The Lagos State Government (LASG), through the Lagos State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), has launched an initiative to increase the number of teachers in the field of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and to enhance the ratio of instructors to students in classrooms.
The commission is actively working with the state’s six school districts to alleviate the shortages brought on by teachers retiring owing to age or service time in order to accomplish this.
At least one teacher for every 30 pupils is the aim here, and the state administration is moving closer to achieving this.
The Deputy Director of Public Affairs at TESCOM, Mr. Kayode Sutton conveyed this in Lagos on Tuesday.
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He noted that the commission has maintained a targeted approach in hiring educators and under the current administration of the Lagos state government, significant efforts have been made to enhance the educational landscape by providing comprehensive training for teachers, thereby boosting their effectiveness in educating students.
Sutton noted that there is a high demand for STEM teachers in many schools due to their scarcity.
Consequently, this has necessitated TESCOM to prioritize their recruitment to ensure that vacancies are filled as they arise.
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He also clarified that while STEM teachers are given priority, this does not mean that teachers of other subjects are overlooked in the recruitment process.
Nonetheless, the emphasis remains on recruiting STEM teachers across all education districts due to their critical role, with a significant number of them being hired.
“We have specific teachers called STEM teachers, that is the Science (Physics, Chemistry and Biology); Technical; English and Mathematics teachers; they are in dire need in most of our schools.
“Therefore, we are giving priority to them in employment and that will continue, because teachers for these subjects are scarce and not easy to come by, and we must fill any available vacancy.
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“That does not imply that other subjects teachers are not considered for employment. We do In fact, we have them in abundance across the schools.
“However, we place priority on the STEM teachers in all schools across the education districts and we have been employing quite a good number of them, because of their importance,” he said.
Sutton also noted that there are schools where the number of students significantly exceeds the number of teachers, a situation he described as a deficiency that the state government is working to rectify.
A strategy which he noted the government is working on, is the ‘Exit Replacement Plan,’ a strategy designed to fill vacancies in post-primary schools.
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“We have a mandate to reduce the teachers/students ratio in our schools because the students in each of the classes are much more than the teacher can handle, which we know is a shortcoming.
“As a responsible and responsive government, we have moved swiftly to address this in the last few years and employed thousands of teachers through an official platform.
“The opportunity is explicitly for those that are education-based to apply, where they provide their details and requirements, they get a unique number that TESCOM will use to contact them,” he said.
In explaining the process, Sutton mentioned that the commission visits the database, randomly selects the needed subjects’ teachers; calls them for an interview; and engages in a mini-test and brief teaching practice within the interview session to get the best-qualified teacher.
