The central focus of this paper is to identify the challenges teachers
face in the course of discharging their basic responsibilities, and the impact of the
challenges on the teachers’ job performance in Rivers State under the Universal
Basic Education (UBE) scheme. The scope of the study is on the job activities
and challenges of the teachers, the Rivers State Government’s role in the
implementation process of the UBE objectives in the state, and the attendant
consequences of the teachers’ job challenges on both the students and the state,
within the period of 2007 and 2015. Expectancy-value is used as the theoretical
framework of analysis to explain teachers’ job performance in the schools,
secondary data are employed for the study and content analysis engaged as a tool
to analyze the data. The study findings prove among other things, that poor
motivation, manpower imbalance, political influence on teachers’ appointment
and inadequate workshop and teaching facilities are teachers’ challenges while
discharging their duties in the schools. The study further established that the
teachers’ challenges have significant impact on the teachers’ job performance in
the state UBE. Arising from the findings, some recommendations were made as
strategies to reduce teachers’ challenges and improve on their job performance in
the state UBE.
Keywords : Challenges, Job Performance, Expectancy-value