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World Teachers Day: Teachers demand 65 years as retirement age
*Niger: Teachers quitting primary, secondary schools- NUT
*Plateau employees 5,253 ad hoc teachers
*Oyo Teachers Lament Non-Payment Of Three Months’ Salaries
*Borno laments loss of member to Boko Haram insurgents
*Poverty, new media are challenges of teachers ―Okowa
*Nigeria’s education sector faced with many challenges —Buhari
* Kogi teachers blame govt for poor standard
*Best teachers get cars in Ekiti
The Nigeria Union of Teachers has demanded that the retirement of teachers of primary and secondary schools in the country be raised from 60 to 65 years.
The National President of NUT, Mr. Michael Olukoya, made the call at the 2017 World Teachers’ Day celebration in Abuja on Thursday.
The theme of this year’s day is: “Teaching in Freedom, Empowering Teachers.”
Olukoya said that the retirement age for teachers in the Colleges of Education, Polytechnics and Universities was extended to 65 and 70 respectively.
He said that doing the same with the primary and secondary schools would remove the segregation since they all belonged to the same teaching industry.
“The more years a teacher spends on the job, the better he delivers his service to the learners given the benefit of the experiences gathered over the years and the wisdom of age.
“The older the teacher, the more caring and tolerant he is to the students with improved dexterity in the pedagogy of teaching required over time.
“It is for this and other similar reasons that the retirement age of lecturers and professors in the tertiary institution was extended to 65 and 70 years,” he said.
The NUT president also called on the Federal Government to look into the plight of primary and secondary school teachers across the country arising from the non-payment of their salaries and allowances for several months.
He said that as at the end of September, primary and secondary school teachers were owed between two and 11 months salaries in 17 states in the country.
He decried that this was becoming worrisome.
Some state government has since adopted the inhuman act of paying monthly salaries infractions without any guarantee that the remaining part of the salaries will be paid to the teachers.
“In the same vein, promotions are yet to be implemented for teachers for two to eight years in some states.
“This situation has brought untold hardship to the affected teachers and has expectedly taken its toll on public education with its attendant effect on the underprivileged children.”
He called on state and local government to effect payment of the backlogs of salaries and other entitlement owed to teachers without further delay.
On the issue of the grade level of graduate teachers, Olukoya said that graduate teachers in the primary and secondary schools were meant to terminate on GL 14 and 16 respectively in some states of the federation.
He said that this was an act of discrimination which was unacceptable while calling for justice, equity and fair play.
He called on the relevant authority to extend the terminal grade level of graduate teachers of both primary and secondary schools to grade levels 17 as obtainable with other graduates of public servants.
He, however, urged the Ministry of Education to facilitate the development of a comprehensive scheme of service for primary and secondary school teachers.
(NAN)
Teachers quitting Niger State’s primary, secondary schools- NUT
The Nigeria Union of Teachers says there is a mass exodus of teachers at both primary and secondary schools in Niger State due to the poor condition of service and remuneration.
The Union’s Chairman in Niger, Malam Ibrahim Umaru, made this known during the 2017 celebration of World Teachers Day tagged: “Teaching in Freedom, Empowering Teachers” in Minna on Thursday.
The World Teachers Day is set aside by UNESCO to honour and celebrate teachers for their immense contributions to humanity and national development.
He called on the state government to pay the outstanding arrears owed some primary schools teachers in August and October.
He urged the Ministry of Education and SUBEB to redouble efforts toward releasing and implementing promotion of affected teachers to boost their morale and improve the educational system.
Umaru appealed to the state government to reintroduce some allowances for teachers in the rural areas to motivate and retain them in service.
“We appealed to the state government to intensify effort to settle our retired teachers who are patiently waiting to be paid their entitlement.
“Government should also make adequate provision of instructional materials to schools to make teaching and learning effective,” he said.
He said that for qualified, trained and experienced teachers to be retained in the system, the government must come up with policies that would make teachers and the teaching profession more attractive.
He advised the government to adopt the procedural recruitment policy by allowing all the statutory recruitment agencies such as Teachers Registration Council, State Universal Basic Education and other vital agencies to be involved in the process.
Plateau employees 5,253 ad hoc teachers
The Plateau Government on Thursday said it had recruited 5,253 ad hoc teachers as part of efforts to address the shortage of teachers in the state.
The Executive Chairman, State Universal Basic Education Board, Prof Mathew Sule, said in Jos that the state government had also trained more than 700 teachers to enhance their capacity and to provide quality education.
The chairman said the deficit and quality of teachers in public primary and Junior Secondary schools had been a major concern to the government.
“We visited some primary schools and discovered that many of the pupils in the senior classes cannot read or write.
“As part of efforts to address the situation, SUBEB organised a three-day training in March on `Jolly Phonics’ for 700 teachers across the state,” he said.
(NAN)
Oyo Teachers Lament Non-Payment Of Three Months’ Salaries
Comrade Waheed Olojede, Secretary of the Oyo State wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), on Thursday revealed that the state government was owing teachers in the state three months’ salaries.
Olojede revealed this while speaking with newsmen at a programme organised to celebrate the 2017 World Teacher’s Day. The theme of this year’s edition is “Teaching in Freedom, Empowering Teachers.”
Addressing newsmen, the Oyo NUT scribe said it was unfortunate that welfare and security of teachers in the state were not being given proper attention.
Olojede specifically lamented that as at Thursday that the Teacher’s Day was being celebrated, teachers in Oyo State were yet to receive their July, August and September salaries.
While appealing to the state government to give more attention to teachers’ welfare, Olojede noted that the irregular payment of salaries has almost eroded the freedom and dignity in the teaching profession.
However, in his speech at the programme, Governor Abiola Ajimobi of the state maintained that his administration had been able to formulate and implement moral boosting policies to make life more meaningful for teachers in the state.
In the speech delivered on his behalf by Professor Joseph Adeniyi Olowofela, the state’s Commissioner for Education Science and Technology, the governor said his administration would continue to encourage teachers to develop professionally because the quality of education in any society depends largely on the quality of its teachers.
He commended teachers in the state for supporting the educational reforms of his administration.
Borno laments loss of member to Boko Haram insurgents
The Borno State council of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) have regretted the loss of one of their members to the brutish hands of Boko Haram insurgents, recently.
The chairman regretted that his colleague, Zanna Wulgo, who was on a military protected convoy headed for Gamboru Ngala for an assignment beneficial to the people, lost his life when he was left alone to fix his car which broke down which made him fall out of the convoy.
Abiso told newsmen in Maiduguri that he could not state if Wulgo lost his life because he was abandoned by the military who control vehicles traversing dangerous routes in the state or he voluntarily agreed to be left alone to fix his car in such a dangerous route.
“Our colleague was the chair of the Maiduguri Metropolitan council MMC chapter of the NUT before he was brutally killed when his vehicle broke down in a convoy going to Gamboru Ngala for official assignment,” he said.
Speaking with newsmen during this year’s commemoration of World Teachers’ Day at the Ramat Square in Maiduguri, the NUT Chairman said that over five hundred teachers have been slaughtered mercilessly by the Boko Haram till date.
Poverty, new media are challenges of teachers ―Okowa
Poverty aided by the harsh economy and the new media have been identified as some of the challenges undermining the effectiveness of teachers and students in the 21st-century quest for smooth education.
These were among the observations enthused on Thursday by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State on the occasion of 2017 World Teachers’ Day themed: ‘Teaching in Freedom, Empowering Teachers,’ in Asaba.
Addressing the teachers, who turned out in their large numbers in Asaba to mark the event, Governor Okowa disclosed that poverty and the proliferation of the new media are realities choking the inculcation of good morals in students as well as the effectiveness of teachers.
“Sometimes, the importance of inculcating good values to our students is daily undermined and challenged by the realities outside the classrooms – poverty and media, especially the internet including another harsh reality – the economy.
“At all times, we should take time to consider, in earnest, the direction our educational system should take, regardless of what resources we have or do not have, to allow us to go head to head with other countries, with our comparative strengths and weaknesses.
“This is what makes education not simply a matter of filling a bucket that was empty, but rather a matter of igniting a needful fire where none existed before.
“Indeed, if our aim is to change the world as we know it, we can only do so by setting the hearts and minds of our students on fire for knowledge; in practical terms.
“This means we cannot settle for mediocrity; we must constantly aim for the perfect score, as a matter of practice, as a matter of principle,” the governor reiterated.
Okowa observed that in his days, he was not only taught, but the right values were inculcated in him, emphasising that teachers should be empowered and given the freedom to carry out their duties.
He disclosed that to ensure quality teachers in the school system, his administration would construct Teachers’ Development Centre for the training and retraining of teachers, just as he commended the NUT for partnering with his administration in moving education forward.
He added that “the empowerment of teachers has always been our priority, more so, now that the United Nations has adopted it as the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal for Education.”
According to him, “my administration places a high premium on education which was evident on assumption of office on 29 May 2015, when we made education one of our top priority areas as encapsulated in our SMART Agenda.
“We quickly instituted a comprehensive NEEDS assessment to reposition the education sector in the state.
“The welfare of teachers, including payment of salaries, promotions, training and sundry obligations, have continued to occupy centre stage in this administration, in spite of very limited resources in the midst of current recession coupled with the huge workforce in the state.
“We have a total of over 18,000 primary school teachers with over 16, 000 teachers in our secondary school system.
“This administration, in its bid to add more impetus to education, deployed 501 graduates among DESOPADEC staff, to the school system.”
Nigeria’s education sector faced with many challenges —Buhari
- Rewards best teacher, Nwoye, with car
- 17 states owing teachers salaries, allowances —NUT
President Muhammadu Buhari has admitted the challenges confronting the education sector and pledged to address them headlong.
Buhari spoke in Abuja, on Thursday, where he handed over the keys of a new Nissan Almera to Mr Okodo Clement Nwoye, 51, from Anambra State, for emerging the 2017 overall best teacher in Nigeria.
The award was presented to Nwoye by the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, who represented the president at the 2017 World Teachers’ Day celebration in Abuja.
This is coming on the revelation by the national president of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Michael Olukoya, that as of the end of September, primary and secondary school teachers were owed from two to 11 months salaries and allowances in 17 states across the country.
Buhari, who pledged to continue to motivate teachers towards improving the standard of education, said the presidential merit award, in which the car was presented to the overall best teacher, was intended to motivate teachers, school administrators and schools at basic and secondary schools.
He said empowering teachers, strengthening the teaching profession and the enthronement of quality education delivery at all levels in the country were among the preoccupations and policy thrusts of his administration.
He added that it was in keeping with the government’s commitment to creating a conducive and safe environment for teaching and learning to flourish that the administration, at inception, tackled the issue of insecurity in the North-East and other parts of the country.
“In spite of the appreciable progress we are making in revitalising the education sector, it is still bedevilled with so many challenges. These challenges are being systematically tackled and addressed.
“The declaration of emergency in the education sector and the launch of the ministerial strategic plan of the ministry were further actions taken to consolidate the education revitalisation,” he said.
Buhari also disclosed that in 2016, more than N50 billion was allocated by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to colleges of education, polytechnics and universities to support the training of their teachers to obtain higher degrees.
He said the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) had also invested more than N4.4 billion of the 2015 Teacher Professional Development Fund in teacher training.
The president acknowledged that there was more to do to bring the education system to a desirable level to meet up with world’s best, appealed to stakeholders to pay attention to areas that led to skills acquisition, entrepreneurship, creative and innovative education.
Olukoya, in his speech, condemned states owing salaries and allowances due to teachers in spite of the bailout funds made available to them by the Federal government.
He also condemned plans by some state governments to hand
over public schools to the private managers, saying this privatisation and commercialisation of education would increase its cost beyond the reach of the poor.
He, therefore, called on tiers of government to take necessary steps to check this trend and to increase budgetary allocations to the education sector.
Some teachers are drug addicts —Kebbi gov
- Exams malpractices, indolence threatening education industry —ASUSS, NUT
- Govs task teachers on nation-building
AS teachers in the country join their counterparts in the world to celebrate the World Teachers’ Day, vices threatening the education industry, including drug addiction, indolence, examination malpractices, among others have been identified.
Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State expressed concern over rising cases of drug addiction among teachers in the state and urged the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) to help address the menace.
The governor, in an address to mark the World Teachers’ Day in Birnin Kebbi, organised by NUT and Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS), said the government was also disturbed by the scale of absenteeism among teachers.
Bagudu, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the two unions must partner the government to address the situation, stressing that “if we pay lip service to lapses in our educational system, we are throwing away the future of our children and our tomorrow’s leaders.
“I was at a community recently during one of my inspections to schools in the state and one of the elders of the community told me that nine out of the 11 teachers in that school are drug addicts and they are well known in the community,” he said.
At the event, ASUSS chairman, Ibrahim Garba, called for payment of promotion arrears to teachers in the state.
The NUT chairman, Ashshibi Dan-Kakale, on his part, called for training and retraining of teachers for better performance.
In Akure, Ondo State chairman of ASUSS, Comrade Dayo Adebiyi, identified indolence and examination malpractices as some of the challenges threatening to destroy the education industry in the state, urged teachers in the state to join in the crusade to reposition the education sector in the state.
“No one can fight these menace better than the teachers
themselves. It is a crusade we cannot afford to lose. Indolent students should be encouraged to face their studies. Laziness should no longer be tolerated while examination malpractices must be fought to a standstill,” he said
The ASUSS chairman also called on teachers to be conscious of the security challenges facing the country and should give priority to the safety of their students.
Chairman on the occasion and secretary of the pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere, Chief Sehinde Arogbofa, called on government to improve on the infrastructural facilities in schools, to make learning easier for both teachers and students.
Kogi teachers blame govt for poor standard
Kogi State chapter of ASUSS, on Thursday, expressed fears over the ability of the state to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on education by 2030.
The secondary school teachers regretted that the education section had been declining in the state with attendant effects on the students being produced by the system.
In a statement by its chairman, Ranti Ojo and secretary, Ogwu Emejeh, ASUSS said there was the need for the state government to brace up and rescue the sector from total collapse.
The teachers noted that the state lacked the requirements to develop the sector like adequate manpower, infrastructures and instructional materials.
Best teachers get cars in Ekiti
The 2017 Teachers’ Day celebration witnessed the usual government car gifts to the best teachers in primary and secondary schools and the tutor-general, with Governor Fayose announcing that this year’s winners would, in addition to the cars, enjoy a week-long vacation to either London or Dubai.
Fayose hailed Ekiti teachers’ efforts in getting the state to come tops in NECO for two consecutive years, and announced automatic promotion to grade level 16 for all level 14 graduate primary school teachers ?in the state..
The governor also gave N100 million cash gift to the teachers, which he said would be paid directly into their personal accounts, while he also promised to increase the cash gift to N150 million if the NECO mad WAEC successes were repeated next year.
Meanwhile, the organised labour in the state has said the detention of the Commissioner for Finance, Chief Toyin Ojo and the Accountant-General, Mrs Yemisi Owolabi, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is delaying the payment of salaries.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state said if the EFCC had anything against the government officials, it should charge them to court rather than detaining them ad infinitum.
State chairman of NLC, Ade Adesanmi, represented by his deputy, Gbenga Akosile, decried the continued detention of Ojo and Mrs Owolabi, saying the “continued detention of the commissioner and acountant-general is delaying the payment of salaries to the hungry workers in the state.”
Amosun promises to approve pending teachers’ promotion
Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has promised to approve pending teachers’ promotion just as he approved the payment of outstanding leave bonus for public servants in the state.
The governor stated this at the Arcade Ground, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta, on Thursday, adding that teachers as well as civil servants would begin to receive their leave bonuses any moment from now.
The Governor noted that the importance of teachers in re-shaping and developing the society could not be quantified, saying the celebration was an opportunity for the professionals to take stock of their roles in nation building.
NUT calls for teacher’s promotion in Anambra
The NUT chairman in Anambra State, Comrade Ifeanyi Ofodile, pleaded with the government to look into the issue of promotion of teachers in the country.
While pointing out that Governor Willie Obiano’s disposition to teaching and learning was encouraging, Ofodile also called on teachers to keep the faith as there was light at the end of the tunnel.
Ambode announces promotion for teachers
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State described teachers as nation builders, change agents and catalysts for the realisation of any meaningful, functional and effective education delivery to drive national development.
Represented by the deputy governor, Dr Idiat Adebule, the governor said experience had shown that teachers performed better and contributed to national development when they were well-motivated.
“We have approved the promotion of primary school teachers to Grade Level 17 for them to be at par with their counterparts in the civil service.
“We have also approved the recruitment of additional 500 teachers to meet the population of our students and reduce workload on our teachers,” he said.
Senator Oluremi Tinubu, representing Lagos Central senatorial district, urged government at all levels to prioritise policies that could improve the education sector.
Ondo: Union Laments Shortage of Teachers in Secondary Schools
The Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS), Ondo State, Thursday lamented insufficient teachers in secondary schools in the state.
The teachers, during the celebration of the 2017 World Teachers Day, tasked the government to resolve the challenges facing the education sector in the state.
The state chairman of ASUSS, Mr. Dayo Adebiyi, who spoke during the celebration in Akure, the Ondo State capital, said the education sector in the state needed much attention of the government.
Adebiyi appealed to the current administration in the state to find solution to the problem of insufficient teachers in secondary schools, noting that the security of lives of teachers and students should also be important to the government.
“The level of vacancies in the public secondary schools in Ondo State is too acute and calls for urgent attention of the government to take immediate remedial action. ASUSS is calling on all her members to rise up to the challenge of tackling the terrible vermin threatening to destroy the education in the state through indolence and examination malpractices in our education system,” he said.
