By Rita Iliya
Gov. Umaru Bago of Niger, has decried the falling standard of education especially in public schools in the state.
Bago who said this during the 2023 World Teachers` Day celebration on Thursady in Minna, called for attitudinal change toward the sector.
The theme of the celebration is: The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse teacher shortage in Minna.
Bago was represented by the Deputy Governor, Mr Yakubu Garba on the occasion.
He acknowledged that enhancement of teachers’ salaries was overdue and promised to address the salary gap of teachers in the state.
“Firstly, we need to change our attitude generally, if you are a teacher, we understand your plight, I want to plead with all teachers to be patriotic and resilience in impacting knowledge,” he said.
He said that government would look into the challenges affecting teachers and promised to pay 50 per cent of outstanding October salary within the next 10 days.
In a remark, Mr Akayago Mohammed, Chairman of NUT in Niger, said the event was to celebrate the contributions of teachers to nation building.
He said that it was unfortunate that teachers, who impact knowledge on the lives of people, are always neglected and reduced to beggars.
Akayago appealed to Bago to review teachers’ salaries upward and other challenges ranging from over population of pupils, lack of teachers and dilapidated structures amongst others.
In his Keynote address, Alhaji Yabagi Alfa, former Registrar, Niger College of Education, Minna, said the country needed highly qualified and motivated teachers.
He said that to reverse the shortage of teachers, government should allocate more resources for in service training of teachers, increase their remuneration to retain them.
Hajiya Hadiza Mohammed, Commissioner, Basic and Secondary Education, said the governor had given the ministry a matching order to study and proposed measures to address shortage of teachers and improve the sector.
Speaker of the House, Mr Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, assured that the state house of assembly would come up with legislation to review the old education laws, especially on area of teachers` welfare. (NAN)
