Lower Basic Schools throughout the country are facing serious teacher shortage since the commencement of the 2008/2009 school academic year, a situation described by many as disturbing.

Investigation carried out by this reporter revealed that many teachers in the lower basic school have resigned from the teaching profession this academic year for one reason or another.

Investigations revealed that the office of the Regional Directorate in Kanifing is asking for certain qualifications from unqualified teachers, some have been in the field for even more than five years and those who did not have the specified qualifications received their marching orders.

Meanwhile some of the affected teachers who spoke to this reporter called on the authorities concerned to revise their decision for the sake of addressing teachers’ shortage in schools and ensure better delivery of quality education.

Many teachers who spoke to this reporter upheld that, for teachers to be maintained in the Government schools, the condition of their services need to be appealing.

Another teacher, who spoke to this reporter on cell phone from Region Six, URR, said, “Quality education cannot be achieved in the absence of good working conditions for teachers.”

He said that it is Region Six that is mostly affected by the teacher shortage, adding that the FTI hard to reach and double-shift allowances are not the solutions to keep the teachers in the teaching field.

In the view of another teacher from Region One, who did not want to be named, head teachers rejecting some teachers in their schools, denying them double-shift teaching and treating them unfairly also has a grave impact on teachers. This can lead some to quit Government schools for private schools or other fields of their choice.

“These conditions highlighted do not in the least help the situations, but rather contribute to a greater percentage of young people losing quality education in our education sector,” the teacher said.