No fewer than 12, 000 applicants participated in the aptitude test and screening to fill vacancies following the retirement of 1,938 teachers in primary and secondary schools across the state.
The State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Halimatu Sa’adiyya Idris, who disclosed this while monitoring the exercise in Daura, attributed the high number of candidates to the decision of the ministry to allow everyone with requisite qualifications to write the test.
Idris however revealed that in the event of equal qualifications and scores in the examination, priority would be given to those already engaged as volunteer and casual teachers by the state or local education authorities.
According to her, the aptitude test was designed to ensure that only qualified persons would be recruited to enhance the standard of education in the state.
The move, she emphasized, was part of the restoration agenda of the present administration in the education sector and in fulfillment of the promise of Governor Aminu Bello Masari during his electoral campaign.
While commending the governor for the priority accorded to the sector under the present dispensation, she thanked security operatives for contributing to the success of the exercise in the seven centres for the examination in the state.