Maria Famakinwa

In order to address the challenges facing education in Nigeria and set the country on the path of industrialization, President Muhammadu Buhari last year announced a very attractive package for teachers to commemorate World Teachers Day.
The decision to revitalize and reposition the teaching profession in the country, according to President Buhari became necessary after a review of teachers’ development policies revealed huge gaps in quantity and quality of teachers at all levels of the nation’s educational system.
Some of the benefits as announced by the President, included extension of retirement age for teachers from 60-65 years, extending service period from 35-40years, reintroduction of bursary award to education students in universities and Colleges of Education with assurance of automatic employment upon graduation among other benefits which were said to commence by January 2022.
Despite these efforts, investigation revealed that it is not yet uhuru for the noble profession, as most graduates are not ready to take up teaching job including those with education certificates. The rejection of teaching by most graduates typifies the attitude of many Nigerians to the noble profession. The Hope spoke with some stakeholders in education sector on how to make teaching profession attractive.
A retired school principal, Mrs Janet Olokede, explained that to make teaching profession attractive, every tier of government must address the challenges facing education in the country and set Nigeria on the path of industrialization.
Olokede said: “The disdain for the noble profession stems from the poor attention teachers have suffered over the years. Indeed, for teachers it has been a litany of woes. It is either they are owed several months of their very poor salaries or left stagnant without promotion or training for decades. At the lower rungs, teaching is most often left to women who see it as a light engagement that will offer them enough time to take care of the home front. Teaching is a noble profession and must be treated as such. Teachers should be given all round attention to attract qualified and committed individuals to the profession,” she said.
Sharing a similar sentiment, a school proprietor, Mr Ayodeji Owolabi, who described teachers as invaluable drivers of societal norms hinted that the profession must be respected to be attractive.
His words: “Teaching profession needs career-oriented teachers who will do the job for passion and not as a last resort. Teaching will be attractive if teachers are paid as medical doctors. After all, medical doctors, bankers, lawyers, engineers, pilots among others were taught by teachers. Why are teachers not getting the recognition they deserve, in spite of the pivotal role they play in shaping people’s lives?
“We hope that the Federal Government’s plan to better the lot of teachers by giving them special salaries, among other benefits by January next, will go a long way to change society’s perception of teachers and teaching profession. Reasonable and guaranteed salary, job security and competitive entry requirements for would-be-teachers will attract the best hands to the profession.”
A fresh graduate of Business Education, Gloria Orji, revealed that teaching profession has become less attractive, especially to the fresh graduates and that parents also discouraged their children from taking up teaching .
Her words: “ Teaching as a profession involves a heavy workload. It is both brain tasking and time consuming without commensurate salary. I will rather prefer a job which will allow me ample time for myself.”
Asked why she studied education related course she said: “That was what I was offered admission to study. I wanted to go for accounting but they gave me business education. I accepted it because I was left with no other choice and I didn’t want to waste another year at home. Now, I am planning to start my masters’ programme and move on from there.”
On any plans to go to the classroom, she said: “Never. Why will I end up in the classroom where the condition of service of teachers is getting worse by the day? In most schools, there are no instructional materials for the teachers to work with. They seldom get promoted and the government routinely owes them. For those in most private schools, their salaries are nothing to convince one to be a teacher, even when the school owners are charging exorbitant school fees. Teachers poor condition of service is a major reason young intelligent qualified citizens are leaving the profession in droves. Eighty percent of my colleagues with education certificates are not considering going into teaching,” she revealed.
She said that to make teaching profession attractive, government must invest a lot in education, prioritize teachers’ welfare, stock schools with teaching materials, put in place a compulsory salary scale which must be obeyed by all States, including private school owners, and build new structures in schools among others.
In the submission of a former Commissioner for Education in Ondo State and a chieftain of Afenifere, Chief Femi Aluko, described teaching as the only job any man could do to contribute to human society, explaining that he was bothered to know that qualified teachers with teaching certificates no longer see the job as attractive.
Chief Aluko who blamed the development on poor attention given to education by the government lamented that some states are still owing teachers salaries. He said: “ Engineers, medical doctors, lawyers and others passed through teachers, but it’s quite a pity that they are doing better than teachers who taught them. The way forward is for those who have the interest of the country at heart to cry out, because so long as teaching is being relegated, the country too will be relegated. No nation can develop above the quality of its teachers,” he said.