LAST week, President Muhammadu Buhari approved a bursary regime for education undergraduates in the country’s institutions to the tune of N100,000 and N150,000 per session. Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, announced this while delivering a keynote address during the Teachers’ Day celebration in Abuja. The minister said inter alia that the beneficiaries must be students attending public universities and colleges of education in order to enjoy the bursaries which will be funded by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), and managed by the Federal Scholarship Board. Also, the beneficiaries will, on graduation, be bonded to serve their respective states for five years.
There are even ‘plans’ to give personal houses to teachers from middle class to senior and directorate levels, all in the bid to change the fortunes of the teaching profession which has suffered tremendous negligence up till now. As part of the comprehensive plans to better the fortunes of the teaching profession, the minister said, there would be collaborations with the National Teachers Institute (NTI), Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), National Universities Commission (NUC), National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), UBEC, Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF), TETFUND, and non-governmental organisations in the areas of training and funding.
To be sure, there is a need to encourage education undergraduates at all levels to be at their level best. For decades, the teaching profession has been bastardised in the country, with teachers treated as the dregs of society. Underpaid, under-valued and virtually impoverished by federal, state and local government authorities, teachers in the country have been objects of ridicule for years. In particular, a number of the students studying education courses in the country’s universities and colleges of education did not initially plan to study them but had to opt for them when they could not meet up with the cut-off marks for their preferred courses. Given this dismal situation, it is understandable that the government, in seeking to restore the glory of the teaching profession, is intending to provide incentives for education undergraduates. Thus, we would ordinarily have commended it for its latest gesture. Unfortunately, however, the Federal Government’s plan is merely grandiose.
Pray, how much is the country’s entire education budget? Has the Buhari government begun paying teachers in public schools according to the terms of the Teachers Salary Scale (TSS) promised by President Buhari during last year’s Teachers’ Day celebrations? What is the totality of the Federal Government’s investment in the faculties of education in its various schools? Where really does the administration intend to raise the funds with which to meet the promised bursary obligations from? Does it have accurate statistics about the number of education undergraduates in the country? Besides, if the faculties of education are in the doldrums, as it were, what then can be achieved with bursary for education undergraduates? So many education graduates are roaming the streets in search of jobs. What does the government intend to do about their plight? It is a fact that the government has not invested enough in education to be certain that these graduates will be automatically absorbed into the establishment upon graduation, as promised by the Minister of Education. In any case, for very many years, state governments have demurred from employing teachers and when they eventually give notice of an impending recruitment, the ministries of education are besieged by hordes of applicants.
No doubt, the teaching profession is noble and is duly regarded as such in the civilised climes. For instance, in Japan, only certified teachers are allowed to impart tuition, and teachers are among the brightest people around in the country. Japan’s teachers are not underpaid, and its education graduates do not roam the streets looking for elusive jobs. And, what is more, its government is not given to making hollow promises to teachers on World Teachers Day. The teaching profession requires a more robust approach than this half-hearted, desultory approach that may likely be lost in red tape. Judging from past experiences, there is a need for a more deliberate, comprehensive and robust approach to reviving the country’s teaching profession from its dolorous state.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents
In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state.
and then