TEACHERS in Nigeria, yesterday joined their counterparts in other parts of the world to mark the World Teachers Day, and made several demands from government on welfare and other conditions of service aimed at improving the standard of the teaching profession in the country.
Speaking at the occasion, President of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, Michael Alogba-Olukoya, said it was criminal for any employer of labour not to pay its workers, urging state governments not to divert the bailouts offered them by the Federal Government but to use same to pay workers owed.
He said: “Apart from the fact that non-payment of the monthly salaries to hardworking workers is a criminal offence, it is also inhuman for any employer of labour to deny workers their monthly wages,” even as he expressed concern about the discrimination in the placement of terminal salary grade levels of graduate teachers in primary and secondary schools in various states.
Lagos State
The Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Idiat Adebule, who represented Governor Akinwumi Ambode, at the annual event at the University of Lagos, UNILAG, Akoka, pledged that the state government would build on the legacies of its predecessors.
According to her, “Remuneration and career structure based on qualification, places the terminal grade level of university graduates who teach in primary schools on grade level 17, the same set of graduates who teach in primary schools terminate on grade level 14 and their secondary school counterparts terminate on 15 or 16 in many states of the federation.
State chairman of NUT, Raheem Adesegun, stressed the need for the teachers to be motivated, compensated and empowered to perform and deliver on their mandates, while calling for an an upward review of classroom teachers salary grade levels.
He said: “Teachers are in the centre of the educational configuration but they are denied, deprived and depressed. To redress the situation, teachers must attract a genuine professional status and be paid a special salary scale to address their social and financial short-change and disenfranchisement.”
Edo State
In Edo State, state chapter of NUT, commended Governor Adams Oshiomhole for the improvement of the educational sector in the state, even as it appealed to the state government to commence the promotion of teachers which was last done in 2012.
Its chairman, Mike Uhunmwangho, while addressing members in Benin City, said: “There is no doubt that the state government has tried in revamping the educational sector that was in bad shape before now. But we will like to appeal that teachers should be promoted in Edo State because the last time that was done was in 2012.
We want training and retraining of our teachers as promised by the state government, payment of salary arrears of over 300 teachers in Ovia North-East Local Government Area, who were transferred to other local government areas, resumption of regular payment of subventions, car and housing loans to teachers, pardon of principals who have been on suspension close to a year and the request for a parcel of land to build a new teachers’ house since the old one has been engulfed by flood.
The NUT still strongly believes and insists that adequate and proper investment in the education sector, with particular emphasis on the teachers, remains the best strategy to recover from the worsening financial and economic crisis facing the country at the moment. We must admonish our teachers to re-assess and re-dedicate themselves to the noble profession by discharging their duties with renewed vigour and great sense of responsibility.”
Responding, Commissioner for Higher Education, Mr. Washington Osifo, said the government was taking steps to end the problems associated with the educational sector in the state, as well as create an environment to respond to imminent issues in that sector.
He said: “Even the teachers here on a daily basis are aware that the government of Edo State, as it is now, is one that is friendly and understands the plight of the teachers.
Delta State
Similarly, in Delta State, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa stressed the need for the Nigerian educational system to incorporate enterprise education, education for citizenship, financial education, collaborative online learning and digital literac, among others, into the educational curriculum.
The governor also stressed the need to include emotional intelligence, interdisciplinary learning, critical thinking, effective communication and learning beyond classroom into the curriculum.
Speaking, the Deputy Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Mr. Friday Osanebi, said teachers played a critical role in nation building and development and must be celebrated always as very important stakeholders.
The Deputy Speaker, said teachers determined the future of any nation, adding: “I want to thank my primary and secondary school teachers. Teachers’ roles in the fabric of a nation’s existence cannot be overemphasized; they determine our future through our children.”
State chairman of NUT, Jonathan Jemirieyigbe, expressed optimism that the celebration would cause both state and local governments to redefine the place of its teachers by providing favourable working conditions and the professional excellence needed to achieve the required changes in the educational system.
Akwa Ibom
Also, in Uyo, the NUT urged the state government, to review the law establishing the state’s Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, with a view to correcting perceived structural imbalance in the system.
NUT Chairman in the state, Etim Ukpong, said in his address, that a review of the law became expedient to correct the anomaly where teachers on low salary grade levels were appointed as education secretaries above their senior colleagues in the classrooms.
According to the NUT chairman, this situation helped to dampen the senior teachers’ morale just as it discouraged regulated internal growth in the system.
The union also demanded the state government’s direct intervention and take-over of primary education in the state and ensure that trained teachers with National Certificate of Education, NCE, including Sandwich, Federal and Nigeria Teachers Institute products, were recruited to teach in the primary schools, to ameliorate the dearth of teachers in the system.
Responding, Special Adviser to Governor Udom Emmanuel on Bureau of Labour, Productivity and Manpower Planning, Mr. Ekpenyong Enyina, said as administration with passion for the teaching profession and the welfare of teachers, it would work in tandem with the leadership of the teachers.(Vanguard)
Osarumwense Okunmwendia liked this on Facebook.