APART from innate quest, appetite, feelings, aptitude and opportunity, the next important thing that applicants consider when choosing a profession is the emolument or remuneration that will enable them make a decent living. Teachers are no exceptions. They hope to find not only fulfilment in their job but also the financial wherewithal to satisfy their basic necessities and that of all their dependants.
The often expressed anxiety of applicant is usually there, but still expects reward that will be apparently enough to embark on the long journey that leads to eternity. Perhaps, proponents of the teachers’ reward in heaven theory might need to be reminded that even Jesus did not just promise his disciples eternal life in heaven, but He also reminded them that He became poor that they might be rich.
Public servants in Nigeria today are generally not fairly treated, but the case of teachers seems to be in a class of its own. Not minding the great responsibility of moulding the future of Nigeria that has been placed on their shoulders, their welfare package is nothing to write home about.
The Nigerian teacher operates from a not too-friendly or serene work environment; their salaries are not only meagre but also irregular. They are not provided with modern day technological instructional materials to carry out their job and yet they are the first to blame for poor student outcome, in spite of all these, Nigerian teachers still committed go about their business of making the difference in the lives of their students. This is with the hope that one day their condition might change for the better.
However, their problems seem to be getting worse by the passage of time, rather than getting better. Teachers in Nigeria have endured enough and their patience is running out.
For so many years, teachers have been asking for better conditions of service but to no avail. Every government since then have been ignoring their groaning, claiming that they have more important issues to deal with. Teachers have tried to use all legal means available to them, to persuade the government on the importance of their request but the situation remains the same.
It might be instructive to note that the initial request for Teachers’ Salary Structure(TSS), started in 1992 and was only given approval by the government in 2003. But up till today, nothing tangible has been done. Instead, its implementation has become an issue to be canvassed and renegotiated. Teachers are so marginalised and maltreated, so much so that they feel relegated to the background.
Unless the government hastens to implement the new salary scale it has agreed to, the ‘japa’ syndrome may not abate soon.
According to Julius Nyerere, it is teachers who, more than any other group, determine attitudes and shape ideas and aspirations of a nation. If our teachers are not appreciated and recognised, they might be forced to turn their noble job of inspiring the youth to higher academic excellence into positions of creating thugs (“yahoo” boys and “Italian” girls) in our schools.
A hungry person is not only an angry person but also a frustrated person. If teachers are frustratedand they become unprofessional in their conduct or quest to achieve better conditions of service, nobody should blame them.
In truth, teachers in Nigeria deserve more empathy than anybody else. Not only has it been increasingly difficult for them to make ends meet but also the appellation “teacher” carries in itself a social stigma. If you are in any gathering and a teacher is recognised, there and then, they will begin to make caricature of the person. But recognition of a low- level politician or worse still, a thug is highly applauded.
I will leave the reader to do the rest of the evaluation. But what I know is that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Teachers are also Nigerians and deserve to be treated fairly.
The way the Nigerian government handles teachers’ welfare, tells how much value it places on the education of its citizens. Teachers have a special responsibility in nation- building and personality development. All the other professionals that enjoy good conditions of service and pep of office in Nigeria today went through these same teachers whose functions are nor recognised.
Arguably, without the teaching profession, there would have been no other profession. This may sound like an over-statement but a more critical and careful thought about it may suggest otherwise. Come to think of it, Medical Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers to mention but a few became what they are because they had committed and knowledgeable teachers who guided and monitored their educational development. Could it be that Nigeria does not have any need of producing more of these professionals? Your guess is as good as mine.
In more advanced countries, governments look out for what is best for its teachers in terms of welfare package but in Nigeria, teachers must fight for better conditions of service with the government before any such thing is granted them. In most situations, after such fights, the situation only worsens. In countries where teachers have good conditions of service, the teaching profession attracts and retains the best brains.
No nation can rise above the calibre of its teachers. “Whatever a man sows, that he shall reap also.”(Galatians 6v7). If we don’t have good, knowledgeable and contented teachers, then we cannot have knowledgeable work-force. It is a shame that we are biting the fingers that fed us.
As the world celebrates on October 5,2024, I salute the courage, perseverance and resilience of the Nigeria teachers who in spite of working under most excruciating conditions continued to inspire and spur our youth in schools to greater heights.
What Nigeria teachers are going through can only be described as martyrdom. A proverb of my people has it that you don’t try to catch wild animals with your bare hands, otherwise, you may not be alive to tell the story.
But Nigeria teachers today are expected to perform magic. They are not only poorly motivated but are expected to motivate a bunch of low achieving students, often times without the provision ol the much needed technological instructional materials and welfare.
I want to encourage the teachers never to lose hope. I also wish to remind our governments that there is a point beyond which somebody’s patience can be tasked, and if nothing is urgently done, the effect might beunimaginable. A stitch in time saves nine!
