Teachers engaged by the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) who were recently converted to permanent staff in Anambra state schools on Tuesday protested the termination of their jobs by Gov. Charles Soludo.
The protesters barricaded the entrance of the state House of Assembly in Awka, as they displayed placards with various inscriptions.
Some of the placards read: “Give us back our jobs”, “Why terminate our appointments after seven months of work without pay?”, “We met the criteria, we were duly employed, Please reinstate us” and “Gov. Soludo reconsider your stand.”
Others read: “Assembly please intervene and help save our jobs,”, among others.
Addressing newsmen, the spokesperson of the protesters, Mr Uche Eze, appealed to Gov. Soludo to reconsider his position on the termination of the newly converted PTA teachers.
Eze also called on the legislature to prevail on the executive to reinstate them.
“We are teachers engaged by the PTA to address the acute shortage of teachers in the state’s primary and secondary schools.
“Some of us had worked for over 10 years before the last administration decided to hold a recruitment and conversion exercise to make us permanent staff.
“About 1,000 of us were shortlisted and we got our appointment letters in Nov. 2021 to resume fully but for over seven months we have not been paid and we have just been told that our appointments have been terminated.
“We were asked to go and re-apply in the ongoing online teachers’ recruitment. This is not fair, we were not paid off and we are stranded because they are sending us back to the labour market after we were duly employed.
“We are appealing to the Speaker of the House of Assembly to use his office to intervene in this matter and help us save our jobs, ” he said.
Addressing the protesters, the Speaker of the House, Mr Uche Okafor, promised that the he would discuss the matter with the Governor.
“We have heard you complaints and appeals. As your representatives in the Assembly, we are your ears and mouthpiece, so whatever affects you, affects us.
“I want to assure you that we will speak for you by taking this matter to the Governor and discuss it, so that you get that which is duly yours,” he said.