TIME TO CELEBRATE TEACHERS 

 Teachers should be well motivated

As Nigeria joins other countries to mark the 2024 World Teachers’ Day tomorrow, it is important for authorities at all levels and other critical stakeholders to appreciate the sacrifices of teachers. In societies that value quality education, high premium is placed on teachers who are well-remunerated. Unfortunately, the reverse is the case in Nigeria. Today, many take to teaching for want of anything else to do. Unlike in the past, teaching is now a job of last resort for many people. Yet these are the people expected to shape the future of the country.

Held annually on 5th October since 1994, the aim of the World Teachers’ Day is to celebrate all teachers around the globe. It commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1996 International Labour Organisation (ILO) and UNESCO joint recommendation “which sets benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers, and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions.” According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), It is a day not only to celebrate how teachers are transforming education “but also to reflect on the support they need to fully deploy their talent and vocation, and to rethink the way ahead for the profession globally.” 

Three years ago, apparently to encourage Nigerians to take up career in teaching, the federal government announced that those studying education in public universities would be paid N75,000 stipends every semester. Similarly, colleges of education students were also billed to receive N50,000 per semester. Not surprisingly, the promise was never fulfilled even when teachers need all the encouragement that they can get to take their work seriously. Indeed, the National Association of Parents-Teachers Association (NAPTAN) had rejected the offer outright, asking, ”After being paid in school, do we have job placements waiting for them?”   

The same cynicism greeted the special salary package and other pecks for teachers, including the increase of their years of service and retirement age. While the rationale of attracting quality teachers to the classrooms is good, the federal government did not plan where the funds to implement the programme would come from. The states and local governments that own these schools were not even consulted before such a major policy decision was announced. The states have been agitating for a review of the revenue allocation formula to be able pick up their mounting bills. Besides, it makes little sense to elongate service year in the face of mass graduate unemployment of teachers and others.   

 Even worse, many teachers are under attack.  

At the 2022 National Delegates Conference of the Nigeria Union of Teachers last year, the Chief Executive of Teachers’ Registration Council

of Nigeria (TRCN), Josiah Ajiboye, revealed that repeated attacks on schools by terror affiliates have claimed the lives of more than 2,295 teachers while about 19,000 others were displaced between 2009 and 2022.  This development has created classrooms without teachers particularly in many northern states. Since education is on the concurrent list, there is an urgent need for the federal government and the states to come together on how to create a safe space for teachers. 

As we join the rest of the world tomorrow to celebrate our teachers, we urge the all stakeholders to appreciate teachers more. They mould the future of our country.