Nigeria faces teacher shortage crisis as Hajjia Rabia Adamu warns schools lack 1.2 million teachers, with some classes handled by one teacher for 500 pupils

Speaking during the institution’s maiden matriculation ceremony on Friday, Adamu lamented that the education sector is on the brink of collapse due to the lack of qualified teachers.

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“We need a minimum of 1.2 million teachers for Nigerian classrooms to be adequately staffed,” she said. “The ratio should be one teacher to 25 pupils, but there are schools where one teacher is left with 300, 400 or even 500 children.”

Addressing the 160 new matriculants, Adamu observed that most students showed interest in business, political science and social sciences, rather than core education subjects. She suggested that this trend reflected wider challenges facing the profession.

“From my mental calculation, about 44 students chose business, 20 went into social sciences, and 15 into political science.

While this is encouraging, it also highlights the neglect of teacher-focused courses, which is worrying at a time when Nigeria is at the threshold of a crisis in the education sector,” she noted.

Adamu expressed hope that the full implementation of the National Teacher Education Policy would help reposition teaching as a respected profession and attract more young Nigerians to the field.

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She urged the students to embrace teaching with passion and commitment, reminding them that their decision to pursue education was crucial to the nation’s future.