Education
STAKEHOLDERS in the South-South have expressed worries that Nigeria does not get the optimum performance from teachers and pupils because of the current deplorable condition of most public primary schools.
The people, in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in the region, said the situation in pubic schools had endangered children’s education in the region.
The respondents said primary education which was regarded as the most important phase in a child’s academic endeavour, had been neglected and relegated to the background.
They said that the problem had been compounded by poor remuneration of the teachers and needed to be urgently addressed.
The stakeholders appealed that the infrastructure in public primary schools be improved and teachers properly remunerated to ensure optimum performance of the teachers and pupils.
An Associate Professor in the Department of Social Works, University of Calabar, Grace Etuk, said Nigeria should not expect optimum performance from the teachers and the pupils in the nearest future, except the situation was urgently reversed.
Etuk said it was unfortunate that public primary schools in the region lacked the most basic but essential infrastructure such as beautiful playgrounds capable of stimulating a child’s mental abilities.
She said the salaries of primary school teachers were so uninspiring, adding that many states within the region, including Cross River, had yet to implement the national minimum wage of N30,000, years after its approval.
“We don’t provide the necessary infrastructure in these schools; we pay the teachers less, yet we expect them to give their best.
“That is not practical; the results we get is based on the inputs we make.
“I have visited many primary schools in Calabar in the cause of my social work and what I see are classes of between 60 and 80 pupils.
“This is sad because there is no magic wand that can make teachers of such classes very effective,” she said.
According to her, it is a shame that in 2022, Cross River still has the same number of primary schools it had 20 years ago.
She appealed to government to improve the infrastructure in the schools and remunerate teachers properly to ensure the desired performance by the teachers and pupils.
Etuk appealed to Parent Teachers Association (PTA) in Cross River to assist the schools in bridging some of the gaps by providing recreational facilities and computers, among others.
Mr Castro Ezama, Special Adviser to Gov. Ben Ayade on Education, said steps were already being taken to improve basic education in the state.
Ezama commended government’s efforts through the Universal Basic Education (UBE) intervention towards transforming primary schools in the nation.
He, however, regretted that the same UBE scheme was fast becoming an economic and political tool in the hands of few.
“Contracts to build infrastructures are given to loyalists, business and political cronies and most times these contracts are poorly or not executed,” he said.
Similarly, Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, had at a recent workshop, lamented the alarming rate of out-of-school children, and noted that all Nigerian children deserved sound education.
In Uyo, the Akwa Ibom capital, Mr Edwin Udofia, a retired teacher decried the level of disdain primary school teachers in the state had been subjected to, in spite of their contributions to society.
”Teachers are not paid well; those that are retired are owed gratuities. Some even die before their gratuities are paid,” he lamented.
According to him, the system does not encourage people to seek career in teaching and has made a mess of the noble profession.
Corroborating his view, Mrs Idongsit Ashameri, an Uyo-based journalist, said that teachers’ welfare in the state was unbefitting and not provided regularly.
Respondents in Yenegoa, the capital of Bayelsa, also lamented the deplorable state of infrastructure and working condition in primary schools across the state.
They said primary education, which was regarded as the most important phase in a child’s academic endeavour, had been neglected in the state.
A primary school teacher, Mrs Eunice Ibhe, said teachers’ salaries were irregular, adding “we can wait for up to 40 days or more before receiving our salaries if they ever come.’’
Ibhe lamented that life had been difficult for many primary school teachers in the state due to indiscriminate salary cuts.
“Sometimes a university graduate receives less salary than a National Certificate in Education (NCE) graduate in this state,” she said.
She told NAN that several complaints to the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and other relevant authorities on the matter had yet to yield the desired result.
Corroborating Ibhe’s claim, another teacher, Mr Amure Ebi, said there was no fixed date for payment of teachers’ salaries in the state.
Ebi also said that the state government had yet to implement the N30,000 minimum wage in primary schools, pointing out that their counterparts in secondary schools were already enjoying it.
However, there seems to be a ray of hope for primary school teachers a d pupils in Edo, where stakeholders have applauded government’s commitment to infrastructural development and capacity building for teachers.
Mr Elder Odeh, the state Chairman, All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPPS), described the condition of schools in the state as commendable.
Odeh told NAN that the state government was carrying out a reform that was all encompassing, noting that all schools would wear a new look when they resumed for a new academic session in September.
“The situation is okay and fine; we are in order. Government is doing a lot of reforms and I am sure by the time we resume in September, most of these reforms are going to be in place.
“The reform is all encompassing. Government is also focusing on infrastructural development or renewal as we may like to call it,” he said.
On payment of salaries, Odeh said teachers received salaries between 25th and 26th of every month.
“In terms of take home, I don’t think there is a ministry that can rival teachers in terms of salary, especially when the Teachers Salary Structure (TSA) allowance is added.
“You will discover we are far ahead of our counterparts in the ministries,” he said.
The state Commissioner for Education, Dr Joan Osa-Oviawe, said the present government inherited a large inventory of dilapidated school buildings.
She noted, however, that government was already collaborating with other stakeholder in its efforts to strengthen education funding in the state, particularly in the area of infrastructure renewal.
“The erosion of quality in our public schools did not start yesterday. It is decades long. We are now at a point where Gov. Godwin Obaseki has mustered the political will to do something about it.
According to a respondent in Asaba, Delta capital, Tony Pemu, it is a deliberate conspiracy of the rich and the leaders of the country against the poor to have policies that seem to destroy basic education in Nigeria.
“Due to infrastructure and poor remuneration, primary school teachers are demotivated and cannot do much for themselves. Some states pay teachers through the local government.
“Sometimes their salaries do not even come, because the local government has not got enough allocation.
“The painful part of it is that these leaders went to the same government primary schools that made them who they are today.
“These leaders should understand that primary school is where the character and foundation of every child are formed,” he said.
He said that the way forward was for government to redesign the country’s education policies especially from the basics.
“When you check with the United Nations education system policies we are at the bottom of the ladder.
“Major reforms should be put in place, taking into cognizance the welfare package of primary school teachers,” he added. (NAN)
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