Teachers, no doubt, constitute the pillars and the building blocks of any society. They are the repositories of knowledge, skills, discipline, nurturing, and shaping of the characters of future leaders in any society. Indeed, no key player in our political field or industrial sphere, science, medicine, law, art, and technology, to mention a few, did not go under the tutelage of a teacher in the course of knowledge and skill acquisition.
The role of a teacher in the development of the social, political, economic, and technological advancement of any society, whether ancient or modern, can not by any stretch of the imagination be overemphasised.
It is against this backdrop that any progressive society that cherishes knowledge, skill acquisition, development, teaching, learning, and research, as well as molding the characters of future leaders, always gives prominence to the equipment of teaching, learning, and research facilities as well as the general welfare of teachers.
It follows that teachers deserve motivation and encouragement in terms of remunerations, societal recognition, and appreciation for their great service to humanity. They deserve all the good basic things in life, such as access to decent food, shelter, and clothing.
A cursory look at the challenges facing most teachers in our country today appears to call into question the extent to which society appreciates the role of teachers in the scheme of things.
Many teachers right from kindergarten, especially in private schools, are poorly paid, with some receiving a monthly stipend as low as ten thousand Naira.
As if that is not enough pain, many teachers are made to grapple with unpaid stipends running into several months of arrears.
Added to this is the absence of learning and teaching ambiance, manifesting by and large in poor and inadequate classrooms, chairs, tables, leaking roofs, and library equipment, among others.
Even in some public schools, the situation is far from being better, as teachers in some states still suffer the pains of unpaid salary arrears and an abysmal shortage of teaching facilities.
At the tertiary level, the intractable ‘war’ between the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU)and the federal government over unpaid salary arrears and other entitlements, which has precipitated a near annual strike and truncated the annual academic calendar, is a sad reminder of how not to treat our teachers.
They deserve better deals. More often than not, members of society echo the assumption that the teacher’s reward is in heaven and not on earth; hence, their contributions to the development of society should be seen as a thankless job.
This is wrong as they deserve their rewards or entitlements like any other citizens on earth while heavenly reward is left for the cosmic.
While we commend the Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori ‘s administration for giving teachers in the state a sense of belonging through adequate equipment of schools and provisions for the welfare of teachers in state-owned institutions, we are worried by the absence of requisite motivation for teachers by some private school owners.
There’s a need for the federal and sub-national governments to pay great attention to teachers and their quests for improved welfare packages. While the approval of teachers allowance a few years ago had been a booster, a lot more is needed to further motivate them for optimal performance.
We enjoin private school owners nationwide to do the needful by improving the remuneration of teachers in their employment. The teachers are human beings and so deserve to be rewarded on earth like their public-sector counterparts before the fanciful contemplation of heaven.
