Katsina: Low Percentage Of Female Teachers Contributes To WASSCE Failure — Group

An advocate group, Women Advocates (HILWA) has attributed the low performance of Katsina Students at the 2022 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), especially amongst the girl child to the low percentage of female principals, teachers and head teachers in schools.

The group's official, Dr Binta Ado, made the submission at a two-day roundtable with members of the Katsina State House of Assembly and other stakeholders held in Kano.

The 2022 WASSCE result showed that Nigerian students performed 5 per cent worse than what they did in 2021 nationwide.

According to Dr. Binta, with more female teachers in the classroom, there are better chances for the improvement of the students performance.

She attributed the low performance, especially among the girl child in Katsina State to low number of female principals, teachers and head teachers in schools.

“Currently, pre-primary school teachers in the state are 987, out of which 508 are male, while 479 are female; which gives female 49 per cent.

“Public primary schools have 24,194 teachers, out of which 18,060 are males, while only 6,134 are females, giving females only 25 per cent.

“In Junior Secondary Schools (JSS), we have 4,943 teachers out of which 3,954 are male, while only 989 are female teachers, giving females just 20 per cent.

“At the Senior Secondary Schools (SSS), we have 4,872 teachers, 4,031 of whom are male, while and 841 are female, making 17 per cent for females. This is the current annual school census in Katsina State,’’ she said.

According to her, the overall aggregate for females in primary and secondary schools is 28 per cent. 

She noted that Katsina State is one of the five states that are backward in enrolment, retention, transition and completion of school years, especially among female children.

“In most cases, parents don’t allow their girl children to continue with their education in schools having few female teachers or principals,’’ she noted.

Responding, Deputy Speaker of Katsina State’s House of Assembly, Shehu Dalhatu-Tafoki pledged that the assembly would pass the Bill before the end of its tenure.

The meeting was organised by UNICEF, HILWA, the Federal and State governments, and funded by UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.