Primary school teachers in Bayelsa State have implored Governor Seriake Dickson to intervene in their plight and save public primary education from collapse.
The teachers, under the auspices of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), urged Dickson to mandate local governments to pay their salary arrears
They expressed their grievances in a seven-point communique by the NUT Chairman, John Toinpre Kala-Ama; Principal Secretary, Johnson Hector and Publicity Secretary, Akanyo Timi.
The communique was issued after an emergency meeting of the state wing of the union at the Teachers’ House, Yenagoa.
They asked the government to assume its constitutional responsibility of augmenting the funding and management of the primary school system through the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme.
The teachers enjoined the state government and councils to address payment of imprest to headmasters and distribution of instructional materials.
They listed other challenges as shortage of teachers, non-implementation of promotion and annual increment for primary school teachers, among others.
The teachers said NUT should be represented at the Education Committee as directed by the government.
They threatened to resume their strike if their demands were not met.