By Ehis Agbon, Kaduna.
The Kaduna Basic Education Accountability Mechanism (KADBEAM) has called for greater attention to the working conditions of teachers in Kaduna State, saying celebrating teachers must be matched with concrete efforts to provide the resources and environment needed for effective teaching.
In a statement to mark the 2026 World Teachers’ Day, Co-Chair, Civil Society, KADBEAM, Rahila Baita Ishaku, said the celebration should prompt a broader assessment of whether teachers were being given the conditions necessary to succeed.
According to KADBEAM, Kaduna State’s 2026 approved education budget is approximately ₦243.98 billion, representing 25 per cent of the state’s total budget.
However, the organisation said the Q1 2026 Budget Implementation Report recorded overall education expenditure performance of 7.4 per cent, while capital expenditure utilisation stood at 4.3 per cent.
KADBEAM said the figures highlight the difference between budgetary allocation and actual implementation.
“An allocation is a commitment. Expenditure is implementation. And ultimately, the real test is whether implementation improves teaching and learning,” the organisation said.
Teacher shortages and uneven deployment
KADBEAM also raised concerns about teacher distribution across the state, saying aggregate teacher numbers could conceal significant disparities between urban and rural schools.
The organisation cited an earlier teacher-provision baseline which recorded 38,097 teachers in public primary and junior secondary schools, with 34,487, or 90.5 per cent, classified as qualified or certified.
It stressed, however, that the figures came from an earlier baseline and should not be interpreted as a 2026 teacher headcount.
According to the evidence reviewed by KADBEAM, rural schools face deeper teacher shortages, while some urban schools have comparatively better provision.
The organisation cited pupil-teacher ratios of approximately 1:59 at primary level and 1:88 at junior secondary level, compared with a policy reference of 1:45.
It also pointed to an even wider gap at Early Childhood Care, Development and Education (ECCDE), citing a ratio of one teacher to 499 pupils in documents used for its May 2026 advocacy analysis.
KADBEAM said the figures raise questions about how much individual attention teachers can provide to pupils, particularly children who require additional academic or learning support.
Targets should not be presented as achievements
The organisation further called for greater clarity in reporting education performance, stressing the need to distinguish between baseline figures, government targets and actual results.
It cited its recommendation for a phased ECCDE Teacher Workforce Rebalancing Plan, including the movement of qualified personnel from administrative functions into classroom-facing roles.
However, KADBEAM said available evidence did not establish that the proposed rebalancing target had already been achieved.
“Where there is a target, we should call it a target. Where implementation has begun, we should report implementation. And where independently verifiable current results are unavailable, we should say so rather than convert intentions into achievements,” it said.
Infrastructure also affects teaching
KADBEAM said teacher effectiveness was also dependent on the wider school environment.
It noted that Q1 2026 evidence reviewed by the organisation showed that programmes involving the fencing of 61 schools and provision of school furniture had not recorded expenditure during the quarter.
According to the organisation, teachers working in insecure schools, overcrowded classrooms or facilities without adequate furniture could not be expected to compensate for system-level shortcomings on their own.
KADBEAM also highlighted the need for stronger support for inclusive education, particularly for girls, children with disabilities, rural learners and children in non-formal education settings.
It said teachers needed appropriate training, teaching materials, manageable class sizes, accessible infrastructure and support systems to effectively respond to different learner needs.
Evidence of progress
The organisation, however, acknowledged evidence of positive outcomes from some interventions.
KADBEAM cited recent results from sampled PLANE-supported schools, where 91.2 per cent of Primary 4 learners reportedly reached foundational numeracy while 78.1 per cent reached foundational literacy.
It also said learners in PLANE-supported schools read an average of 13.5 words per minute, compared with 3.8 words per minute among learners in control schools.
KADBEAM cautioned that the results should not automatically be generalised to all schools in Kaduna State, but said they demonstrated that structured teacher support and coordinated teaching, monitoring and learning interventions could contribute to improved outcomes.
The organisation said the challenge was to expand successful interventions so that their benefits could be experienced more widely across the education system.
Call for evidence-based accountability
As part of its World Teachers’ Day message, KADBEAM urged stakeholders to continue asking whether teachers were being deployed to schools where they were most needed, whether recruitment was addressing verified staffing gaps and whether rural and hard-to-reach schools were receiving equitable support.
It also called for greater scrutiny of whether teachers were adequately prepared for inclusive classrooms and whether approved education resources were reaching schools on time.
“World Teachers’ Day should therefore leave us with more than gratitude. It should leave us with a commitment to evidence,” KADBEAM said.
The organisation said its strategic direction includes annual tracking of teacher-pupil ratios and collaboration with education stakeholders to promote quality and inclusive basic education.
It added that improving the conditions in which teachers work would ultimately benefit the children they teach.
“Celebrate the teacher, certainly. But also examine the system around the teacher,” KADBEAM said.
