Teacher's Reward Should Begin On Earth!
World Teachers' Day, held annually on October 5 since 1994, commemorates teacher organizations worldwide. Its aim is to mobilize support for teachers and to ensure that the needs of future generations will continue to be met by teachers.
According to UNESCO, World Teachers' Day represents a significant token of the awareness, understanding, and appreciation displayed for the vital contributions that teachers make to education and development.
Education International (EI) (the global union federation which represents education professionals worldwide) strongly believes that World Teachers' Day should be internationally recognized and celebrated around the world. EI also believes that the principles of the 1966 and 1997 Recommendations should be considered for implementation in all nations.
Over 100 countries observe World Teachers' Day. The efforts of Education International and its 401 member organizations have contributed to this widely spread recognition. Every year, EI launches a public awareness campaign to highlight the contributions of the teaching profession.
However, I have noticed with utter dismay that teacher are yet to be adequately rewarded for their efforts in Nigeria.
Right from my childhood the cliché "teacher's reward is in heaven" has been repeated time and time again to the point that it is now believed by many.
By the way, I want to know whose lips generated this popular saying that teacher's reward is in heaven.
This saying baffles me, because, I always ask this question; what about a politician's reward?
That is why you see more people interested in politics rather than being a teacher, even teachers abuse their role as a teacher to gather, embrace and convince people about their own political
view and ambition.
My ultimate question therefore is: who will go to heaven to bring teacher's reward on earth? Since they do say their reward is in heaven.
If people value education, they must value teachers, irrespective of culture, tribe, activities and there are many ways to be educated because education is everything and has been in existence before technology.
There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigerian government has systematically neglected the education sector.
Presently, the sector can be considered to be near comatose. The sector suffers incessant strikes from Academic Staff Union of Universities, Non- Academic Staff Union, Nigerian Union of Teachers, Polytechnic lecturers, Students Union and Labour Union. In recent times, the existing industrial actions have been complimented by massive massacre of Nigerian students. This deplorable situation has reached a crescendo, demanding immediate intervention by both government and relevant stake holders.
Education is a fundamental human right and recognized internationally as key to human, social and economic development.
The Jomtien Declaration on Education For All 1990, The Dakar Framework For Action, 2000; the International Consultation Forum on Education For All, Amman 1996, are some international efforts at defining the importance of education in national and global development.
Paradoxically, in spite of her enormous natural and human resources, Nigeria’s education system is bedeviled with the
challenges of under-funding and thus poor infrastructure; inadequate classrooms and teaching aids (projectors, computers, libraries, laboratories etc); paucity of quality teachers/ poor or polluted learning environment. As a result of misdirected attention of stakeholders to issues of quality education for our people and country, our school system is further plagued with numerous social vices like examination malpractices; cultism; and infant-hooliganism (a tendency that is similar to child-soldier in war ravaged countries like Somalia, Angola and Libya; as we are told that cult groups now exist in junior Secondary schools and Primary schools).
Comparatively speaking, Nigeria’s education system is rather quantitative than qualitative-oriented; what we find as screaming headlines in newspapers is cult war, rape case in our campuses, violent initiation of unsuspecting students into various cult groups; bribery and corruption allegations against teachers; campus prostitution allegedly patronized by public office holders who are supposed to uphold the thrust of integrity and cultural values orientation. Some people have argued that private school system is better option, but that too is replete with sorry tales. Although the system dates back to the colonial period when missionaries established and ran schools, the system has overtime been bedeviled with several challenges including lowering of standards, inadequate funding and lack of commitment on the part of the proprietors.
The Nigerian educational sector has become an open field harbouring corrupt practices that rankles among players such as policy makers, bureaucrats in various educational ministries and school officials responsible for the school management, parents and students. The sector is marked by infrastructural decays, inefficient and poorly skilled teachers, and dilapidated school structures etc.,
fueled by general apathy by government to education. The quality of education students receive under the present dreadful atmosphere is highly appalling.
The standard has dropped to the extent that the minimal score for admission into universities prescribed by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has drastically gown down to as low as 180 as against 200 out of 400 total score in the years back.
It is an open secret that students hire ‘machineries’ to assist them pass standard examinations in secondary schools. Invigilators are also not left out in this gruesome cesspool of corruption; as they are rumoured to be paid to enable impostors write exams for students. Some schools’ principals and teachers often engage these so called ‘machineries’ to improve their schools’ academic performance in the examinations.
Affluent parents go to the examination council/board to buy high grades for their wards. Some unscrupulous lecturers force students to buy hand-outs as criteria for passing their courses. Administrative staff also compound issues for students by withholding students’ results to force their hands to bribe or show appreciation to them before their results can be released. Unethical behaviour in our school system has forced female students into prostitution, as they use their bodies to lure lecturers for favours; while male students resort to cultism as a means of protection. Students give bribe to get university admission and to pass examinations. This begs the question of the quality of Nigeria’s future leaders.
Time was in this country when our certificates were widely courted like beautiful brides, with products of the nation's education proudly announcing and showing off their academic exploits everywhere, home and abroad.
Gone also are the glorious days when holders of primary school leaving certificates worked in clerical positions and acquitted themselves creditably well. Unfortunately, we have suddenly lost it. Leaving us groping in the dark since then.
Unless we choose to shy away from calling a spade its name, there is no gain saying that our education system has now plummeted to an abysmal level where the majority of our primary and secondary school graduates cannot even communicate in English, which is said to be our lingual franca.
We seem to have perfected a a new national habit of shedding crocodile tears each time failures are recorded in public examinations such as WASSCE, NECO, etc are announced without our so-called public outrage jolting us into action to salvage the sinking ship of our collective future.
On regular basis, national and state governments cut down on educational funds making education appear unimportant to economic growth.
For instance, UNESCO recommends 26% budgetary allocation to the education sector but in reality education sector receives less than 4% budgetary allocation in Nigeria and this varies from state to another. The troubling realization is that the government allocates more money to ex-militants than any other sector including education.
The education sector remains critical and one of the largest employers of labor in Nigeria. Hence, the government should strives hard to increase its budgetary allocation to improve the development of the sector. The status accorded to education is not unconnected with the importance, which the citizenry, and indeed, the Nigerian government attach to it.
Education is not only regarded as a very vital instrument of socialization, scientific and technological development, it is also a crucial factor in economic development and sociopolitical emancipation of the citizenry.
The quality of workforce in any organization can be regarded as one of the prime factors that propel the organization to achieve higher-level productivity. The capacity and sense of duty of the teacher would, other things being equal, significantly impact the productivity level of the school system in terms of the educational outcomes as represented by the quality of the students produced in a country. The level of efficiency and effectiveness, and the chances of an organization achieving its set goals depend primarily on the extent to which its workers are performing their defined roles.
Teachers play a pivotal role in the education sector. It is widely believed that there is no nation greater than the quality of her teachers. For an education system to achieve the desired goals and objectives, the teachers’ efficiency must be taken into consideration. The future of any educational level depends on not only the psychological factors but also emotional factors of the teachers.
The educational attainment of students depends on the efficiency of teachers. Hence, the teachers’ social, political, and economic well-being are very imperative. When the teachers’ productivity declines, it has a correlation to the standard of education both in the short and long term. Teachers exert a great influence on students, and the children look up to them for guidance, support and protection. Children are supposed to learn from them informally by observing their attitude, mannerism, conduct and general behavior, and formally through their teaching in the classrooms.
Much as I sympathized with the government for running into a harsh and had economic circumstances, nothing can excuse it for what appears to be outright neglect of this crucial aspect of its responsibilities and must urgently do something about it giving serious attention to retired teachers and many primary and secondary school teachers who are being owed several months.
One thing is certain, no teacher in Nigeria today whether servicing or retired can say that he or she wants his or her reward in heaven. They would prefer to get rewarded here on earth and on reaching heaven, their record could be adjusted with the inscription, “paid.”
Premised on the submission, the government and education stakeholders must put in place things that will improve the teachers’ productivity. This should comprise monetary and non-monetary packages that could bring about improved quality of work. The government should take advantage of this to enhance teacher output. This should be by comprehensively upgrading the composite variables to achieve the desired objective of improved teacher productivity.
Further, given the high rating of personal factors on its contribution to teacher productivity, governments, through the Ministry of Education, should look into the modalities of promoting issues relating to personal factors in order to enhance teacher productivity.
Needless to say, the challenges bedeviling teachers, and indeed the education system at large are many. These challenges can be resolved by reviewing the education policy, adequate funding in terms of teacher welfare and infrastructure, adoption of technology in the classrooms, capacity building, training and more effective teachers' union.
I call on teachers to act as agents of positive change and transformation, as doing so will in no small measure assist the nation in achieving its education goals. I am referring to teachers who love the profession, effective teachers, who assume ownership of the classroom, invest time with students and work creatively for their success, not teachers who impart knowledge to earn a living. If we must develop as a people and a country, we cannot afford to leave the important task of child upbringing teachers alone. We must reason with them, we must work with them, and we must continue to support them.
As we ponder on the way forward, let us have a sober reflection on where we got it all wrong and put mechanisms in place to retrace our footsteps and ensure that Nigerian teachers reap their rewards here on earth.
I want to see Nigeria blooming, with Nigerians not feeling suffocated inside this nation. Another 25 years from now when I will be a senior citizen, I don’t want to be writing this type of article, asking for Nigeria to be restructured so that it can start to grow. Buhari has the opportunity to be the hero to release Nigeria from it 50-year old shackles and let it fly like other great nations. Will he grab the opportunity or make himself just one of the presidents that came, saw but did the regular? Nigerians are watching!