I never gave a thought to the idea that I could be a teacher. But teach I did when I could not secure a job several years after completing my national service. For five years, I did the little I could in preparing young minds for post tertiary institution examinations. Until journalism took me away from the classroom, I derived great pleasure in seeing those young faces look up to me almost in awe as I imparted knowledge into them. Years later, I got a joyful surprise when a young lady ran up and gave me a bear hug in, of all places, Oshodi, Lagos. She turned out to be one of the many young people who went through my tutelage. To put it mildly, I felt like a king for the rest of that day convinced that I played my part in a profession that can has all the hallmark of the divine given its contribution to the relevance of every generation or civilisation.
Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that given the teachers’ noble efforts, there ought to be no debate on the need for them to get the best in terms of societal reverence, remuneration and or perks of duty. Sadly, whereas this is the case in civilised climes, the situation in Nigeria has tended to run along the opposite direction, advertised mainly by the regularity of the ding-dong battle between them and governments, both at the state and federal levels. The result is that Nigerians are now more familiar with teacher’s strike than they are with power supply.
But efforts to right the ugly trend have not been in short supply given that all levels governments appear committed to the search for both a lasting solution and the need to turn education sector around for the better. In this, Edo State government has demonstrated remarkable determination. For instance, as part of its quest for a lasting solution, the Oshiomhole administration initiated the teachers’ competency test intended to ensure that the sectoral reform heralded by the construction of new school buildings and provision of other relevant infrastructure across the state, also took into account the very vital issue of individual teacher’s readiness to function professionally. The initiative became imperative following the discovery that a number of those claiming to be teachers were neither qualified nor in possession the requisite professional qualification to function as such. Unfortunately, instead of embracing the proposal, the teachers, prompted by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, hauled bricks at it, the same way they attack even the noblest policy decision of the state government. In the end, they reduced the proposal to a design deliberately orchestrated by the administration to witch-hunt or retrench them. No explanation to the contrary would ease their opposition, hence amicable solution became virtually impossible.
However, while negotiations remained ongoing, stakeholders mounted pressure on the administration that reversing the proposal will be of more benefit to all. To demonstrate that the administration has not reneged on its let-the-people-lead mantra, the state governor, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, did the needful and cancelled the decision on Thursday, July 3.
As part of the design to end the long drawn battle with the teachers, the governor also announced that the 936 teachers whose names were deleted from payroll over certificate forgeries and age falsifications would not only have their names restored but also be paid outstanding salaries. Thirdly, he declared that public school teachers will now benefit from the state’s relativity pay. For members of the state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, and Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, who were at the meeting, the largely unexpected offer was an “Olive Branch” worthy of commendation.
Long before the coming of the Oshiomhole administration, education in the state was in a mess. Undoubtedly, there was the need to bring dignity to the sector. It took no time before the administration began to initiate deliberate policies to standardise the quality of the sector’s physical infrastructure as well as its human capacity. Thus, having built schools for which it received plaudits, the administration moved to the next stage of auditing the quality of teachers manning its classrooms. Not unexpectedly, the move unearthed an endemic rot that required urgent surgical cleansing hence the decision to conduct the now rested competency test. Unfortunately, the move resulted in an unusually illogical and politicised resistance orchestrated, as earlier pointed out, by the opposition.
In taking the step of cancelling the test, the administration also announced the adoption of a corresponding policy which emphasises training and re-training for both teachers and the state’s other workforce with the hope it will provide the impetus needed to ginger them into reciprocating the gesture. One can only hope that calm will return to the sector soon, after all, to whom much is given, much more is expected.
But while waiting for calm to return, it must be noted there is a tinge of hypocrisy in some of the teachers’ demands that snowballed into the deadlock that has just been broken by the cancellation announced by the governor. Part of their demand is that they also must be paid the relativity pay. The disparity came into force when the federal government introduced the Teachers Special Allowance, TSA. With it, the salary of a teacher in, for instance, grade level 8, step 2, became bigger by 25 per cent than that of a fellow public servant of the same category in another branch of the state’s public service.
In an attempt to bridge the differential, the state government introduced the relativity pay to bridge the gap between the allowances earned by the teachers and their other public service counterparts. The allowance reduced by 10 per cent the 25 per cent disparity between the wage earned by teachers and other workers in the state’s public service. Despite an obvious 15 per cent difference, the teachers insisted that they also must be paid.
The point being made here is that while the competency controversy raged, the teachers argued that the government had no reason to exclude its other workforce from the test if the policy was not meant to witch-hunt them. In other words, they sought to make the point that what is good for the goose should be sauce for the gander. But the question begging for an answer is this; if indeed, the teachers are concerned about the need for equity and fairness, how come they conveniently chose to forget that their counterpart in other sectors of the state’s public deserve equal pay and allowances?
While the purpose for asking the question above is not to ruffle already calmed feathers, one must not fail to reiterate the point that to whom much is given, much more is expected. If that is true, the teachers ought to understand that there is need for them to be good enough for the job for which they are being paid so much. In other words, if they are deserving of special pay and allowances, they ought to be ready for special assessment. Fortunately, the governor has done what appears to be the needful. What remains to be seen is that the beneficiaries of his gesture must find the moral courage to reciprocate it in kind. The people of Edo are waiting eagerly to see not only the colour of their response but also how soon it will manifest. But whatever colour or hue the response takes, they must not forget the reasons given by the governor for initially insisting that the competency test must be conducted: basic education is like the foundation of a house; if it is weak, the building will collapse.
Right now, the foundation is in the teachers’ hand.
- Omoarelojie writes from Benin City
