Nasarawa Government Investigates Extortion and Teacher Shortage at Wuro Nomadic School

Over 200 children attending Wuro Nomadic School in Wuro Auta, Gitata area of Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, are at risk of being denied regular classroom instruction following allegations of teacher absenteeism and extortion by parents.

The parents, through the Chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), Saleh Isah, in an interview on Wednesday, alleged that the head teacher posted to the school in March had not reported for duty since his deployment.

Isah alleged that rather than reporting to the school to teach the children, the head teacher had been calling him to demand money.

“He will call and ask me to send him money, which I refused because he has never come to teach our children,” he alleged.

According to Isah, the school was established through the efforts of the community but has continued to face inadequate teaching personnel and shortages of learning materials.

He said more than 200 pupils from different Fulani settlements attend the school, but the institution currently lacks enough teachers to effectively cater for the children.

“Since the last teacher was transferred, the present one has refused to come. No government officials have visited despite several complaints to the authorities in the Panda Development Area,” Isah alleged.

He appealed to the state government to urgently intervene by providing more teachers and learning materials to enable the children to receive regular education.

Reacting to the allegations, the supervisor in charge of the area, Joseph Auta, promised to intervene and ensure that the matter was properly addressed.

Auta also appealed to the Nasarawa State Government to recruit more teachers for schools in the area, saying the shortage of teaching personnel was affecting effective learning.

He assured the parents that their complaints would receive attention and that the situation would be looked into.

Similarly, the Special Assistant to Governor Abdullahi Sule on Nomadic Education, Kande Adamu, said the government would invite the teachers accused by the parents and investigate the allegations.

Adamu said the government would not allow complaints capable of undermining the provision of education to children in nomadic communities to be ignored.

She said the Sule administration was doing its best to ensure access to education for children across the state, including those living in hard-to-reach and nomadic settlements.

Adamu assured that the allegations would be investigated and appropriate action taken based on the outcome of the investigation.

The development has raised concerns among parents and community members over the need for closer monitoring of teachers posted to nomadic schools, particularly those serving children in remote settlements.

The parents said they remained hopeful that the intervention by the relevant authorities would lead to the return of teachers to the school and improve learning conditions for the pupils.