Nigeria is currently grappling with a severe shortage of teachers, with just over 915,000 educators tasked with teaching more than 31.7 million pupils across public and private primary schools nationwide.
According to The PUNCH, this alarming revelation comes from new data obtained from the Universal Basic Education Commission.
According to the data, Nigeria has 131,377 registered primary schools, evenly split between public (65,529) and private (65,848) institutions. Of the 31,771,916 pupils, 24.2 million are enrolled in public schools, while 7.4 million attend private schools.
Despite the massive number of learners, efforts to expand the teaching workforce have stagnated. The PUNCH earlier reported that 18 states in the country failed to hire new teachers between 2019 and 2024.
Meanwhile, teachers across various states, including the Federal Capital Territory, are contending with poor remuneration and unfavorable working conditions. FCT teachers recently embarked on strike action over the government’s failure to implement the new minimum wage approved in 2024 by President Bola Tinubu.
Experts warn that the persistent shortage of qualified teachers, particularly in rural communities, threatens the quality of education and widens the gap in learning outcomes between urban and rural areas.
According to The PUNCH, the former Registrar of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, Professor Josiah Ajiboye, stressed the urgent need to address the imbalance between teacher availability and pupil population.
“With the rising number of school-aged children and increasing establishment of schools nationwide, our education system faces a serious challenge. The dearth of qualified teachers affects the quality of instruction and overall student performance,” Ajiboye said.
He further noted that many classrooms are overcrowded, making it difficult for teachers to provide individual attention or maintain effective teaching standards.
The President of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, Titus Amba, echoed these concerns, describing the situation as “alarming.”
“In several schools, especially in rural areas, there are only one or two teachers available to manage entire schools. This has created a situation of learning poverty, where children are attending school but not acquiring meaningful knowledge,” Amba stated.
He called on federal, state, and local governments to prioritize the recruitment and retention of professional teachers.
“We need to take decisive steps to invest in teacher training, improve welfare, and create an enabling environment. Every child deserves access to a qualified teacher.”
Amba stressed that Nigeria must respond to the global call to action to ensure education systems are inclusive and adequately staffed to meet the learning needs of all children.