An appraisal of Teachers unwillingness to Teach in rural areas of Chanchaga Local Government Area in Niger State.

Abstract

Among the major challenges to the achievement of “education for all” is the shortage of teachers particularly in remote areas of developing countries where the rate of out-of- school children is highly increasing. The aim of this study was to determine the perceived factors contributing to Teachers unwillingness to teach in rural areas of Chanchaga local government area in Niger State and the strategies to retain them. A total of 118 teachers with teaching experience of about ten years who once taught or currently teaching in rural schools were randomly selected. A validated developed questionnaire was used to obtain information from the respondents. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and facilitated by the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Findings revealed that poor standard of living in the rural areas, stressful nature of working at rural communities and preference to live in the urban cities as personal factors for teachers not willing to teach in the rural areas. It was also discovered that special salary scale, additional allowances and provision of adequate facilities for rural teachers as factors that can retain teachers to teach in the rural areas. It is therefore recommended that government need to provide additional incentives such as; special salary scale, adequate facilities and additional allowances for teachers in the rural areas so as to retain them in order to achieve the target of “education for all” in few years coming.