Abia Explains Second Batch Of Teachers’ Recruitment, Says 36,000 Applied For 4,000 Slots

The Abia State Government has clarified the process for the second batch recruitment of teachers in public schools, explaining why cut-off marks vary across subjects.

Addressing journalists in Umuahia, the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Elder Goodluck Ubochi said the exercise was aimed at closing the remaining teacher gap after the first recruitment.

He recalled that Governor Alex Otti had in 2025 approved 5,000 teachers, with 5,394 eventually recruited. Following a needs assessment from school heads, the Governor approved another 4,000 teachers.

Elder Ubochi explained that while the first batch was restricted to candidates with NCE and Bachelor’s degree in Education (B.Ed), the second batch was opened to all graduates to accommodate technical, vocational and other subject areas where education graduates were not available.

According to the government, 36,000 candidates applied on the portal. A 40 percent benchmark was set to be inclusive, and about 21,000 candidates were invited for oral interview to ensure a second layer of assessment.

After collating needs from all schools, the government said primary schools need 911 teachers, while junior and senior secondary schools have specific needs by subject.

This subject-specific need, it said, informed varying cut-off marks.

“For Biology, we had 360 candidates who scored above 50.5%, but only 260 are needed. So we had to take the top 260. For technical subjects where only five people applied, we took all five. For Marketing, over 400 scored above 50.5% but only 11 are needed. That is why cut-off varies,” Elder Ubochi noted.

Overall, 5,785 candidates met the 50.5% general cut-off, but many will be screened out based on subject vacancies. Those not immediately engaged will be kept in a pool to fill future vacancies, with no new recruitment expected in the next two to three years.

The government said the process was transparent, with disqualification of candidates who failed to present original certificates, especially those who graduated over five years ago.

It added that copies of the final list have been given to the Governor and relevant boards to prevent manipulation.

On deployment, the government said onboarding through the Secondary Education Management Board, SEMB, and the Abia State Universal Basic Education Board, ASUBEB, will start this month, with orientation scheduled for early September before deployment for the 2025/2026 academic session.

It said the new teachers would be given two to three years to obtain professional qualification through the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, TRCN, and that government is working with host communities to address accommodation challenges for teachers posted to rural areas.