Stakeholders Advocate Improve Welfare For Teachers
By IGHO OYOYO, Abuja
Stakeholders in the education sector have called on the federal government to improve the welfare of teachers in the country and also ensure that they are celebrated.
Founder of Real Life Mathematics, Mr. Joshua Ibeazor, while speaking at the maiden edition of ‘Celebrating Teachers Excellence,’ said that society should bring to consciousness the need to celebrate teachers who are the springboard of the knowledge that is passed to the students by celebrating the teachers.
He said that when teachers are celebrated, they will want to do more, that with the way the educational system is present, the teachers need to be celebrated and given national honours, so that they can bring out the best in them and make the profession more attractive so that the young ones can aspire to be teachers.
“The government is trying in the lives of the teachers, but there is a need for the government to do more for them, in the area of their welfare and in making sure that they are celebrated as important people and that would improve their image and make the students look up to becoming teachers in future.”
Also, Hon. Ozi-Raji Williams Bill, a former chairman of monitoring and evaluation, presidential support commitment in the office of the government of the federation, said that people are desirous to see that teachers are well appreciated.
“I do not believe in the saying that teachers’ rewards are in heaven, because if everybody’s reward is in heaven then everybody will be in a hurry to die and go to heaven.
“You cannot engage someone and you are not sustaining him, for me if I should pass a bill, teachers salaries should be higher than any other carrier because teachers made those careers.
“Anybody you see who becomes an engineer or doctor tomorrow, a teacher taught him. So, why should the government now allow teachers to go through penury, pains, tortures, and abject poverty,” he said.
According to Bill, ASUU is on strike, Nigerians can see that the value system is gradually eroded, and the educational system has nosedive because children are out of school.
“So, I am using this medium to call on President Muhammad Buhari that as his administration is winning up, he should take the bull by the horn and ensure that teachers go back to class,” he said.
Mrs. Olukemi Adedimpe Ojo, principal of Junior secondary school commended the organiser of the program, saying that the program will increase awareness of the need to recognise the commitment and efforts of teachers in Nigeria.
“We want to thank God that the government has started recognizing the worth of teachers. Although the new salary scale for teachers which has been pronounced since October 2020 has not been fully implemented, we are hoping that it would be paid in arrears. We also appreciate the government for the elongation of service for teachers,” she said.
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