By Felix Khanoba
The Federal Government says the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission has completed work on the reviewed renumeration package for teachers in basic and secondary schools.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who made this known during the 2022 World Teachers Day celebration in Abuja on Wednesday,
said arrangements had also been concluded to commence the payment of stipends and scholarships to those studying education in universities and colleges of education to boost enrolment.
His words : ”The National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission has completed work on the reviewed remuneration package for teachers in basic and secondary schools including provisions for rural posting allowance, science teachers’ allowance and peculiar allowance.
” Implementation is awaiting conclusion of consultations with state governments and the National Assembly,” he said.
Adamu also said the practice of attracting and retaining the best brains in the teaching profession to reduce current shortfalls in staff-students ratios in universities had been restored.
“We have significantly improved teacher quality through steadfast implementation of certification and removal of quacks from our classrooms, through the untiring efforts by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) and the National Teachers Institute (NTI).
” To mitigate the current dearth of qualified teachers in the school system, government has commenced the implementation of a teacher conversion programme with ICT training, starting with the Federal Civil Service.
” We are pleased to note that a number of states have also implemented the scheme.
” The Federal Ministry of Education in partnership with other agencies of government has commenced the implementation of welfare programmes approved by President Muhammadu Buhari for teachers.
” This includes sponsorship to refresher training to benchmark best practices, building low-cost housing in rural areas and the introduction of a specialised pension scheme.
Also speaking at the event which has its theme as ‘The Transformation of Education Begins with Teachers’, President Muhammadu Buhari, represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said the Federal Government was also implementing the professional teaching and teacher qualification framework standards to improve their performance at the pre-school, basic, secondary and tertiary levels.
The president said the country was developing a verifiable database of teachers saying that the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) had registered 2, 108, 342 teachers and licensed 1,250,000 teachers.
” No society can grow beyond its educational attainment. One of the major differences between healthy, well functioning and prosperous societies and poorer societies is education.
” We owe so much of our well-being as a nation to our educators at every level.
“Indeed our future as a nation is so heavily dependent on education and our educators. This explains why the Federal government is determined to return teachers, teaching and the teaching profession to their rightful places.
” To this end we are fully implementing the professional teaching and teacher qualification framework standards that will invariably impact on education outcome and teacher performance at the pre-school, basic, secondary and tertiary levels,” he said.
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Highlight of the event was the award ceremony of different categories for outstanding teachers and schools with Mrs Adedunke Adefemi from Oke-Edo Senior Secondary School, Alimosho, Lagos, emerging overall best teacher in the public school category, while Uchenna Ugokwe from Anambra state was the overall winner in the private school category.
Also, Mummy’s Place International Nursery and Primary School, Ondo State was the Overall Best Private School, while St. Michael African Church, Ogun, was the Overall Best Public School.
The Best Administrator in the Public Category was Ijeoma Chukwunedum from Abbot Girls Secondary School, Ihiala, Anambra, while Funmilayo Yakubu-Oyinloye of Queens College Lagos is the Best Administrator for Unity Colleges.
Best Teacher Award in the Federal Unity Colleges goes to Usman Auta of the Federal Government Girls College, Bwari Abuja, among others.
