An educationist, Oluwafolakemi Olubunmi Olasonya, has called on the government to ensure better welfare for teachers in the country.
Olasonya, who spoke at the 2024 end of year production/graduation ceremony of New World Emerald Private School in Abuja, said as the mother of professions, teachers deserved more.
She said poor welfare of teachers was significantly responsible for the poor quality of education in the society.
Olasonya, who is the Director of the school, said more should be done in this regard for the development of education in the country.
Her words, “I am a teacher and I come from a generation of teachers.In Nigeria, teachers are being looked down upon and not being put in their rightful pride of place. As the people that train every aspect of employment that we have, we have teachers being the mother of all the professions we have in Nigeria but they are not being given the regard.
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“In some other countries they are being paid the highest, in some other countries they are exempted from paying taxes, in others they have some benefits. But in Nigeria they don’t even give any accolades to our teachers.
*We want our country to switch and start respecting our teachers. I call on the government to look into reviewing the salary of teachers to upgrade their level. Their welfare should be of utmost importance.
“Poor welfare of teachers is responsible for low quality of education in society. A lot of teachers have left in search of greener pastures and others are withdrawing because they are not paying them and we really losing them. And we want the government to look into this direction and uplift their value in society.”
She also called on the government to support private sector investment in education to enhance the development of the sector.
She said they trained children to stand shoulder to shoulder with their counterparts in any part of the world.
“We are training the children that can stand out anywhere in the world and can stand shoulder to shoulder with any counterpart all over the world. We are not raising them for this generation alone. You know we are upgrading a smart society. We prepare them for the future. Our pioneer sets are graduating and we are proud of them,” she said.
Also speaking, the School Support Officer, Bamidele Osuntosa, urged more private sector investment in education.
“Education is not a one man business again. The private sector has to have a greater input into the educational system these days which is what we are doing. The school has put in so much to ensure quality education.
“We try to ensure there is quality delivery in the teaching and learning process. We do mostly the British curriculum and Nigerian curriculum. We tend to bridge the gap in the Nigeria educational sector.
“We have been able to identify those gaps in the Nigerian education sector and that is what we do here to ensure there is serious input into the Nigerian economy as a whole. Government alone cannot do it. The private sector has to come in,” he said.
The Principal of the school, Gifen Festus, said they run a blended curriculum, where 70 percent is Cambridge curriculum and 30 percent Nigerian curriculum.
He also called more government investment in education.
“We have trained the children to be able to compete in any part of the world. The students have done well. They should not relent. The speed we have put in them should add more. They should not fail us
A parent, Rev Paul Itodo, said various aspects of society have a role to play in properly raising children.
He called for strict monitoring of the consumption of social media by children.
“Parents can bring their children here and not have any regrets. They can be sure they will get value for their money. It goes beyond what we see today. All aspects have their roles to play in bringing up children. The parents, the school, the church, the mosque and so on. So at the end of the day you have a properly raised and developed child.
‘I advise the children to be focused. Social media is one major distraction and parents should help children especially those who have not come to that age where they should handle such devices. They should moderate these devices and help these children to be able to chart a very good course of action,” he said.