Since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, there has been an upsurge in the number of private schools across the country, particularly in Imo State. While the proprietors smile to the banks and live large as a result of high fees they charge, their teachers, mainly university graduates, virtually live in penury, writes DAMIAN DURUIHEOMA
Olivia wakes up every 4:30 in the morning from her one-room apartment in World Bank, Owerri Imo State worrying about what the day may hold for her. She dashes out to the verandah which is converted to a kitchen and begins to prepare meal for her two children.
Before 6:30 a.m., she heads for her duty post in one of the private schools at New Owerri area of the capital city. She later revealed to The Nation that she had been doing this for six years so as not to be late for school.
According to her, if she gets late by two minutes to school, N500 will be deducted from her meagre salary.
Thirty-two-year-old Olivia is facing hard times. She has been on the job for two years and her monthly salary of N15, 000 is barely enough.
A graduate of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Olivia revealed that her salary has just been increased to N20,000 per month; having secured a new job in a new school.
Her school is one of the big private schools in New Owerri. Pupils pay between N21, 000 and N26, 000 as fees per term, depending on the class or level. This considerable low fee, coupled with the failure of the state government to establish new schools in spite of the increasing population of the area, it was gathered, increased the school’s population, which stands between 350 and 400 in its nursery and primary section alone. This, she said, is the same scenario with the school where she left for her current place of work.
With just 13 teachers in the school, it was gathered that the amount collected from pupils per term by the school’s proprietor like most other private schools in the state does not reflect in the salaries paid to the teachers, who work 10 hours a day between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. The income, according to The Nation‘s findings, reflects more on the landed properties and exotic cars acquired by the proprietors.
“Most of us teaching in private schools are passing through hard times. Getting a better job becomes a major challenge.
“So, instead of staying idle, it’s better I remain here to earn a living, despite the meagre pay I get as salary,” she told The Nation.
And to show how serious the proprietors can be about it, findings showed that any teacher who comes two minutes late to school will have about N200 or N500 deducted from his or her salary no matter the reason.
She said: “Apart from our proprietor’s daughter, who just finished secondary school, all the teachers in this school are graduates. Yet, we are not paid up to the country’s minimum wage. We found ourselves here because of the high level of unemployment in the state.
“I graduated about 10 years ago and after searching for job without success, I was employed in a school where I was paid N12, 000 a month. When the opportunity came, I decided to grab it hoping to find a better job. There is no time for one to search for fresh job except through online which is not always genuine.
“So, after getting married, I hoped to quit the job. But things started being rough for me after the birth of my second baby.”
Findings by The Nation showed that the major challenge teachers in private schools face is the thinking of the proprietors that labour is readily available. It was also observed that the proprietors are of the view that they are only doing the teachers a favour by employing them to teach in their schools.
“That is why when one talks about increment and better working condition, one gets sacked,” Olivia said.
She described the meagre salaries paid to teachers in private schools as unfair. According to her, they work for 10 hours every day. “And for you not to go to work late, you have to wake up by 4:30 a.m. or 5:00 a.m. every day and go home around 5:30 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. depending on where you live.
“We help the proprietors make huge sums of money because of quality service the graduate teachers bring to bear in these schools. But rather than encourage the teachers with good salary, they are always on the lookout to spend millions of naira on lands where they will extend their schools to and drive big cars,” she said.
To make ends meet, findings showed that teachers such as Olivia resort to ‘begging’. They do it stylishly.
For instance, during school runs in one of the schools in Ikenegbu Layout, the teachers would always beg some parents to “find us something for lunch” or “give your son something to bring for me tomorrow”. At some other time, it was observed that some of the teachers would tell the parents about the progress their ward is making in their class and eventually use the opportunity to beg for some assistance. And the most popular one is the teacher telling her pupil on Thursdays to inform his or her parent to “do weekend for me on Friday”.
Two other teachers, Chidera and Chioma, who work with different schools in the city, shared almost similar experience with Olivia.
Chidera said since she has nothing else doing after her graduation, she decided to take up teaching, hoping to quit immediately she embarks on the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
She said with the little experience she has had within a short time, the job offered no hope for anyone who wants to rise through the ranks except those who plan to run their own schools.
The HND holder, who earns N12, 000, said she was not bordered about the “meagre salary” because “my stay in this school is just for a while.
“I observed that the situation is the same everywhere in this city despite the huge amount of money the proprietors make. So, I have decided that after my youth service, I will not teach in any private school. It’s better to engage in small business than to teach in private school”.
A parent, Timothy Adiele, whose child is in one of the private schools in Owerri, told The Nation that it is true that salaries of many Nigerians working in private companies are nothing to write home about, but what is happening in the private schools needs to be given a critical look before it is too late.
Adiele said: “This is an industry that is supposed to be complementing government’s efforts in job creation. But, the proprietors have taken the advantage of the level of unemployment rate in the country to dehumanise their fellow humankind.”
A Senior Lecturer in the Department of Education Foundation and Administration, Mrs. Ngozi Izuagba, said it was disgusting for private schools to treat their teachers with such disdain.
Dr. Izuagba noted that education is Imo’s industry, but regretted that the height the state had attained in education development was yet to trickle down to teachers.
“In the past 15 years, the state has been coming first in everything examination– be it senior school certificate examinations, university entrance examinations or even university enrolment. Apart from few states, Imo ranks highest as a state with high number of private schools, no thanks to poor quality of teaching in state-owned schools.
“However, with the growing number of private schools in the state, one would think that the industry is assisting the government in offering quality jobs to teachers. But, the true situation is that it has been an exploitative situation by proprietors as their teachers go hungry while the proprietors live in affluence.
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“The private schools have made huge contributions in the provision of quality education in the state. But thousands of teachers in their employ are hardly paid anything more than N20,000 per month,” she said.
Another educational management expert, Mrs. Ngozi Abiahu blamed government for not properly monitoring the operations of the private schools.
She said: “What private schools are doing in Imo State is very wrong. They have killed education system. How can you employ a graduate teacher and you pay her N15, 000 or N20,000? What kind of output are you expecting from her?
“In the course of wanting to pay so little to the teacher, the proprietors employ unqualified teachers,” she said.
Chairman of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Pastor Chris Ineh admitted that most of the private schools in the state do not offer quality jobs because of a number of factors.
He insisted that the private schools were providing what he called stop gap employment for unemployed graduates despite the poor salary package.
“‘It’s true that most private schools don’t offer quality jobs, the reason is because of poor enrollment of student population.
“A teacher should not expect to be paid more than N15, 000 when the number of pupils in her class is 15 or 20. What most of them do is they multiply it by N10,000 or N15,000 which the pupils pay as school fees and want the proprietor to increase her stipend. She forgets that the proprietors will buy teaching materials, maintain the school and pay tax.
“So, the issue of private school proprietors taking more interest in acquiring landed properties and driving expensive cars and traveling abroad is out of the question,” he said.
Ineh maintained that private schools were playing complementary roles in the provision of quality education and employment.
He appealed to the state government to assist private schools with grants to assist teachers.
“We’re helping government in the provision of jobs and we are saying that the government should assist us with grants. That was the fulcrum of our discussion in Markurdi, Benue State last week. We want government to support some of the qualified teachers through the state Universal Basic Education (UBE) whereby free books can be given to them.”
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