School Resumption: Acute shortage of teachers hits Edo schools as exited NPower teachers refuse to return to classrooms

As Edo government reopens schools across the State today, there is acute shortage of teachers to man the classrooms following the refusal of the recently exited  Npower volunteers to report at their PPAs. This blog learnt.

This development becomes worrisome as residents of the State appeal to Governor Godwin Obaseki to do the needful by employing teachers. Some of the residents who spoke with this blog on condition of anonymity said:

"As it stands now we don't know whether to withdraw our children from public schools or not because we learnt that those NPower volunteers recruited by the Federal Government to teach our children have been exited from the programme.

"That means the public schools in the State now lack adequate teachers to teach our students." They lament.

"What we want the government to do now is that, they should employ teachers. Go to the schools yourself and see the situation of things. My son, who is in JSS II will be resuming school today and I will do a follow up to check what he is being taught at school."

A Volunteer of the NPower programme in the State, who spoke with this blog on the development, said:

"Edo State government should as a matter of urgency Wade into this matter by according the exited volunteers automatic employment to complement the acute shortage of teaching staff in schools across Edo State

"The era of use and dump should be seen as a thing of the past in Nigeria polity given that these beneficiaries were widely consulted by the state government before and during the count down to the 2020 governorship election which the volunteers didn't only campaign for obaeeki's reelection but also came out in their numbers to vote massively for the digital governor

"Our dear governor should bear in mind that the reciprocity of actions and reactions of these volunteers shouldn't be  gloss over or mitigated upon.

" Going outside the Npower volunteers to recruit teachers will not only amount to grave error but will indicate that our digital governor is tolling d same root as did the the Buhari's led  federal government denied these gallant youths, who use everything within their disposal to support his second term in 2019 only to later realized that they have been used and dumped."