Over 600 teachers have
been killed and 19,000 others displaced since the Boko Haram Islamic sect started
its destructive activities in the country, the Nigeria Union of Teachers said,
on Monday. The
President of the NUT stated this in Abuja during the commemoration of this
year’s World Teachers Day, with the theme, “Empowering Teachers, Building
Sustainable Societies.”
At
the event, President Muhammadu Buhari, represented by the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal, assured Nigerian teachers of
his administration’s commitment to initiating policies that would reposition
teacher education in the country.
According
to him, government will continue to give priority to education as part of
efforts to address challenges of illiteracy.
The Punch report continues:
The
low-key event was however wrapped up with the presentation of the President’s
award of a brand new car to Mr. Alade Taiwo, a teacher with Dominic’s Primary
School, Ondo State, who emerged as the best teacher in Nigeria for the year
2015.
According
to the NUT, 308 teachers were killed by the insurgents in Borno State alone, 75
in Adamawa, 18 in Yobe, 25 in Kaduna,120 in Plateau, 63 in Kano and two in
Gombe State.
This
year’s event was however different as only a handful of teachers across the
country turned up for the annual event.
The
NUT lamented the inability of the government to rescue the abducted Chibok
girls, more than 500 days after they were abducted by members of the Boko Haram
Islamic sect.
Alogba
said, “Insecurity in and around our schools is antithetical to the delivery of
quality education in our school system. As teachers of primary and secondary
schools, who are at the heart and foundation of education delivery and care to
our children, we are devastated by the damage the atrocious activities of the
Boko Haram sect have done to the education system as well as the lives and
future of thousands of children, particularly in the North-East of the country.
“The
memory of the Chibok girls and thousands of others whose potential and lives
have been truncated remains traumatic and demoralizing. Mr. President, it is on
record that over 600 teachers have lost their lives to the terror attacks.
These include 308 in Borno, 75 in Adamawa, 18 in Yobe, 25 in Kaduna, 120 in
Plateau, 63 in Kano and two in Gombe State. This is in addition to over 19,000
teachers that have been displaced and are suffering great losses due to the
barbaric activities of the insurgents.”
The
NUT President also criticized the lopsided policies of the Federal Government
on education, adding that the trend had encouraged undue commercialization of
education, rather than safeguarding the citizens’ right to quality education.
Speaking
on the application of the bailout loan to indebted states, Alogba said the
Federal Government should not hesitate to probe any erring state found to have
diverted the fund to other sources.
He
said, “A number of states are yet to pay the backlog of salaries owed teachers.
Such states argue that the money released to them is not a bail-out fund for
salaries but a normal loan to states meant to be utilized in any manner that
pleases them, particularly in areas that will yield financial returns which
will guarantee their repayment.
“This
argument is absurd and deceitfully, too far from the truth as it is aimed at
subjecting the workers to perpetual suffering. We therefore implore government to
monitor the disbursement of this fund and not to hesitate to bring to book any
government functionary who diverted, misapplied or misappropriated the bailout
funds.”
The
NUT also demanded that retirement age of teachers should be raised to 65 years
to increase the teachers’ retention rate in schools.
“This will help to check
the rate at which experienced teachers are being lost in the school system
whereas younger and prospective teachers are not recruited to take their place.
Every education system needs an appropriate quantity and quality of teachers to
function properly.
No comments:
Post a Comment