Ekiti TUC chair laments hatred for teaching among youths
From Victor Akinkuolie, Ado-Ekiti
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The Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Ekiti state chapter, Comrade Sola Adigun, has raised concern over strong aversion among the youths over teaching proffesion due to wrong perception that those in the profession are poorly remunerated .
Adigun who is also the chairman the of the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS), regretted that this accounted for the low level of subscription for education-related courses in all Nigerian universities, especially in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examinations.
Adigun, raised the observation in Ado Ekiti on Saturday while honouring 60 ASUSS members who recently retired from the state teaching service commission after 35 years of service.
Distributed to the retirees are refrigerators, motorcycles, fans and other valuable home utensils, to appreciate their contributions to the development of teaching profession in Ekiti.
Expressing sadness over the perceived strong aversion the young stocks have for teaching, Adigun said: ” Obviously, the manner other professions, including military are able to attract young persons, the teaching profession is not, because it has been made so unattractive, yet, the future of the society depends on the quality of knowledge acquired by its young generation who are moulded by reluctant and unmotivated teachers”.
“I blame the development on society’s poor perception about teachers and government unfriendly policies towards the teaching profession and education generally.
“The theme of this year’s Teachers’ Day celebrated a couple of weeks ago, which centred on ” Young Teachers, the feature of the Profession ” showed that the government was already aware of this ugly trend”.
Citing reasons for the ugly trend, Adigun frowned on what he described as discriminatory treatment against teachers, saying it was wrong to peg teacher’s terminal grade on level 16, whereas their counterparts in the Civil service with same qualification retire at Grade level 17.
He pointed out that many classroom teachers in Secondary schools parade Master’s degrees and Doctoral Certificates, with no commensurate insignia to their academic statuses, which he said was not applicable in the public service.
The ASUSS chairman also noted that, ” poor infrastructure, lack of teaching aid, rickety and deplorable school buildings, classrooms and Staff rooms , are suffice to discourage any vibrant young minds from venturing into the teaching profession”.
