“The best way to retain young teachers is good and sustainable reward system that must start with minimum and living wage for all working teaching men and women”.
Comrade Issa Aremu, NEC member NLC and former LP Governorship Candidate, Kwara State made this observation in a Solidarity statement marking 2019 World Teachers Day (WTD) in Abuja on Saturday.
World Teachers Day (WTD) is declared by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), October 5th every year.
It offers annual platform to draw public attention to the plight of working teachers in particular and education in general.
Comrade Issa said there was an urgent need to implement special Teachers Salary Structure (TSS) for all teachers in public and private schools nation wide.
The labour leader lamented that Nigeria’s primary education crisis has almost been defined in terms of falling quality, incoherent curriculum, examinations malpractices, poor funding, dilapidated structures and abysmally poor sector management.
He said however it was time searchlights were beamed on the status of teachers, “the real drivers of education and their status”.
Comrade Aremu hailed the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), for organizing a number of activities and promotional manifestations to bring to the fore critical issues begging for attention in the country’s education sector today.
He said 2019 Teachers’ Day celebration assumes special importance as it focuses on the urgent “need to retain young teachers in the teaching profession in which there has been much attrition as many trained teachers are leaving the profession.”
He added that this year also marks the 53rd anniversary of the UNESCO/ILO recommendation on the Status of Teachers in the countries that ratified the recommendation in 1966.
According to him, Nigeria faces the challenges of both quality and quantity of teachers.
He called on the Federal and state governments to massively recruit, motivate and train more teachers for Nigeria to be able to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
“Education” he said “is key to all the 17 development goals to which Nigeria subscribes. But there can only be good education with good quality teachers. With less than 3 million teachers in public schools, teachers per pupil is still low in Nigeria.”
Comrade Aremu commended President Muhammadu Buhari for sustaining the President’ Teachers and School Excellence Award which has restored the dignity of teachers nation wide.
He also hailed Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state for building on the legacy of his predecessor, to deepen education development in the state by enhancing the status of teachers.
