WORLD TEACHERS DAY: BUHARI PLEDGES TO REVAMP TEACHING

——Teachers request implementation of minimum wage

The theme of World Teachers’ Day 2022, “The Transformation of Education Begins With Teachers,” marks the 26th edition of the celebration in Nigeria.

It highlights the important role of teachers in transforming and shaping the future of education in the midst of growing societal needs and challenges of the 21″ century such as climate change, rising inequalities and rapid technological advancement.

President Muhammadu Buhari, on the occasion promised that his government will continue to chart the course of promoting education.

Represented by vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, he assured that he is determined to return teachers and the teaching profession to the right condition.

He said that his administration is implementing the professional teaching and teacher qualification framework standards that will invariably impact on education outcome and teacher performance at the pre-school, basic, secondary and tertiary levels.

“We are also developing a verifiable database of teachers in Nigeria, already the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has registered 2, 108, 342 teachers and licensed 1,250,000 teachers.

Our new teachers policy is already being implemented at tne Federal level and in some States and I urge States that have not, to do so immediately , the gains are already showing,” he said.

Meanwhile teachers are making stern request for implementation of the N30,0000 national minimum wage for teachers by some state governments, urging the affected states to implement it immediately to avoid industrial dispute.

The president Nigeria Union of Teachers, Comrade Titus Amba, reiterated that federal and state governments should increase budgetary allocation to 20 per cent and progressively to 26 per cent as recommended by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

“The basic and secondary education sub-sectors are faced with serious challenges.

These include non-implementation of the N30,000.00 minimum wage for teachers in some states, shortage of teachers, poor infrastructure, lack of instructional materials, insecurity in schools, inadequate funding and poor conditions of service in general” 

He maintained that the challenges require extra efforts on the part of the teachers to assess and identify learning loss and adopt recovery measures to ensure that no learner is left behind.

Speaking, minister of education Mallam Adamu Adamu said that government will focus on deepening the reforms in the education sector with enhanced funding for its activities.

“We call on states and local governments to prioritise the welfare of teachers by placing their salaries on first line charge in their respective budgets. This, we believe will provide a solution to the spectre of unpaid salaries,” he said

Part of the activities for the teachers’ day was recognition and presentation of gifts to deserving teachers, administrators and schools for their outstanding contributions to quality education delivery in Nigeria.