Press Release
Good Day Fellow Nigerians,
Today, we are taking out special time to wish all Nigerian Teachers wherever they are a Happy #WorldTeachersDay
The theme for this year’s Teacher’s day is very instructive and important to the state our educational system as a country – Valuing Teachers, Improving Their Status. It is against this backdrop that we as a political party are hoping to bring again to the fore of our national discuss the issues that should occupy both our public space and the minds of those who the bucks stop at their table.
The current Minister of Education Hon Adamu Adamu had stated categorically when he was appointed that “allowing these problems to persist is akin to surrendering our country to ignorance and we cannot afford to do that”.
Today, we want to state categorically that the problems identified by the Honourable Minister, a product of years of damage and incompetency still remain especially when it comes to the situation that teachers find themselves.
We still need to invest in proper training and retraining of our teachers for them to adapt to 21st century dynamics, we still need to bulk up the population of teachers across the country to avoid staff shortages in most primary and secondary schools, we still need to elevate the status of teachers in our society both through remuneration and recognition, we still need to ensure that payment of salaries and welfare packages are not only reasonable but also regular and we still need to vehemently oppose and eradicate the slander that says that a teacher’s reward is only in heaven.
Goal 4 of the #SGDs is Quality Education, a goal we cannot achieve without quality teachers who live quality lives as teachers do not just pass on knowledge but morals and are a great part of the total mentality and personality that children go on to become.
If we have so many corrupt and bad leaders today, we should ask who their teachers were and what state and conditions they were. We should also ask if we want better leaders tomorrow from those who are being taught today and do the needful.
The World Economic Forum ranks our Primary Education System at 128 of 138 countries surveyed.
Nigerian Teachers compared to their counterparts are remunerated very poorly. The US Average stands at $48,631 according to the American National Education Association, The UK Averages between E22,023 to E32,187. The South African average is between R115,276 and R146,088.
It is important to note that these remunerations also come with welfare packages as opposed to the Nigerian Teacher’s case. For an approximate 23,129,927 primary school students, there are 574,579 teachers of which more than 50% are NOT trained up to NCE level and are left to operate in 342,303 classrooms.
The best time to prioritize our education system, recognize and appreciate the value that our teachers can bring to the development of our country and maximize our human resources potential was 56 years ago, the next best time is NOW!
We should put an end to all the talking and discussions about the reforms in the Universal Basic Education Commission and set out to ACTION!
May God Bless The Federal Republic Of Nigeria
Jude ‘Feranmi
National Youth Leader, KOWA PARTY (On Behalf of the National Executive Council)
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