Stakeholders in the education sector have called for a special salary structure for teachers to make teaching more attractive and rewarding.

The stakeholders from the South-East made the call in separate interviews on the deplorable conditions of primary schools and poor remuneration of teachers in Nigeria.

They decried the poor salary structure for teachers, especially in public primary and secondary schools, stressing that the development was affecting productivity in the sector.

They urged governments at all levels to place a premium on the salaries and welfare of teachers in Nigeria at primary and post-primary levels.

In Ebonyi, Christian Chukwu, a retired secondary school teacher, noted that the monthly salary paid to a teacher remained among the least compared to workers in other sectors.

“What a teacher in a public school in Nigeria receives monthly is abysmally poor and not commensurate with the amount of time, energy and work they put in shaping and nurturing the school children,” Mr Chukwu said.

He recommended an enhanced salary package for school teachers to make their work more attractive and rewarding.

Friday Elom, a former special assistant on primary education in Ebonyi, stressed the need for enhanced budgetary allocation to the education sector.

“First, we do not prioritise education hence, the poor budgetary allocation to the sector every fiscal year. Teaching should be fully professionalised while practitioners are made to possess relevant and requisite knowledge before they are allowed to practice in Nigeria,” Mr Elom noted.

Mr Elom stressed that making teaching an all-comers affair “has been the reason for payment of poor remuneration to teachers, but, once teaching is fully professionalised, the sector will become regulated.”

He added, “Regulation of teaching practice will make it possible for only those with teaching licence to be allowed to teach in both public and private schools in Nigeria.”

Lovelyn Ebuka, a staff in the Ebonyi Ministry of Education, said countries prioritising teachers usually enjoy positive output and standards.

“Because of proper remuneration for teachers in countries such as; Finland, South Africa, Ghana, among others, the standard of teaching and learning are higher, and many qualified personnel troop to these countries in search of greener pastures,” she said.

In Imo, stakeholders in the education sector called for the overhaul of the primary education sub-sector to improve the quality and standard of education.

In her contribution, the proprietress of Fine Foundation Nursery and Primary Schools, Owerri, Charity Osuji, said an overhaul of the system was long overdue.

“We cannot afford to pretend that all is well; some of our pupils sit on the bare floor, and others stand on flooded assembly grounds like we saw on social media some time ago,” said Ms Osuji. “This is unacceptable, and only a total overhaul of the system can save the situation.”

Also contributing, a retired teacher, Florence Irediuwa, recommended an upward review of the remunerations of primary school teachers.

Ms Irediuwa said it would help improve their attitude to work and reduce the distractions from part-time jobs.

“Some of our teachers do part-time jobs to make ends meet, and you do not blame them because they have to put food on the table. So, an upward review of their salaries and allowances will go a long way to boost their morale for optimal production,” she added.

A parent, Sampson Uhuegbu, regretted that primary schools, rather than serve as pillars of education, were fast becoming “endangered species.”

Mr Uhuegbu urged the government to partner individuals and organisations such as religious bodies to revive the sub-sector. He noted that the quarterly inspection of schools by state governors should be enshrined in Nigeria’s constitution to serve as a wake-up call for the restructuring of education in the country.

A counsellor, Abigail Adams, expressed concern that children were fast losing interest in education. Ms Adams, a mother of three, blamed it on the spate of abandonment of schools and prioritising entertainment and social media over formal education.

In Enugu, concerned residents decried the deplorable condition of primary schools in terms of shortage of classrooms due to an increase in enrolment within the past five years. Many classrooms are often overcrowded.

Olu Omotayo, the president of the Civil Right Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN), said that notwithstanding overcrowding, Enugu primary schools were deplorable.

“Apart from structures, primary school teachers and supervisors do not take their jobs seriously any longer due to poor remuneration, delayed pension payment to retired colleagues and lack of welfare concern,” Mr Omotayo explained. “Government should engage stakeholders to suggest ways to uplift public primary schools and increase their monthly pay and other entitlements to attract zealous teachers to the system.”

A concerned parent, Chichi Ani, said apart from deplorable structures that could be easily fixed, primary schools had been made less attractive by the disdainful way teachers were treated in society.

“Previously, the respect and acknowledgement given to teachers will definitely make one want to be a teacher or associate with them. But today, the reverse is the case; politicians and administrators see teachers as people they can toy with their payments and even earned pensions as well as deny them their entitlement for a very long time,” stated Ms Ani.

Meanwhile, Enugu primary school teachers had embarked on an indefinite strike for close to two months over the non-implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage.

Commissioner for Education, Uchenna Eze, said the government had already met with the Nigeria Union of Teachers executives and would soon begin implementing the new wage for primary school teachers.

“Government is putting final modalities to resolve the issue leading to the indefinite strike embarked by primary school teachers in the state,” Mr Eze disclosed. 

In Anambra, low job satisfaction among public primary school teachers has been blamed for low enrollment in primary schools. 

Some parents and guardians who spoke in Awka said the absence of primary schools in most new residential areas was another problem.

Collins Okeke, a resident of Ifite-Awka in Awka, said there was only one public primary school serving the entire area. He called on the Anambra government to establish primary schools in response to the growing population.

Mr Okeke added that those living around Government House, GRA and newly developed areas of Ifite-Awka were compelled to send their children to private primary schools.

Chinenye Emordi, a secondary school teacher, said there was a need to enhance the working conditions of primary school teachers to make them more committed to their job. 

Efforts to get the government’s comments were unsuccessful, as calls and messages to education commissioner Ngozi Udeh in Anambra were unsuccessful.

Last year, the federal government announced that teachers would begin to enjoy the new salary structure promised by President Muhammadu Buhari from January 2022.

Former junior education minister Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba disclosed this at the 2021 World Teachers Day.

(NAN)