PROBLEMS FACING SCIENCE TEACHERS IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NIGERIA AND WAY FORWARD

Abstract

The teaching of sciences programmes in the public secondary schools in Nigeria is a collective responsibility of all stakeholders involved, be it teachers, school authorities, parents, and the government. The various government at both the federal and state, employ science teachers to teach subjects like chemistry, physics, Biology, Mathematics, and environmental education, etc. The implementation of these programmes are hinged on the science teachers who are expected to ensure that the students acquire the necessary knowledge and scientific skills. It is unfortunate that these science teachers are facing many problems and these problems affects their productivity. This paper is aimed to discuss the problems faced by science teachers in public secondary schools in the post covid-19 era. This paper collate both the secondary data and primary data. The secondary data were used to provide empirical support for the salient points raised in the paper presentation. The secondary data were sourced from internet and print materials via Google search engines. The paper concluded that inadequate funding, teaching of large classes, poor training and retraining programme, inadequate laboratories, shortage of instructional materials, poor motivation, unconducive working environment and inadequate infrastructural facilities, ineffective supervision ,poor curriculum development, lack of Candidates’ interest and insecurity problems are the problems currently faced by science teachers in Nigerian public secondary schools. To solve the problems facing sciences teachers in public secondary schools in Nigeria, this paper recommended among others, that government should increase the annual budget allocated for science programmes, and employ more professional science teachers to the public secondary schools so as to reduce the high teacher-students ratio in science classes.