In the most difficult situation, teachers always find a way to continue to live by their calling by teaching. This was what happened during the difficult time of Covid-19. While the world was under lock down, teachers continued to find ways to teach including utilising digital services even in remote areas.
They worked individually and collectively to find ways to get education to the learners. This year, the world commemorates World Teachers Day, with the theme; ‘Teachers at the heart of education recovery’.
Teachers are truly at the heart of education and the recovery from the Covid-19 but like every other sector, teachers deserve support in order to contribute to the recovery of the society.
The society needs rebirth and teachers are an integral part of this rebirth as they are the bedrock of the society and to put it strongly; the progress of the society is in the hands of the teachers.
On Teachers Day, the world is called to reflect about the ‘rights and responsibilities of teachers and standards for their initial preparation and further education, their recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions’.
As governments celebrate teachers with lots of events sending out sermons and promises, it is incumbent on them to match their words with action but as usual, stakeholders will celebrate the teachers with no concrete commitment towards teachers’ welfare and suitable working conditions. The new Teachers Salary Structure promised last year is yet to be implemented as the government extends the takeoff till January of next year.
Over the past months, Teachers and students have suffered lots of traumatic experiences at the hands of kidnappers and bandits. While teachers wait on the government for the improvement of their welfare, insecurity has become a strong issue that affects them. The August 2021 National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools in Nigeria report states that, “in the period between 2012 and 2016, more than 600 teachers were reportedly killed in attacks, while more than 19,000 were displaced.”
As a country having security challenges, the lives and safety of the teachers and students should be paramount. At Oslo in 2015, countries signed the Safe School Declaration as a “political commitment to protect education during armed conflict.”
As Nigeria will host the 4th conference on safe schools later this month, the Buhari Administration has failed to protect education from the onslaught of the kidnapping, banditry and unknown gunmen.
This year alone, a number of schools have been attacked with teachers and students held captive for days that ran into months. For this, schools are shuttered especially in the Northern region.
“The attacks on schools as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States have left 2.8 million school learners in need of education-in-emergencies support, with 497 classrooms destroyed and another 1,392 damaged but repairable.”
Schools have become places where teachers and students are exposed to violence which derails education development of the country.
Education provides growth and development for a society and country and that can be achieved through the commitment of the teachers.
To build a nation is through the quality of knowledge imparted to the students which is why teachers should be properly remunerated and invested on for them to continue to acquire knowledge and to teach.
Currently, the remuneration of the teachers is one of the poorest which prompts them to often embark on strikes to force the hands of the government for the funding of education as well as teachers welfare. This has made the profession unattractive to the youth.
John Adams said, “Teacher is a maker of man. He is foundation of all Education, and thus of the whole civilization of mankind, present and future. No nation reconstruction is possible without the active cooperation of the teacher.”
Teachers play roles of role model, mentor, counsellor, judge, protector and nation builders. A nation is built by the citizens; citizens are shaped by the committed efforts of the teachers. Without teachers, both knowledge and morals would decline.
Not only is teaching the most important profession, in that they shape the lives and world views of the public from the classrooms, some of them are also part of the decadence the society is faced with. They attack their duty as role models by being involved in human rights abuse, rape and sex for marks.
These acts instead of advancing the development of the country, helps in degrading the morals of the nation. They are not working as nation builders but rather wrecking the country by instituting moral turpitude in the minds of the learners even at a young age.
On this day, as we celebrate the importance of teachers, they should be steadfast in training and teaching the future leaders through guiding them; morally, academically, and physically.
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