Abia state government has recorded over 36,000 surge in applicants for the recruitment of 4,000 new teachers in a fresh application for the second cohort of application in the ministry of Basic and Secondary School Educational in the state.
In an interactive section with Hon. Elder Goodluck Chinedu Ubochi, Abia State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education in the state, clarified that the state government saw the need for another round of application to fill up needed areas.
According to Hon. Ubochi, there was a need to have a second round of cohort of teachers as directed by Governor Alex Otti to be employed into the basic and secondary school education system of Abia state.
Hon. Ubochi hinted that the new wave of employment into the basic primary and secondary system entertained 4,000 newly recruited teachers based on the qualification of having a degree.
According to Hon. Uboch,; “The cut off points were pegged at 50.5 and 5,385 are qualified. The subject needs warranted streaming down and the remaining teachers will be left in a pool to be used in the future instead of conducting a fresh requirement exercise.
“When any need arises, we go back to our pool and pick for recruitment to cover that gap. The teachers recruitment didn’t require payment for anything by the applicants”.
CANDID REPORTERS recalls that the Abia State government initially recruited 5,394 teachers in 2025 and according to the commissioner, it was done based on educational qualifications of the teachers who applied. He added that this new recruitment was based on whatever degree an applicant has and placed the oral interview benchmark at 40%.
“We decided to make the second cohort free as long as you have a degree or NCE or whatever qualification you have, when we opened the portal, we had about 36,000. We went through and had about 21,000 for an oral interview. To get this done, we placed the benchmark at 40%. Some people will ask why 40%, the reason is because we want it to be inclusive enough, we don’t want anyone to feel irrelevant in the area of need”. Hon. Ubochi said.
Hon. Ubochi also hinted that the needs were drawn from the needed areas such as location and subject areas whose data was drawn from heads of schools where the need is required.
In the area of primary schools, Hon. Ubochi said 911 teachers are needed. In the area of secondary school, there are specific needs for different subjects and the same in the secondary school. He added that after articulation, the ministry held on to the selection of those solely needed for the teaching job as cut off points were applied in the selection which is relatively on subject needs and specifics.
Hon. Ubochi also clarified other areas of misconception of the recruitment process which is in circulation regarding the score on different subject areas during the screening.
“You see somebody who scored 60% is not taking and somebody that scored 55% is taken, you are bound to say that there is a level of injustice but when you look at the subject area, that will help understand what we did. There were technical subjects that only 5 people applied for, we needed near more than five, what do we do? we take the whole five”. Hon. Ubochi said.
On certification for qualifying to apply for the teaching job, Hon. Ubochi said, anyone who did not present the original certificate or whose certificate has exceeded five years after graduation was automatically disqualified.
He reminded that the recruitment exercise is not done based on the list presented by any influence by persons in the government as governor Alex Otti has directed and warned never to allow such influence.
The qualified teachers are scheduled for a one week orientation which begins 7th of September, 2026 which is aimed at giving the applicants the needed understanding of what they are going in for. Arrangements were also said to be in place for training by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) to help the recruited teachers get certification within two years and consultants are already consulted to create something spectacular for Abia in line with the curriculum released by the federal ministry of education
Hon. Ubochi also revealed that the new education curriculum released by the ministry of education will be fully applied in the Abia educational system from September 2026.
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