When teachers get their rewards on earth

By Elijah Udofi

SIR: It was Sydney Hook who said, “Everyone who remembers his own education remembers teacher, not methods and techniques. The teacher is the heart of the educational system”.

Teachers, the world over have power to mould and remould the lives of young people. Teachers, according to Henry Adams, “affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops”. In other words, teachers are very influential, as no one, not even the teacher, can say with certainty, the extent his work can go.

The teaching profession in Nigeria, to a very large extent, has not received the desired attention. The fortune of the profession, popularly regarded as mother of all professions and producer of professionals, has been dwindling, thus becoming unattractive to would-be practitioners.

Regrettably while many has continued to taunt the profession as dumping ground for the never do well or the dregs of the citadel of learning, some others view it as a stop gap measure to ascend to other professions often regarded as lucrative. In other climes, where issues pertaining to education are put in the front burner, with well trained teachers to advance the course of education, the reverse is the case.

For some time now, there had been outcry concerning morale decadence in the society, especially among the young ones. It is no longer news that our young ones now involve in all manners of social vices including examination malpractice, gangsterism, pickpocketing and cultism among others. All these, to some extent, can be attributed to the kind of teachers we have in our schools, as it is a known fact that no society or country can develop or rise beyond its teachers.

Low self-esteem occasioned by poor pay package, non-recognition, lack of training and retraining, poor welfare packages, lack of conducive working environment and most importantly, lack of respect from members of the society, has led to low morale, which no doubt, is at its lowest ebbs and gradually leading to despondency.

Gone are the days when teachers were treated like kings. In those days, in communities where they resided, teachers acted as administrators, mobilisers, motivators, role models and even judges as people respected their judgments as a result of their knowledge and professional calling. But today, the reverse is the case.

Poised to reverse the trend, the government at the centre has taken some steps and these include the approval of a special salary scale for teachers in the country and also upward review of their retirement age to 65 years or 40 years in service.

Added to these is the construction of low cost houses for teachers to be built in the rural areas. Teachers are to benefit from Conversion Programme and undergo Information and Communication Technology (ICT) training, to mitigate the current dearth of qualified teachers in the schools.

In Ogun State, the governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun rewarded teachers who had been adjudged the best in the primary, junior and senior secondary schools categories in the state in the last one year. These are Ayodele Odeogbola, a teacher in the junior school section of Abeokuta Grammar school and one of the initiators of OGUNdigiclass, who emerged best in junior school category with two bedroom bungalow; Adewale Abayomi from Odua Comprehensive High School Imoru, the best in senior secondary got a cash prize of N2.5m, and Mary Adeyemi of St. Paul School II,Makun Sagamu, who emerged best in the primary school category went home with a cash reward of N2m.

With such gestures from President Buhari and Governor Abiodun, I believe teachers are now in a new deal, as the old saying that teacher’s reward is in heaven, is gradually giving way to teacher’s reward being right here on earth.

• Elijah Udofia, Laderin Estate, Abeokuta.