05/10/2016
WORLD TEACHERS' DAY: WHY THE WORTH OF THE TEACHING PROFESSION DEPRECIATES - By Fatola Abdullahi
Oct 5: Teachers can't earn high remuneration, a repugnant dogma
The father of the evergreen human right activist and a musical icon, late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, led a united front for practioners of the teaching profession across Nigeria to establish a sublime economic condition and improved welfarism of teachers which have now been reduced to an abysmal state. The dastardly act of cutting teachers' remunerations and maltreating (taking their welfarism with levity) them, there by resulting into a great depression amidst the practioners, were the dominant catalysts that erupted the emergence of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) whose maiden national president was Rev. Oladotun Ransome Kuti (late), formerly the president of the Association of Headmasters of Ijebu Schools (AHIS).
These condemnable acts against the profession had been receiving absolute repugnance from the Union (NUT) since 1931 when it was established, but unfortunately It further graduated to become a norm and belief adopted by both the government and private entities to manage the well-being of teachers in our society. This had apparently discredited both their personalities and the profession itself in all ramifications.
Teachers, who raised and mentored the likes of Senators, Honourables, Governors, Chairmen, Special Advisers, President to mention but a few in government and likewise the proprietors, proprietresses and founders of private educational institutions who are beneficiaries of these mentors, are now being reduced to beggars (hustling for loans) to survive and yet we still crave for peak performance from them in the disgusting states the beneficiaries (now in power) stuck them.
Anyone who had witnessed the gathering of teachers (NUT meetings and others), either in their respective State secretariats or the National Secretariat, wouldn't disapprove of the fact that the physical and mental appearance of personalities in the teaching profession in both secondary and primary schools are abysmal, ridiculous and discouraging, pardon the illustration.
The teaching profession in Nigeria has been infected to an extent that an average youth or the "upcoming" youth (pupils and students) had suddenly become allergic to teaching over decades ( in Secondary, pre-primary and primary educational institutions) and instead they aspire to be governors, politicians, CEOs, MDs and others at the expense of teaching.
Private school teachers bear the brunt more as they are paid peanuts. Some earn N30,000, while some others are belittled to an amount of N10,000 or N15,000 monthly in a college, as reported by Vanguard online news portal in 2015. Such are ridiculous remunerations not capable of sufficing a bachelor-teacher or spinster-teacher let alone Married or Married-with-kids teachers.
As Vanguard news further unveiled, the American National Education Association disclosed that, depending on the state, high school teachers in US get as much as $48,631 while the best-paid 10 percent in the field made approximately $86,720, while the bottom 10 percent made $37,230.
It is regrettably sardonic that teachers are not even paid as and when due by private and mostly the government at the state level. Teachers are not trained continuously, they get one of the worst welfare package and are apparently being owed those packages. These acts and belief need to be eradicated to improve our educational system.
On the 5th of October, 2016, Nigeria with over 100 countries will be celebrating the World Teachers' Day in which many of the practioners of the profession usually felicitate with "an empty stomach" as it had been for years. The excuse of the present economic downturn cannot be considered as genuine because the menace had been in occurrence before this oil "doom" period.
Teachers' employers must rethink and retrace their path to cater for an improved and sustained welfarism of the practioners of the profession in order to rebuild the foundation (pre-primary, primary and secondary learning) of education as the end product will vehemently contribute to uplift Nigeria's economy from the mud of recession and further reposition the Nation to the of top of others across the globe.
Further more, Improving teacher's welfarism should not be limited to western education only, it should also be extended to religious teachers and preachers as they are considered as most valuable Being, in both the Quran and Bible after our parents.
God Bless our Teachers,
Gob Bless our Leaders,
God Bless Nigeria.
Source:
https://ibadanelite.wordpress.com/2016/10/03/world-teachers-day-why-the-worth-of-the-teaching-profession-depreciates-2/
Oct 5: Teachers can’t earn high remuneration, a repugnant dogma By Fatola Abdullahi… The father of the evergreen human right activist and a musical icon, late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, led a…
