The Nigeria Union of Teachers on Tuesday expressed disappointment at the failure of the Federal Government to fulfil the promises it made to teachers three years ago.
The PUNCH reports that former President Buhari in his address at the 2020 World Teachers Day, in Abuja, announced some mouth-watering incentives for the teachers in his desire to attract the best brains in the profession and also retain the existing ones.
The former President had announced the approval of the reintroduction of bursary award to education students in Universities and Colleges of Education with the assurance of automatic employment upon graduation; as well as payment of stipends to students studying education as well as granting them automatic employment after graduation.
Buhari had also directed the Tertiary Education Fund to take up the funding of teaching practice in Universities and Colleges of Education and advocated enhanced entry points for teachers in the civil service by restricting entry into the teaching profession to highly gifted, academically outstanding students/scholars with the right attitudinal and emotional disposition.
He asked for a special salary scale for teachers in basic and secondary schools, including provisions for rural posting allowance, science teachers allowance, and peculiar allowance; as well as a special pension scheme to enable the teaching profession to retain its experienced talents as well as to extend teachers’ retirement age to 65 years and teaching service years to 40.
He directed that a career path policy for the teaching profession in Nigeria be designed; as well as a teachers’ conversion programme and ICT training to mitigate the dearth of qualified teachers in the school system.
In addition to that, the President also approved low-cost housing for teachers in rural areas; sponsorship to, at least, one refresher training per annum to benchmark best practices for improved teaching and learning; expansion of the annual presidential teachers and schools awards to cover more categories and for the outstanding winners to be considered for National Awards and National Productivity Order of Merit Awards.
These, he said, would motivate and restore the lost glory of teachers in Nigeria, hence he directed the then Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, to ensure an accelerated implementation of the policies and measures in collaboration with states/local governments and other relevant government offices to enthrone a culture of competence, discipline, dedication, increased learning outcomes and better service delivery in the education sector in Nigeria.
NUT President, Titus Amba, confirmed to journalists at a press conference in Abuja, to herald the 2023 World Teachers Day, that many of the promises/incentives have not been fulfilled except the service year elongation which is only applied at the federal level.
Amba said, “Some states have commenced actions on years of service aspect of the incentives Aside that, none other incentive has been fulfilled. But we believe that the new Minister will work on the incentives because he’s committed to the cause of teachers’ welfare.”
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, David Adejoh, in his remarks, explained that actions are being taken on six out of the eleven items contained in the revitalisation policy for teachers and the teaching profession in Nigeria.
He said, “Education is in the concurrent list, hence, the input of the state government is required at all times for successful implementation of any policy or project in the education sector.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, in his remarks, appreciated the contributions of teachers to nation-building, promising that he will continue to push for any course that will guarantee better welfare and working conditions for them.
