Education
STAKEHOLDERS in the education sector have called for the adoption of a special salary structure for teaching profession to make it more attractive and rewarding.
The stakeholders from the South East made the call in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the deplorable conditions of primary schools and poor remuneration of teachers in Nigeria.
They decried the poor salary structure for teachers especially in public primary and secondary schools stressing that the development was affecting productivity in the sector.
They urged governments at all levels to place premium on salaries and welfare of teachers at primary and post-primary levels in Nigeria.
In Ebonyi, Mr Christian Chukwu, a retired secondary school teacher noted that the monthly salary paid to a teacher remained among the least when compared with workers in other sectors.
“What a teacher in a public school in Nigeria receives monthly is abysmally poor and not commensurate to the amount of time, energy and work they put in shaping and nurturing the school children,” Chukwu said.
He recommended enhanced salary package for school teachers to make their work more attractive and rewarding.
Mr Friday Elom, a former Special Assistant on Primary Education in Ebonyi, stressed the need for enhanced budgetary allocation to the education sector.
“First, we do not prioritise education hence, the poor budgetary allocation to the sector every fiscal year.
“Teaching service should be fully professionalised while practitioners are made to possess relevant and requisite knowledge before they are allowed to practice in Nigeria.
“The idea of making teaching an all-comers affair in Nigeria has been the reason for payment of poor remuneration to teachers, but, once teaching is fully professionalised the sector will become regulated.
“Regulation of teaching practice will make it possible for only those with teaching license to be allowed to teach in both public and private schools in Nigeria,” Elom said.
Mrs Lovelyn Ebuka, a staff member in the Ebonyi Ministry of Education, said that many countries where teaching service were given priority had better output and better standards.
“Because of proper remuneration for teachers in countries such as; Finland, South Africa, Ghana among others, the standard of teaching and learning are higher and many qualified personnel troop to these countries in search of greener pastures,” she said.
In Imo, stakeholders in the education sector call for the overhaul of primary education sub-sector to improve quality and standard of the sector.
In her contribution, the Proprietress of Fine Foundation Nursery and Primary Schools, Owerri, Mrs Charity Osuji, said a total overhaul of the system was long overdue.
Osuji said that in her 17 years of school management, she had never seen primary schools in such a deplorable state, noting that in some parts of the country, pupils sat on bare floors to study.
“We cannot afford to pretend that all is well; some of our pupils sit on the bare floor, others stand on flooded assembly grounds, like we saw on social media sometime ago.
“This is unacceptable and only a total overhaul of the system can save the situation,” she said.
Also contributing, a retired teacher, Mrs Florence Irediuwa, also recommended an upward review of the remunerations of primary school teachers.
She said it would help improve their attitude to work and reduce the possible distractions that come from part-time jobs.
“Some of our teachers do part-time jobs to make ends meet and you do not blame them because they have to put food on the table.
“So, an upward review of their salaries and allowances will go a long way to boost their morale for optimal production,” she stressed.
A parent, Mr Sampson Uhuegbu, regretted that primary schools, rather than serve as pillars of education was fast becoming “endangered species”.
Uhuegbu urged government at all levels to partner willing private individuals and organisations such as religious bodies to revive the sub-sector.
He noted that the quarterly inspection of schools by state governors should be enshrined in Nigeria’s constitution to serve as wake-up call for the restructuring of education in the country.
A Guidance Counsellor, Mrs Abigail Adams, expressed concern that children were fast losing interest in education.
Adams, a mother of three, blamed it on the spate of abandonment of schools and the prioritizing of entertainment and the social media over formal education.
She called for a more pragmatic approach to teaching and learning in line with modern methodologies as a way of reigniting interest in education.
Concerned residents of Enugu State decried the deplorable condition of primary schools in terms of shortage of classrooms due to increase in enrolment within the past five years.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that overcrowding of pupils was a direct fallout of the increasing population, rural-to-urban drift and inadequate plans for expansion over some years now.
A Correspondent of NAN, who visited public school complexes in Igbariam, Idaw River, WTC, Uwani, Zik Avenue and New Haven all in Enugu metropolis, observed that their structures were in good shape with toilet facilities.
However, Mr Olu Omotayo, President, Civil Right Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN), said that notwithstanding the issue of overcrowding, there are very deplorable primary schools in the state especially when you move out of Enugu metropolis.
“Apart from structures, primary school teachers and supervisors do not take their jobs seriously any longer due to poor remuneration, delayed pension payment to retired colleagues and lack of welfare concern.
“Government should engage stakeholders to suggest ways to uplift public primary schools and increase their monthly pay and other entitlements to attract zealous teachers to the system,” Omotayo said.
A concerned parent, Mrs Chichi Ani, said that apart from deplorable structures that could be easily fixed, primary schools had been made less attractive by the disdainful way teachers were treated in the society.
Ani said: “Previously, the respect and acknowledgment given to teachers will definitely make one want to be a teacher or associate with them.
“But today the reverse is the case; politicians and administrators see teachers as people they can toy with their payments and even earned pensions as well as deny them their entitlement for a very long time.”
Meanwhile, primary school teachers in Enugu State had embarked on an indefinite strike for close to two months in Enugu state over the non implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage.
Responding, state’s Commissioner for Education, Prof. Uchenna Eze, said government had already met with executives of the Nigeria Union of Teachers and would soon begin the process of implementing the new wage for primary school teachers.
“Government is putting final modalities to resolve the issue leading to the indefinite strike embarked by primary school teachers in the state,” he said.
In Anambra, low job satisfaction among public primary school teachers has been blamed for low enrollment into primary schools in the state.
Some parents and guardians who spoke to NAN in Awka said the absence of primary schools in most new residential areas was also another problem.
Mr Collins Okeke, a resident of Ifite-Awka in Awka, the capital town, said there was only one public primary school serving the entire area such that those who wished to enroll their children and wards could not do so.
Okeke said the problem of the people in the area was largely that of unavailability of school.
He called on Anambra government to establish primary schools in response to the growing population in the state as those existing were those set up by town unions.
He said those living around Government House, GRA and newly developed areas of Ifite-Awka were compelled by the existing situation to send their children and wards to private primary schools at a huge cost.
Also speaking, Mrs Chinenye Emordi, a Secondary School Teacher, said there was need to enhance the working conditions of primary school teachers to make them more committed to their job.
Emordi, who said she had her children in private primary school, said apart from salaries, the infrastructure of public primary schools should be improved.
She said that many parents were not sending their children to public schools because the conditions were not conducive for learning and comfort of pupils.
She called for attention to increase the desirability of public primary schools and make them best destinations for parents.
Effort to get government reactions was unsuccessful as calls and messages to Prof. Ngozi Udeh, Commissioner for Education in Anambra were not responded to.
However, NAN reports that the Federal Government had in 2020, announced that teachers will begin to enjoy new salary structure promised by President Muhammadu Buhari from January, 2022.
The former Education Minister of State, Mr Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba made the disclosure at the 2021 World Teachers Day saying that work was being concluded on the enhanced salary structure.
Nwajiuba represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Sonny Echono, listed other incentives to include allowances,housing, training and elongation of service year from 35 years to 40 years. (www request MNA NAN)
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Tags: CHRISTIAN Chukwu Friday Elom Lovelyn Ebuka Olu Omotayo Sampson Uhuegbu
