Teachers Expresses Worries Over Development Of Education In Delta

Teachers under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Delta State chapter, conveyed their displeasure over what they termed as “issues which seem to pose a serious threat to the educational development of the state”, in recent times.

NUT identified acute shortage of teachers in the state public school system as one of the major challenges bedeviling the public school system in the state, saying “from our records, many teachers have retired from the system especially in the last four years without replacement”, reiterating that the situation is a serious threat to the educational development of the state.

Speaking during the 2018 World Teachers Day celebration, held Friday at the Cenotaph, Asaba, the NUT Chairman in the state, Comrade Titus Okotie, called on the state and local governments to urgently look into the issue of recruiting more teachers to fill the “large vacuum” already created.

He also noted that the selective promotion of university graduate teachers in the primary school beyond salary grade level 14 as another ugly situation that has stood against the development of education in the state.

“All university graduate teachers deserve to be unconditionally promoted to level 15 without any encumbrance. I submit that there is no justifiable rationale for selective promotion of a meager four graduate teachers per local government”.

Other issues raised by Comrade Okotie include non-payment of May/June 2015 CONPPSS arrears to primary school teachers in the state to the tone of N311, 078, 611, 42, delay in payment of gratuity and pension to retired teachers, wanton removal of teachers names from payroll, non-payment of minimum wage to primary school teacher even when they have been duly verified by the Auditor-General of LGA, exploitation of teachers through incessant transfer by some education secretaries and appointments of headmaster on the basis of highest bidder without recourse to seniority.

He threatened that the Union would not hesitate to activate all available mechanism to resist the ugly trend in any local government where such retrogressive practice is discovered.