World Teachers’ Day: Ending The Harsh Realities Of Teaching Profession In Nigeria

Every October 5, the satellite pauses to observe Teachers’ Day, a infinitesimal dedicated to honouring the indispensable relation of educators successful shaping societies accross the world.

In Nigeria, arsenic preparations are underway to observe teachers astatine the Eagle Square connected Sunday, the juncture comes with a bittersweet sensation from the teachers’ experience.

Behind the tributes and promises of betterment lies the stark world of a assemblage weighed down by mediocre funding, insecurity and dwindling morale wherever galore graduates are not consenting to spell into the profession.

For galore teachers, World Teachers’ Day is little a solemnisation and much a reminder of what inactive needs to beryllium fixed.

Since its constitution successful 1994 to commemorate the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, World Teachers’ Day has been much than a ceremonial event.

It has served arsenic a benchmark for planetary standards connected teachers’ rights, responsibilities and conditions of service. This year’s theme, “Recasting Teaching arsenic a Collaborative Profession,” resonates globally, but successful Nigeria it raises hard questions.

Collaboration, adjacent enactment and nonrecreational networks stay elusive for astir teachers who often enactment successful isolation, burdened by circumstances beyond their control.

“Teachers stay the backbone of Nigeria’s acquisition system,” arsenic the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa stated, yet their regular struggles archer a communicative of hardship.

Across states, teachers lamented facing mediocre remuneration, unpaid salaries, infrastructural decay, insecurity and small entree to nonrecreational development.

The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has consistently lamented that galore authorities governments beryllium salaries moving into months, portion pension arrears and gratuities stay unsettled for retirees. This neglect discourages younger graduates from seeing teaching arsenic a viable vocation path.

Although, the 1966 ILO/UNESCO benchmarks called for just wages, occupation information and nonrecreational autonomy, astir six decades later, these stay aspirations successful Nigeria alternatively than reality.

While teachers successful national schools whitethorn fare somewhat better, those successful agrarian communities are near to thatch successful dilapidated classrooms with nary teaching immunodeficiency and overcrowded classes of much than 100 pupils.

Collaboration, the precise absorption of this year’s theme, is different missing link. Teachers successful Nigeria seldom bask the payment of adjacent learning oregon structured mentoring systems. Many are confined to their classrooms, bearing the work of teaching alone.

A UNESCO study precocious pointed retired that the deficiency of collaborative structures successful Sub-Saharan Africa contributes to teacher attrition.

In Nigeria, attrition is evident arsenic teachers wantonness classrooms for jobs successful banking, business, oregon migration abroad.

Beyond payment and collaboration, insecurity continues to stalk the profession. In bluish states, the question of banditry and abductions has forced hundreds of schools to close, leaving children without entree to acquisition and driving teachers distant from agrarian postings.

The statistic are grim. Nigeria presently faces a shortage of astir 195,000 teachers successful nationalist superior schools, with an mean pupil–teacher ratio of 49:1, according to a caller Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) statistics.

At the aforesaid time, UBEC reports that Nigeria needs astatine slightest 1.1 cardinal further classrooms astatine the basal acquisition level.

Speaking up of the event, the Minister of Education, Tunde Alausa, acknowledged the difficulties facing teachers portion assuring them of government’s committedness to change.

“Teachers are the backbone of society,” helium said. “We cognize your payment is not what it should be, but I guarantee you that airy is astatine the extremity of the tunnel. We are moving to plan amended packages for you, due to the fact that without teachers determination is nary doctor, nary engineer, nary professor.”

He stressed that the epoch of isolation indispensable springiness mode to collaboration. “For excessively long, teaching has been practiced successful isolation, with each teacher confined to their classroom. But the challenges of technology, pedagogy and equity cannot beryllium solved alone. Collaboration transforms teaching into a dynamic assemblage of practice.”

The Minister pledged to found structures for adjacent learning, grow integer platforms that link teachers crossed regions, and guarantee evaluations reward collaboration, not conscionable idiosyncratic effort.

“When teachers collaborate, students are the eventual beneficiaries. They person richer, much engaging instruction, and they witnesser firsthand the powerfulness of teamwork. Education is the bedrock of society, and teachers are its architects. Your products engineers, doctors, lawyers are excelling globally. We cannot wage you en...