By Adesina Wahab
When on October 5, 2020, the then Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, on behalf of the then President, Muhammadu Buhari, announced a series of packages for the improvement of teachers’ welfare, it was like a new dawn has come for those helping to mould young minds, the future leaders of the country. It was on the 2020 Teachers’ Day celebration.
The day had been set aside to celebrate the contributions of teachers to the growth and development of society. However, five years after, the teachers are still waiting for the full implementation of the scheme.
Findings by Vanguard Learning showed that even the most convenient of the promises, raising retirement age to 65 or 40 years in service, is not being implemented in some states, notably Lagos. Ekiti State only announced the start of the implementation of that policy when another Teachers’ Day was marked.
The new welfare scheme has the following: Establishment of a special salary scale, retirement by age is now 65, retirement by service is now 40. Provision of rural allowance, and increase in science allowance.
Others are: Peculiar allowance, automatic admission and tuition- free for children of teachers at their places of work and automatic recruitment of B.Ed graduating students, B.Ed students are to enjoy stipends or education special allowance, education students in colleges and universities are to enjoy special bursary awards, TETFund to provide fund for teaching practice, enhanced entry for graduating students into service and special teachers pension scheme to be established.
While TETFund has said it is ready to pay the teaching practice allowance for education undergraduates, that is yet to take off. The special allowances, new pension scheme dedicated to teachers’ issues has not even been drawn up, while special admission process for teachers’ children is still in the works.
The proposal regarding new salary structure for teachers made by various stakeholders is still in the cooler.
With the devaluation of the naira in the last two years, whatever was proposed then as teachers’ new salary scale would have become nothing, as the cost of living has increased steeply.
In a recent chat with our correspondent on the matter, the Chairman of the Lagos State Wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, Comrade Akintoye Hassan, urged the government to start implementing aspects that do not have high financial implications.
“We know the global economic challenges we are facing. We understand the situation, but if it is the retirement age, let the government start with that. Teachers need the extension of the retirement age. Many teachers still have children in school. The extra five years would allow them to face the issue of the education of their children and also begin to wind down their years of service,” he opined.
The immediate past National Secretary of the NUT, Dr Mike Ene, said that before he left office, the pursuit of the implementation of the scheme got to some level. He said the issue had got to the Salary and Wages Commission but would not say where the matter is now. When the new scheme was announced, the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, TRCN, was also part of those pushing for its adoption.
The then Registrar, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, had advocated that teachers’ welfare should be given top priority.
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