The Kaduna State Government has deployed 11,395 newly recruited teachers to public primary schools in the state.

The state Commissioner for Education, Jafaru Sani, who announced this on Wednesday, said the new teachers emerged from the first phase of the plan to recruit 25,000 new teachers to replace those sacked by the state government last year for incompetence.

He said the new teachers had been posted to the over 4,000 primary schools across the 23 local government areas of the state.

The commissioner disclosed this to journalists at a news briefing held at the ministry.

Mr Jafaru explained that the second phase of the recruitment exercises which will bring in the remaining over 19, 000 ‎teachers will be completed in May.

“We have deployed 11,395 newly recruited teachers to schools to commence teaching.

“In fact, they have reported to their schools where they are expected to teach the pupils. The remaining over 19,000 applicants will be invited for interviews as done for the first batch.

“We can’t mention the date ( for interview of candidates) because their recruitment has to be approved by the state governor, but we are hoping that by May all schools will have the required teachers to teach,” he said.

Mr Jafaru said the state cannot move forward without quality education and good quality teachers.

“We are confident enough to say that those employed are qualified to teach. This is because we organised induction for them before they were posted to the schools.

“Very soon our students will be passing their papers with flying colours. ‎The government is committed to development of education in the state because we want to be among the three top states in the country,” he said.

He said the major challenge faced by the ministry during the teachers recruitment was the fact that it was the first time the state recruited over 10,000 teachers at once, which led to the system being overstretched.

“But with the competent leadership and commitment ‎of the state government we were able to overcome the challenges,” he said.

The commissioner also said the ministry had received 105 motorcycles from Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for monitoring teachers in hard to reach areas, especially rural communities.

The commissioner also mentioned that the government recently distributed 15,000 tablets to students and teachers across the state.

The gesture according to him was to ease teaching and learning in the state.

On the sack of all 23 Local government Area Educational Secretaries last week by the government, the commissioner said their removal has nothing to do with the teachers recruitment exercise.

He explained that their position has a tenure and the government felt there is the need for qualified individuals to occupy such positions.

“The disengagement of ‎the Education secretaries has nothing to do with the teachers recruitment,” he said.

He also mentioned that development partners like DFID and others commended the government’s educational reforms in the state.