The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has inaugurated the national implementation committee on the revitalisation and repositioning of the teaching profession.
The committee is particularly saddled with the responsibility of working out a new salary scale for teachers, among other incentives. Adamu, while inaugurating the committee in Abuja, charged members to focus on specific areas of intervention as approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The minister said that the assignment was a critical part of the Federal Government response to the emergency situation in the education sector with particular focus on the dearth of qualified and dedicated teachers to enhance quality teaching.
He said: “I urge you to accord it all the importance it deserves and hopefully reverse the years of neglect of our teachers and begin the process of revamping our educational system that will be responsive to the 21st century demands.
“The universally accepted dictum states that no system can rise above the quality of its teachers. Unfortunately, our story has been that of the neglect of the teaching profession with all the attendant consequences in brain drain, poor incentives to the teaching profession and poor quality graduates.
“There was therefore clamour for improved general welfare and conditions of service for the teaching profession across all tiers of government.”
He noted that the knowledge, dedication and competence of teachers to a large extent should be the determining factors to the quality of graduates of tertiary institutions and contributions to national development.
The minister charged the committee and the 12-sub-committees to come up with the implementation strategy, noting that a memorandum would be presented at the National Council Meeting before the end of the year on the establishment related issues derived from the policy directives.
Responding, Sonny Echono, Permanent Secretary in the ministry, who doubles as the Chairman of the committee, pledged the team’s readiness to carry out the assigned tasks effectively.
