The Sokoto State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has suspended two headmasters for absenteeism.
The board had also withheld the January 2016 salaries of 87 primary school teachers over same dereliction of duty.
Alhaji Faruk Shehu, the board’s Executive Secretary, announced these measures on Wednesday in Sokoto while addressing newsmen.
Shehu fielded questions from the newsmen shortly after paying unscheduled visits to some primary schools in Bodinga local government area of the state.
He said that the affected headmasters were suspended because of their absence during his visit to their respective schools.
“They had therefore been placed on half salaries according to civil service rules, while the absentee teachers also had their January 2016 salaries withheld with this action.
“These punitive measures would subsist pending when the affected headmasters and the teachers give satisfactory explanations as to why they were absent during the visits,” said the scribe.
He stated that the action taken against the affected headmasters and teachers was supposed to serve as a deterrent to others.
Shehu also threatened to mete such punitive actions against any headmaster, teacher or staff of the board.
“I will sustain the tempo of such unscheduled visits to all primary and junior secondary schools across the state.
“Ensuring effective Monitoring and Evaluation is very crucial to ensuring the success of the educational programmes and policies of the three tiers of government,” Shehu said.
He commended the declaration of the state of emergency in the education sector in the state as well as the corresponding allocation of the lion’s share of the state’s 2016 budget to the sector.
“I must also commend the efforts of Gov. Aminu Tambuwal who for the first time in the most recent history of the state ensured the payment of the salaries of primary school teachers before the end of December 2015.
“The management of the board will also do everything humanly possible to improve the welfare, motivation, training and retraining of the teachers,’’ the executive secretary emphasised.