Secretary-General of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Dr Mike Ike-Ene, shares his views with DEBORAH TOLU-KOLAWOLE on the shortage of teachers in primary and secondary schools, the effect on the education sector, among other issues
Recently, there have been media reports about the shortage of teachers across the states of the federation. How did the situation get to this level?
These days, you go to schools in rural areas and you see in a school that needs about seven to 10 teachers, you will notice that it is the headmaster and two other teachers that are in charge of every activity in the school. Of course, the population of the school may be up to 600. What do you think will be going on there? The organs of government have failed to take responsibility. Though education is on the Concurrent List, I have always said that there are things you don’t joke with. The time has come when every level of government, whether you are local government or state government, or even federal government, you should understand that as far as education and learning are concerned, the teacher is at the centre.
The teacher is most important. For instance, if you bring all the 21st-century equipment and put them in a hall and then you bring 1,000 pupils or students and you put them where those equipment are, the truth is that the students will just be there, looking at the equipment and doing nothing with them. However, when it is time for them to leave, they will go home without learning anything. It is only when the giver of knowledge is there that they can learn anything.
The current President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has started on a good note. He invited the governors and he reminded them that politics was over and that the time had come for governance. Governance is a serious business. This means that it is no longer you being the governor of some individuals or a member of a political party but that you are now the governor of everybody in the state. It is no longer about who voted for you and who did not vote for you. Governance calls for what we call synergy so that nobody will be drawing lines.
How do you think the situation can be remedied?
For us to get it right, we need to ensure that employment is seriously driven by all facets of government. It pains me when I hear some state governments saying we are not responsible for this, we are not responsible for that and then they begin to make references to the laws but when it comes to things they will benefit from, they won’t quote the laws. If you go to our rural areas, there is a scarcity of teachers.
For every foundation, if you don’t use the right materials, when the wind comes, the whole building will collapse. If you don’t get the basic levels right, then you are in for a long ride. Also, when we talk about employment of teachers, we are focusing on the employment of qualified teachers who are well trained in the act of pedagogy (the method of how teachers teach in theory and in practice). If you get this kind of teachers across the 774 local governments, you are on the right path.
Some state governors sacked teachers because the teachers were not qualified. Who should be blamed for bringing unqualified teachers into the system?
I remember what happened in Kaduna State; at one point, we asked the government, ‘You are saying your teachers are not qualified, who employed them?’ That is the one billion naira question that nobody has been able to answer because we discovered that among those teachers who were sacked, some were just mere carpenters and they were hired by government agents. Why? There was a time when politicians would go out of their way to hire their friends as a form of compensation for voting for them. So, when you bring this kind of people into the system, you know you are bringing bad agents into an organisation. That was what happened.
During the last administration, it was discovered that some immediate past state governors owed teachers salary arrears. How will you describe this situation?
Failure to pay teachers who work to earn their wages at the end of the month is an act of recklessness on the part of the government and its administrators. Therefore, when you are an agent in the education industry in your state and you fail to tell the governor the right thing, you are culpable. We have never heard that political appointees of any state went on strike because they were not paid salaries. Yet, these appointees who are close to the corridors of power will never tell the truth to their bosses on matters regarding the affairs of the state. It is therefore very annoying and pathetic when you see these people who passed through rigorous training in the hands of teachers to become responsible and begin to ridicule the organisation they passed through.
In Abia State, the former governor owed more than two years. Despite this, Abia State, for about four to five years, occupied the first position in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination in the country. If that man (Ikpeazu) had a conscience, he could have considered the fact that these teachers were still bringing out the best in students despite going through tough times, and pay the salary arrears that he owed them (teachers) but this was not the case. The former governor owed the teachers and continued to pay his political appointees and aides. He also received his salary. So, I think it is wickedness on the part of these politicians.
Let me tell you that despite being owed, these teachers kept going to work. This tells you about the passion they have for their job but unfortunately, the government they are working for failed to recognise them and even failed to negotiate with them. However, I want to thank the God of rescuers for what happened during the last elections. All those who owed teachers suffered for it. Look at some of them; the former governor of Benue who owed teachers, he couldn’t make it to the Senate and that is the way it will continue. Senate will no longer be a retirement place for governors. They see the place as their birthright where they will go and sleep and continue till thy kingdom come.
Our politicians have thrown their conscience away. People are dying but they don’t care. One of the things they fail to realise is that many individuals are relying on every teacher’s salary. So, it is not only the teachers that they are killing but also their dependants.
Again, some states have commenced the implementation of the new harmonised retirement age for teachers, while others have yet to do so. What do you think is the challenge?
Well, the issues are all together. When you are not knowledgeable, you won’t understand why some laws are in place. You can’t give what you don’t have. I pity those state governments that have not implemented the act. Already, the new retirement age for teachers is an Act of 2022 not even of 2023. It is a law that once you are engaged as a teacher under the government whether federal, state, or local government, your retirement age is 65 unless you decide to retire earlier than that. The law signed and sealed is now 65.
It beats our imagination that some governors will start to refer an act that has already been signed to their state Houses of Assembly for amendment. It’s like your management took a decision but you decide to go against it. So, for those who are knowledgeable, a national act is for everybody and nobody is expected to start discussing it. It is something that should be universal. At the initial stage when the act was drafted, it was not meant to bring in education officers; it was for only primary and secondary school teachers under the state government.
It was when the bill went for public hearing that the NUT and the Federal Ministry of Education sat down and reasoned together to ensure that teachers in federal government colleges were drafted in because even though they were drafted, they were employed by the government as education officers. However, today, everybody under the employment of the Federal Government is benefiting but those of us who the act was initially drafted for are still struggling to benefit from it. We, however, want to appreciate the state governors, who immediately started the implementation without wasting time.
How can the new act on the retirement age solve the problem of the shortage of teachers?
Before we came up with the act, we did our research. We noticed that some states were not employing teachers. Some for close to 10 years have not employed one single teacher and these teachers were retiring in their thousands with no one to replace them. Also, we noticed that some of the new teachers needed mentors who will drill them. We found out that we needed teachers of the 70s, 80s and 90s to mentor the new ones so that we don’t lose their (older teachers) experience. It is, however, highly unfortunate that some governors failed to see reason.
What then is the way forward?
This is a new administration; we have directed our state councils across the country to write to the new governors on the way to move forward.
What are the plans to ensure that state governments that have not implemented the minimum wage do so?
This is also the same case with the issue of the harmonised retirement age for teachers. A minimum wage is a national act which means that every state must follow this law. It is, however, unfortunate that some states have failed to pay not just wages but the right wages. The Bible talks about the fact that a labourer who worked should be paid his wages. Unfortunately, that is not the case in this country. Those who even pay do not pay the right wages.
So, as I said earlier, we have written to our state councils and they have been advised on ways to dialogue with the new governments. Also, you can see that the political landscape has changed. Those who failed to attend to the rights of teachers were kicked out during the last elections. Those who fail to do so during this administration will also be kicked out. I can assure you that the God of teachers is fully awake and those politicians who fail to treat us well will suffer the same fate as the ones before them.
What is your message to the new administration, especially the state governors on how to develop the education sector?
I want to advise these new governors, whether they are in the first or second tenure, and also the President; we can’t keep playing politics with education. There must be increased budgetary allocation so that government can focus on serious employment of teachers who are qualified. Right now, we are experiencing a shortage of teachers in schools and non-payment of teachers’ salaries. It is painful and that is why we say that the government is playing politics with education. When you are building a house, it has to be built on a proper foundation. If you build your house on sand, when serious wind comes, that house will be swept up.
If you don’t build the primary and secondary levels properly which are the basic foundation of education, you will get students that you will pass to university and then by the time they graduate, we will say we have graduates who can’t write one page. That is because of the lack of good primary and secondary education. In some schools, we have teachers who are teaching all subjects. Someone who read English will be compelled to teach science subjects because of the shortage of teachers.
In some primary schools, you will see over 100 students in a particular class with only one teacher attending to them. That teacher will also want to attend to other classes. What will they be doing? The teacher will teach Maths and English and then they will start dancing and playing. One teacher teaching 100 or 120; is it a marketplace or a school?
Education needs to be taken seriously in this country. We need to get it right. We need to know that education is the foundation of everything. This is not the time for arguments. We all saw what happened in the tertiary institutions last year when lots of schools were shut down due to industrial action. We can’t continue to move that way. The sector must wake up. The government should work with the stakeholders on ways to move the sector forward. Also, remember the saying, ‘No teacher No nation’.
