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World Teachers’ Day: Nigerian teachers bemoan infrastructural deficit, seek improved welfare

AS Nigeria joins the rest of the world in commemorating World Teachers’ Day today, Saturday, October 5, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Public Schools (ANCOPPS) have called on all tiers of governments in the country to prioritise the provision of infrastructure and learning materials in basic and secondary schools across the country.

In separate remarks, the unions’ leaders highlighted the persistent challenges faced by educators, including inadequate infrastructure, lack of learning materials, and insufficient welfare support, while stressing the need for urgent government intervention.

According to a statement on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) website, the 2024 World Teachers’ Day has the theme, “Valuing teacher voices: towards a new social contract for education.”

In a statement on Friday, NUT’s national president, Mike Ike-Ene, emphasised the importance of teachers in nation-building and urged the government to fulfil its promises to educators.

“Teachers deserve to be celebrated globally. As we reflect on their contributions, it’s important for teachers to also recognise their achievements through the impact they’ve had on their employers, their students, and themselves,” he said.

He added, “Teachers should be well taken care of, especially now that local government allocations are autonomous. Local governments have no excuse for not paying primary school teachers on time. We also expect the minimum wage to be paid to all teachers, as some are still struggling with the ₦30,000 wage in primary schools.”

Ike-Ene expressed concerns over the state of infrastructure in schools, especially in rural areas where basic learning infrastructures are lacking.

He also said promises by former President Muhammadu Buhari during the 2020 World Teachers’ Day celebration remained unfulfilled.

“In 2020, former President Muhammadu Buhari made 13 promises to teachers during World Teachers’ Day, but I doubt if even three have been fulfilled. The government needs to implement policies that will truly uplift education

“Despite these challenges, we will celebrate because teaching is a noble profession,” he added.

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Ike-Ene said Buhari promised a special salary scale for teachers, an increase in years of service, a special pension scheme, and a housing scheme for teachers, among others, adding that four years later, they remained unfulfilled.




     

     

    “The government must invest in infrastructure and provide essential learning materials like chalk, boards, books, and pens. It’s demoralising for teachers to use their meagre salaries to buy these supplies. If the government does not invest more in education, there will be little progress,” Ike-Ene emphasised.

    The ANCOPPS national president, Musa Ibrahim, also expressed frustration over the government’s attitudes towards teachers and education but affirmed that teachers remained resilient despite the challenges they faced.

    “There is nothing new we want to tell the government that they do not already know. The issue is that none of the problems we have raised have ever been resolved. Some of these were even part of the government’s campaign promises, yet nothing has been done,” Ibrahim said.

    He added that despite the country’s economic, political, and security challenges, teachers would continue to celebrate their resilience. “We are celebrating our perseverance and resilience in working despite having so little. If we don’t celebrate ourselves, no one else will,” he concluded.

    Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.

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