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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has expressed disappointment over failure of the Federal Government to fulfill promises it made to basic education teachers three years after the pronouncement was made by former president, Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari in his address at the 2020 World Teachers Day, in Abuja, had announced some mouth-watering incentives for teachers in his desire to attract the best brains in the profession and also retain the existing ones.
He approved 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.
He directed the Tertiary Education Fund (TETFund) to take up the funding of teaching practice in universities and colleges of education, and advocated enhanced entry point 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 special pension scheme to enable the teaching profession 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 teaching profession be designed as well as teachers conversion programme and ICT training to mitigate the dearth of qualified teachers in the school system.
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 (NPOM) Awards.
These, he said, was to 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.
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 application at federal level.
“Some states have commenced actions on years of service aspect of the incentives. Aside from 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 explained that actions were being taken on six out of the eleven items contained in the revitalisation policy for teachers and teaching profession.
“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,” he said.
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.
