Education stakeholders in the North-West have identified the poor salaries paid to primary school teachers as the main driver of the low quality of education and accused the government of ruining basic education across the region.

They noted that apart from ascribing “low status” to teachers, the poor remuneration scared away quality personnel from teaching in primary schools.

The stakeholders noted that teaching in primary schools had become a “last option” to most people, who often discharged their duties with divided attention as they continued to scout for better job offers.

Ibrahim Dalhatu, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT)’s chairman in Kaduna, described the poor salaries paid to teachers as pathetic.

According to him, a newly recruited teacher with a National Certificate of Education is paid between N37,000 and N38,000 monthly, and a teacher with a university degree gets between N45,000 and 46,000.

Tijjani Aliyu, the citizens’ co-chair at the Kaduna Basic Education Accountability Mechanism, said it “is also worrisome that primary school teachers are being promoted but without a corresponding increase in salary.”

A primary school teacher in Kaduna, who spoke anonymously, revealed that his salary was a paltry N40,000 monthly after about 13 years.

“Not only is the salary in primary schools very poor, but it is also not being paid on time. Most times, the salary is spent on the settlement of debts. As I am talking to you now, some of us have not received our June and July salaries, and August is gone already,” the teacher said. “Not only that, over N19,000 is being deducted from our meagre salary every month for over a year now, and it is not reflected in our payslip.”

Hauwa Mohammed, the spokeswoman for the Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board, explained that the board did not delay payment or make illegal deductions.

Ms Mohammed said payment of salaries of primary school teachers and all Local Government Education Authorities employees was the sole responsibility of the councils.

In Sokoto, Bello Abdullahi, a retired teacher, said poor remuneration of primary school teachers had been an issue of great concern for a long time.

“I was a teacher, and I know how difficult it is when you wake up in the morning and there is nothing for the family to eat. One will and cannot even concentrate on giving his or her best to the pupils or students,” Mr Abdullahi said.

Abdullahi El-Kurebe, a public analyst, noted that “good remuneration is the only ingredient that will motivate primary school teachers to perform optimally in order for us to have quality education that is lacking today.”

In Zamfara, stakeholders also concurred that poor remuneration had affected primary education.

Abdul’aziz Auwal, a teacher, described the condition of primary school teachers in Zamfara as worrisome, saying that poor salaries discouraged qualified persons from accepting the job.

Abubakar Dogo, the School-Based Management Committees (SBMCs)’s chairman in the state, said, “at the SBMC level, we are advocating for community-based support to education.”

Mr Dogo added, “We believe that there must be the involvement of all stakeholders, and this is the major area where the SBMC participates.”

Meanwhile, the State Primary Education Board (SUBEB) chairman, Abubakar Aliyu, said the government promoted over 6,000 teachers to boost their morale.

“Welfare of teachers is one of the major priority areas of the present administration in the state under Governor Bello Matawalle,” Mr Aliyu stressed. “When Matawalle assumed office as governor, primary school teachers had spent over 10 years without promotion, and the governor directed that all teachers should be promoted to their deserving levels.”

In Kano, an educationist, Aliyu Abdulsalam, urged the governments to intensify efforts to increase teachers’ salary o to boost education at the grassroots.

Mr Abdulsalam also urged the governments to address the training and promotion of teachers and other matters relating to welfare. He stated that many people were rejecting teaching appointments because of poor remuneration.

Meanwhile, the director of public enlightenment at the Kano Ministry of Education, Aliyu Yusuf, said the government had constituted a 13-member committee for implementing ‘Career Path Policy and Presidential Approvals for Teachers’.

Mr Yusuf added that the committee would identify critical issues responsible for the low morale of teachers, especially those in the state civil service.

Parents in Katsina blamed poor salaries for the low standard of primary education, among other factors.

A parent, Sadeeq Lawal, said poor remuneration had reflected on the standard of teaching, resulting in pupils carrying over the deficiencies to secondary and tertiary institutions.

In conclusion, the stakeholders were unanimous over the need for primary school teachers’ salaries to be increased in the overall interest of the education sector.

(NAN)