Teachers are in the centre of the educational configuration, but they are denied, deprived and depressed. To redress the situation, teachers must attract a genuine professional status and be paid a special salary scale to address their social and financial disenfranchisement. – Raheem Adesegun

Teachers no more want to accord and assent to the saying that their rewards wait for them in heaven, they ask how they would at least leave meaningful lives before they get to be rewarded later in heaven. One important question to ask is, are teachers generally treated the same way? According to the American National Educational Association, depending on the state, high school teachers in the United States get as much as $48,631 while the best paid 10 percent in the field made approximately $86,720, while the bottom 10 percent made $37,230. This among other proofs shows that Nigeria is one of the countries that treat the noblest profession unjustly.

The Director-General, National Teachers institute (NTI), Dr. Aminu Ladan, points out that Nigerian teachers are de-motivated in Nigeria because their remuneration is abysmally low. Speaking at a symposium organised to mark the World Teacher’s Day in Abuja, Ladan said “in the past, teachers were motivated and had no option than to perform, but today, teacher’s pay is so low that most of them barely put food on their tables by the time they settled their children school fees, utility and medical bills, yet they are expected to perform magic. These set of people are those who nurture other professionals at being the best at what they do, so unfortunate they beg to be paid for the noble job they carry out.

One would begin to ask if the underpayment of teachers is one of the reasons why the standard of education has fallen in recent time. The truth is, the fall in standard of education is not unconnected to the fact that teachers are underpaid. Even when they are supposed to be paid the meagre wages and salaries they get, they still have to protest and shout on top of their voices. Just as a student would concentrate in class when so many things he/she feels should be in place are being met, a teacher would also put in his/her best when things are met at the appropriate time. What is expected of a teacher who hasn’t been paid for months?

Public schools are now poorly patronised because many feel teachers don’t carry out their responsibilities effectively and efficiently again, but then, how would they? When they are not being paid well? Even those who want to fulfil all righteousness still get cut back by the lack of instructional materials to help students learn. Out of every 10 students, only half of them want to become a teacher, even that half is still not convinced teaching is the noblest profession. There has been cases of teachers slumping in class while teaching, they get checked and are diagnosed for malnutrition. What do we say?

It is unarguable that teachers are the closest models to students after their parents. This makes it imperative for teachers to show the best of examples. Some teachers don’t get to dress well, since the little they get cannot cater for their wardrobes. When teachers don’t dress neatly, how does a student dress smartly? So, the financial disenfranchisement of teachers affects so many things. A times they come to class transferring aggression on students due to the closest reasons of unpaid salaries among others, tell me how the students understand in this type of condition.

Just as the above has been affecting education adversely, the influx of people into the educational sector is also one of the elements that have been affecting the standard of education. A recent survey carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) rates the teaching profession as the highest employer of labour in Nigeria, garnering a total of 70,183 people from the employment market. People who finish and find no job find themselves in the classrooms doing the same thing some people are trained to do, no wonder our educational sector remains unmatchable. To improve the standard of education in Nigeria, the classrooms shouldn’t be the workshop of just anybody; it should be for the trained teachers. Also, these trained teachers should undergo retraining exercises from time to time; this would in the real sense improve the standard of education in Nigeria.

To whom less is given, more cannot be expected, if our teachers are remunerated well for their building actions, the products of their actions would be incredible and startling. They wouldn’t only be enthusiastic but would take up their jobs dutifully and would be sure they are opened to checks from their employers. Teaching is the noblest of profession and should remain as such.

Tijani Sheriffdeen is an undergraduate of UNILORIN