education Intervention Fund by the World Bank and other collaborative development partners is providing support to about 13 Northern states and a state each from the other four geopolitical zones in the country.